The NFL made history in late September when it announced Bad Bunny as the main performer at Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8. The first male Latin American artist to headline the halftime show, Bad Bunny is expected to sing and rap primarily in Spanish.

Bad Bunny has also made history himself. During his recent concert residency in Puerto Rico—which included 31 shows at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan—his final performance set the record as the most watched livestream ever on Amazon Music. In partnership with the streamer, he launched a multiyear initiative focusing on education, disaster relief and cultural empowerment. This collaboration will include programs to strengthen Puerto Rico’s economy and drive meaningful, long-term change on the island, according to a news release from Amazon Prime Video.

This residency is estimated to have generated $733 million for Puerto Rico, as reported by the Associated Press.

Throughout his career, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, has remained connected to his Puerto Rican roots and Latin culture, frequently using his music as social commentary on identity, colonial politics and immigrant struggles. Additionally, his latest album Debí Tirar Más Fotos is considered a love letter to his Puerto Rican upbringing. He recorded the album entirely on the island and worked exclusively with local musicians.

The halftime performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, is Bad Bunny’s only scheduled show in the U.S., and interest in traveling to the Bay Area for Super Bowl LX surged following the announcement that he will headline the show.

Associate Professor of Latin American Theater and Performance and Director of Temple’s Center for Humanities Christina Baker, Professor of Media Studies and Production Clemencia Rodríguez, and Gabriela Rivera, CLA ’20, a graduate student in Temple’s master of science in communication for development and social change program, discuss the significance of Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime show headliner and his cultural impact.

Temple Now: Bad Bunny is the first Latin American male artist to headline the Super Bowl. What is the significance of this cultural milestone? 

Christina Baker: It’s an incredibly powerful moment. And he’s a male artist that’s consistently played at the boundaries of what gender representation looks like for Latinx individuals. He’s also the first Latinx person headlining on his own. (Shakira and Jennifer Lopez performed together at Super Bowl LIV in 2020).

Marc Anthony faced similar backlash when he sang “God Bless America” at the MLB All Star Game in 2013. Critics questioned why a foreigner was singing a patriotic song, and Marc Anthony did several interviews in which he reminded people he was born and raised in New York. The idea of Americanness is so prominent right now, but what does Americanness really mean? 

Clemencia Rodríguez: It’s a cause for celebration. When I present Latin American culture to those outside of the community, they often wish they were part of it, but they are because this culture is also part of the U.S. For some people, this might be a threat, but for many it’s not. It’s something to be happy about.

TN: What does it mean for the Super Bowl halftime show to be primarily in Spanish?

Baker: It brings to the surface the fact that many people in the U.S. speak Spanish.

When Bad Bunny hosted Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4, he gave a direct appeal to the public in Spanish in his monologue. He said, “It’s not just an achievement for me; it’s an achievement for all of us,” referring to both Latinos and Latinas. “It’s for all those who’ve worked to open doors.” He then remarked in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.” He’s kind of waging a culture war, and so is the NFL.

Also, viewership is power, and the NFL knows that. There’s a real recognition of the Latinx population’s purchasing power.

Rodríguez: I think non-Spanish speakers in the U.S. are more and more used to Spanish, so I don’t think it’s alienating. Latin American culture is deeply interwoven in this country. If people aren’t seeing it, it’s because they don’t want to.

TN: What can we expect from his halftime performance? Do you have a sense of any potential themes? 

Gabriela Rivera: I think it’s going to be a visual and musical love letter to Puerto Rico and Latinidad. It’ll be both a celebration and a critique—a celebration of our identity, language and resilience and a critique of the colonial, economic and racial hierarchies that still define life for so many of us.

Baker: I wouldn’t be surprised if Bad Bunny brings out other musical artists who’ve been outspoken about Puerto Rico and made long-standing contributions but are often overlooked or blatantly said not to be American such as Ivy Queen, known as the Queen of Reggaetón, and Marc Anthony. 

TN: Could you speak about Bad Bunny’s impact on music and culture? How have his Puerto Rican pride and outreach in Puerto Rico inspired others? 

Rodríguez: Bad Bunny is playing a huge role among Latinos in the U.S. and Latin Americans in Latin America. He’s part of a long legacy of artists and culture creators in Latin America and Puerto Rico who are deeply rooted in political agency and social justice.

Bad Bunny speaks to Puerto Ricans specifically and Latin American audiences in general. He taps into the languages of the cities and rural areas in Puerto Rico. He also uses the culture and aesthetics of the people in these communities. His work features hyperlocal symbols. For instance, a coquí, which is a small, arboreal frog native to Puerto Rico, appears in all his music videos for Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

And the “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” music video specifically highlights the gentrification happening on the island. His song “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” and the title of his Puerto Rican residency No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí also address the displacement of Puerto Ricans and the gentrification that’s followed.

Bad Bunny incorporates Puerto Rican history in the 17 visualizers on YouTube for Debí Tirar Más Fotos as well. He collaborated with Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, a history professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on these narratives. These visualizers cover history from 1550 to the present. They include topics such as the musical style bomba, Grito de Lares, which was an uprising in Puerto Rico against Spanish colonizers in 1868, a 1932 massacre in Ponce where police shot peaceful independence demonstrators and the island becoming a U.S. territory in 1952.

Rivera: This is the first time many Latin Americans are encountering history through popular music. Showing history this way turns collective memory into collective action.

And there are various ways Bad Bunny celebrates his Puerto Rican identity that are rooted in not only historical colonialism but also present-day colonialism. For instance, he released a song called “El Apagón,” which translates to “The Blackout,” with a 22-minute music video. This is both a dance song and a protest anthem addressing laws imposed by the U.S. that are helping wealthy foreigners buy buildings on the island and displace Puerto Ricans.

Additionally, the massive revenue he drew from his residency in Puerto Rico reframed cultural pride as economic power.

Baker: It’s powerful too that his music is making way into academic spaces and scholarly conversations. There are courses about Bad Bunny at Loyola Marymount University, Emory and Yale, for example. And there’s a book forthcoming in February 2026 by professors from Loyola Marymount University and Wellesley College called How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.  

Bad Bunny has always recognized where he comes from, and that’s what makes him different. He constantly collaborates with others and pulls people into his orbit because he knows he’s not alone. Not everyone has done that because record labels have rules, but he seems to be able to break them.