For decades, the most anticipated football game in history, the Super Bowl, has also always been a music stage. The halftime show in the past has been performed in English by the most famous artists during that time, mostly Americans. However, this year, Puerto Rican Artist Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, or as he is more famously known, Bad Bunny, was chosen to perform. Since September, when it was first announced that Bad Bunny was going to be the artist performing the halftime show, many fans were very excited, while others were speculating on how good the performance was going to be since the majority of Bad Bunny’s songs are in Spanish, excluding a few lyrics in a couple of songs that are in English.
A week before the superbowl Bad Bunny had won multiple Grammys, and during one of his speeches, he had said, “The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.” He then directly applied this to his performance during the halftime show as well as protryaing numerous aspects of his Hispanic background.
Bad Bunny started with one of his most popular songs, “Titi Mi Pregunto”, and in the background was a sugarcane field with traditional Puerto Rican farmers (jibaros), wearing traditional straw woven hats (pava). He intellionally started with this song in hopes of showing the history and work behind Puerto Rico, the culture and heritage he is so proud to represent. He then continues his performance by showing the stereotypical Hispanic family structures, for example, where older men would play card games and drink, while most women are nail techs, and he even later in the performance showed the stereotypical younger kid who falls asleep at the big parties, anywhere they can find.
The biggest surprise of all was that Lady Gaga was brought out and sang, “Die with a smile”, however, with the twist that the beat was an upbeat Latino tempo. This was quite the shock because of the previous speculation of many that Bad Bunny wouldn’t be understood due to singing primarily in Spanish. Usually in the music industry, Spanish transforms and mixes into English; however, Bad Bunny reversed the trend, and moved English into Spanish, with Gaga wearing a traditional dress by a Dominican designer, and the background dancers doing salsa.
Within the Rangeview Community, where the majority of students come from various backgrounds and cultures, many were very moved by the performance of Bad Bunny. Ms. Despain, a Spanish teacher her was especially stunned by the performance and began to cry. Rangeview junior, Edlawit Dibaba, stated, “I personally don’t speak Spanish, but I thought all the messages were beautiful and understood”.
Beyond the historical and cultural symbols, Bad Bunny himself made history with this performance by being the first solo Latino artist to perform the halftime show, almost entirely in Spanish. He then ends the performance by naming all the countries with South, North, and Central America, to get his point across that “We all are America”. He finished the set with ‘DtMF’ (Debí Tirar Más Fotos), a track that celebrated his personal journey, while surrounding himself with the flags of the nations he had just honored.
