Bad Bunny, a worldwide superstar and chart-topper (although some movie fans may remember his small role in the 2022 action movie “Bullet Train”), just delivered one of the best performances in Super Bowl history, and the entire set was an ode to the star’s home territory of Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, opened his performance with a super-stylized on-screen text announcing himself in a maze and kicked things off with his song “Tití me preguntó” from his 2022 album “Un verano sin ti.” From there, he offered up a stunning ode to Puerto Rican culture, complete with bodegas, coconut water on demand, piraguas, and even guest spots from Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, and Jessica Alba as they danced on a porch (while Bad Bunny performed on the roof of the porch’s building).
This is a review, so let me be clear: I thought this show was amazing, and I quite literally leapt out of my seat when Lady Gaga showed up in a powder-blue gown to accompany the recently-minted Grammy winner during his performance. Bad Bunny is one of the most charismatic and talented performers working today, and fresh off his Grammys victory earlier this month where his 2025 album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” won Album of the Year at the ceremony, he showed up to make sure that the entire country — nay, the world — understands the vital and joyful culture of Puerto Rico. With a performance like this, Bad Bunny proves her doesn’t need a superhero movie like Sony’s canceled “El Muerto” to win over middle America.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance was joyful, vibrant, and necessary
With a screen behind him that declared “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” Bad Bunny made sure he expressed a super-powerful message … which is that we need to be more accepting, joyful, and loving. From his salsa-themed cover of “Die With a Smile” with Lady Gaga (a song she originally performed and created with Bruno Mars) to Bad Bunny giving Latin pop star Ricky Martin a moment while the two sang “”LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” Bad Bunny’s entire set was inclusive, filled with exuberant happiness — including a full narrative story where a couple got engaged and then got married on his stage — and reminded us all that inclusion makes the world a better place.
At the risk of fully proselytizing, I couldn’t be happier than Bad Bunny got the chance to celebrate Puerto Rico and his heritage on such an enormous stage (and, just as a reminder, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, making this entire set as American as tarta de manzana). This entire set was thrilling, wonderful, and awe-inspiring, not just because Bad Bunny is a powerhouse performer with a collection of infection hit songs — he only briefly closed with the title track from his Grammy-winning album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” titled “DTmF,” but he featured the heavily salsa-inspired “Baile Inolvidable” earlier in the set to get people moving and out of their seats. Bad Bunny is one of our most delightful and impactful living performers, and haters can go ahead and take a seat … because his Super Bowl halftime show proved it.
