Bad Bunny is expected to perform the Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday entirely in Spanish – which has inspired fans to quickly learn the language.
In October, the Puerto Rican singer – born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – kicked off the 51st season of Saturday Night Live expressing pride over the achievement in Spanish, after which he said in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”
That declaration further stoked the anger of some conservatives who have vilified Bad Bunny for speaking out against US president Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. The singer canceled the US portion of his tour last year out of fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would target his fans.
There has been a frenzy online of people posting about Bad Bunny lyrics, including Puerto Ricans explaining slang used by the singer and non-Spanish speakers documenting their journey to learn Spanish.
Anticipation for his half-time performance has only intensified since last weekend, when his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy for album of the year. He did not shy away from addressing targeted federal immigration operations at the awards.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” he said in English after winning his first Grammy for best música urbana album. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
‘Like a form of protest’
Niklaus Miller, 29, has been buckling down on learning Bad Bunny lyrics since the singer’s SNL appearance months ago.
“I am delusional enough to be like ‘this would be easy. I could pick it up pretty quickly,’” Miller said.
The fervor to learn a new language within a short time span highlights the powerful impact of Latino culture in the US despite the president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions.
“It felt like a form of protest,” Miller said. “What can I do right now besides what everyone is doing that is trying to help? It just feels good.”
Miller said he has got messages from people who watch his videos with their parents since he started posting about the process of learning Spanish. They say they feel seen and appreciated.
While Miller has not learned Bad Bunny’s entire discography, he has learned portions of six songs that he feels will be part of the half-time show, including Tití Me Preguntó, DtMF and Baile Inolvidable.
The day after Bad Bunny was announced as the half-time act, O’Neil Thomas, 28, a New York City actor and content creator, started learning the singer’s catalog.
“I was just so excited because he wasn’t an artist that I expected,” Thomas said. “And given how we are right now with the state of the country I think he is the perfect person to headline such a humongous stage.”
The response to his TikTok videos – showing Thomas learning NUEVAYoL and other tracks – have been really positive, Thomas added. Many Puerto Rican people have reached out, saying they are proud that someone outside the community is attempting to learn about their culture.
Latin culture intensifies interest in Spanish
“People were already starting to make the effort with learning Spanish as a result of their interest in Latin music,” said Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University. “The Super Bowl itself is an additional push for a trend that was already happening.”
Díaz, who is the co-author of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, says the rise of Latin music over the past decade has pushed non-Spanish speakers to learn the language. Bad Bunny’s clear messaging in his lyrics, videos and performances amplifies that interest, Díaz said.
Spanish is the most spoken language at home behind English in the US – except in three states, according to US census data. More than 13% of residents age five and older speak it.
Niklaus Miller has been learning Bad Bunny lyrics since the singer’s SNL appearance. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP
But Bad Bunny’s booking at the Super Bowl has been divisive from the start. Trump called the selection “ridiculous.” Conservatives have called it anti-American – even though native-born Puerto Ricans are also US citizens. Turning Point USA is putting on an alternative “All-American Halftime Show” with a lineup led by Kid Rock.
This all comes against the backdrop of Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities being targeted in Trump’s immigration crackdowns. His executive actions have vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation and routine hearings have turned into deportation traps for migrants.
Díaz doesn’t think his performance will necessarily shift how Latinos are perceived in the US but she says it will create an interesting conversation depending on “how people are going to grapple with the magnitude of having someone like Bad Bunny on the stage.”
At a time when “the US is targeting Latinos and migrants and Spanish speakers or even those who are just perceived to be any of those things in a way that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes”, his visibility is powerful, Diaz said.
For Thomas, Bad Bunny’s music offered the perfect opportunity to take on the challenge of learning a new language.
“I love Spanish and I always wanted to learn it,” Thomas said. “So, this has been a fun introduction for me to finally hone in.”
Both Miller and Thomas said that learning Spanish, specifically Puerto Rican Spanish, in a short period of time has been a unique challenge.
Thomas said listening to Bad Bunny’s music casually is a different experience than learning the lyrics.
“Listening to his music is really fun,” Thomas said. “The amount of times I’ve pressed rewind just to get a phrase, I can’t even count.”
Miller said the hard part about learning the songs is that the Puerto Rican dialect tends to chop some words and it is very fast. Miller said if he hasn’t worked on understanding a song for days, he might forget the pronunciation and it’s hard to come back to it.
“It’s fun but then stressful because I am a type-A person, so that’s been hard, honestly,” Miller said. “I’m firing on all cylinders.”