By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — There are stages, and then there is the superbowl halftime show.
On Sunday, fresh off his historic win at the Grammys for his love letter to Puerto Rico, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Bad Bunny will once again surprise audiences with a performance that is gearing up to be a landmark moment for Latino culture.
But what can you expect from his set?
What we know
Apple Music’s Zane Lowe mentioned that Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance is 13 minutes long during an interview with the superstar on Thursday. Historically, they run 12 to 15 minutes.
In the same conversation, Bad Bunny offered few specifics about what viewers will see Sunday.
“It’s going to be a huge party,” he said, playfully dodging questions about surprise guests and other details. “What people can expect from me… I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really don’t, I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”
Beyond that: A minute-and-a-half long trailer for the halftime show posted last month set a jovial tone for his performance. In it, Bad Bunny approaches a Flamboyan tree — more on that below — and presses play on his single “Baile Inolvidable” (“Unforgettable Dance”).
The song is modern salsa, performed with the students at the Libre de Música San Juan. It is a featured single from “I should have taken more photos,” an album that marries folkloric tradition in local Borinquen genres likebomba, plena, salsa and musica jíbara with contemporary styles like reggaeton, trap and pop.
In the clip, Bad Bunny sways as he’s joined by different dancers across genres, races and ages: Those include a traditional salsa dancer in a red dress, a firefighter, a cowboy and a viejito wearing a pava (“viejito” is an affectionate term for an older man and a “pava” is a kind of straw hat). It’s representative of the superstar’s international appeal; he is currently the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify.
Will Bad Bunny perform entirely in Spanish?
All of Bad Bunny’s music is recorded in Spanish, so it seems like a safe bet. Were he to include English into his set, it would likely appear in a spoken interjection — or it would be featured in text.
In October, Bad Bunny hosted “Saturday Night Live” and said a few sentences in Spanish during his opening monologue. When he concluded, he joked in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn,” a reference to the Super Bowl and its critics.
On Thursday, he joked that fans didn’t actually need to learn Spanish to enjoy his set — but they should be prepared to dance.
What symbols can we expect?
There’s no way to know for sure, but here are a few educated guesses.
Puerto Rican flags: In his song “The Move,” Bad Bunny sings, “They killed people here for taking out the flag / That’s why now I carry it wherever I want.” In English: “Here they killed people for showing the flag / That’s why I bring it everywhere I want now.” It appears to be a reference to Law 53 of 1948, better known as the Gag Law, a ruling by the Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly which attempted to suppress the independence movement on the island and criminalized displaying the Puerto Rican flag. It was repealed in 1952. It is also one of many reasons Puerto Ricans are known for waving their flag with pride for their island.
It is almost certain the flag of Puerto Rico will appear in some form on the Super Bowl stage. But its colors are worth noting. If it is shown in red, white and blue, that is the current flag of Puerto Rico and has been since 1952. If there are flags that feature light blue, that is reflective of the Puerto Rican independence movement. A black and white version of the flag has become synonymous with Puerto Rican struggle and resilience. And if there is a flag that more closely resembles the Dominican Republic’s flag, that is known as El Grito de Lares, a symbol of the Lares revolution — the first short revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico in the 19th century.
Puerto Rican expressions: There may be a few Puerto Rican expressions uttered on stage, beyond just those found in Bad Bunny’s music. That could be anything from “Wepa!” which is used in moments of excitement, not unlike exclaiming “Wow!” It grew in popularity after the release of Alfonso Vélez’s 1974 salsa song “El Jolgorio (Wepa Wepa Wepa).” Or “Acho, PR es otro algo,” a phrase that became a fan chant during Bad Bunny’s performance of “Voy atrabajote pa’ PR” during his residency. It translates to “Damn, PR is something else.”
Little house: At Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico Last summer, I performed across two stages. One was built to resemble a casita (“little house”), for the pari de marquesina, a house party. These structures are synonymous with Puerto Rico and the Caribbean at large.
Pavas: A symbol that is likely familiar to Bad Bunny fans everywhere, a pava is a straw hat traditionally worn by jíbaros, or Puerto Rican rural farmers. It has become a symbol of pride for the island. The singer even wore a leather version of the hat on the red carpet at the 2025 Met Gala.
Flamboyan tree: The second of the two stages at Bad Bunny’s residency focused on showcasing the island’s natural beauty with its flamboyan and plantain trees. The former are a common feature in Puerto Rican art for its flowers, most commonly seen in brilliant red, orange and yellow hues. The image of the tree evokes Puerto Rico as almost immediately as the sound of its national nocturnal residents, el coquí (a frog with a distinctive sing-song-y call heard only at night.)
El Sapo Concho: Not to be mistaken with el coquí, el toad concho is the endangered Puerto Rican crested toad that Bad Bunny has used an animated version of in his visuals for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”
Traditional Puerto Rican instruments: Because much of Bad Bunny’s music pulls frombomba and plena, it is likely that a few of those traditional instruments will be on stage. Look out for a cuatro (a small, four-stringed guitar), güiro/güira (a percussive instrument made of a hollow gourd), palitos (also a percussive instrument resembling two long, wooden sticks), cencerro (cow bell) and maracas. For thebomba songs, specifically, there may be a barriel (a barrel) and for plena, a tambourine (tambourine.)
Will there be special guests during the halftime show?
It is impossible to predict, but it would be surprising if Bad Bunny wasn’t joined by other performers — particularly other giants of Latin music, and probably, other Puerto Rican performers. The band Chuwi joined Benito for every night of his San Juan residency; it wouldn’t be out of the question to see them on stage for their collaboration, “Weltita.”
Other potential guests, if the residency is a framework to follow, could include Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Young Miko, Wisin y Yandel, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Alfonso Vélez. But the list goes on and on.
Will it be a political performance?
That is in the eye of the beholder. But there is historical precedent for it at the Super Bowl. In 2020, the NFL asked Jennifer Lopez to cut a segment featuring children in cages during her halftime performance, a critique of US immigration policies. She refused. (Bad Bunny was actually a guest performer during that halftime show, which was headlined by Lopez and Shakira.)
Last year, Kendrick Lamar’s set was an artistic confrontation of American history and racial dynamics through metaphor, as the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, complained of a performance that was “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” and reminded Lamar to “play the game.”
Bad Bunny has never steered clear of political messaging. He has criticized President donald trump on everything from his hurricane response in his native Puerto Rico to his treatment of immigrants. At the Grammys Sunday, he said “ICE out” while accepting his first televised award of the night. His latest tour skipped the continental US; in an interview he said it was at least partially inspired by concerns that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.
Trump, a Republican, has said he doesn’t plan to attend this year’s game, unlike last year, and he has derided Bad Bunny as a “terrible choice.”
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.