Bad Bunny promised “the world will dance” in his advertisement before the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, and his joyous, elaborate, unity-themed performance did not disappoint as he — with Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and many more — raced through a medley of songs from all across his career, introducing them and himself to many of the more than 100 million viewers.
The field was set up similarly to his “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency on in Puerto Rico — which was previewed in Variety‘s Bad Bunny cover story last June _ transforming the space into a Puerto Rico vecindad, with a barber shop, liquor store, and the iconic “casita,” the small house where he would welcome celebrity guests during his Puerto Rico residency. On Sunday night, Karol G, Cardi B Young, Miko Jessica Alba and Pedro Pascal were spotted dancing under the on-field roof as the performance moved through a field, a giant dancefloor filled with exuberant dancers — and an actual wedding, his rep confirms. The performance was so loaded with Easter eggs that fans will be decoding it for weeks.
But unity was a key theme — toward the end of the performance, Bad Bunny said “God Bless America” — and then named every country in North, South and Latin America, including the United States and Canada, as the billboard flashed in giant letters: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” a direct rebuke to the many haters on the right who criticized his performance before it had even happened.
At the center of the performance, Gaga sang a salsa-inflected version of her 2024 hit with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” as the couple were married onstage.
In another nod to Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny welcomed fellow native Ricky Martin to the stage for a brief version of “lo que le pasó a Hawái”— from Bad Bunny’s Grammy-winning latest album, “Debí tirar más fotos.”
At another point during the performance, his Grammy acceptance speech was replayed on a small television as a young boy — who certainly resembled Liam, the 5-year-old who was incarcerated by ICE in Minneapolis last month — and then Bad Bunny handed him his Grammy Award.
In another nod to Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny welcomed fellow native Ricky Martin to the stage for a surprise duet of “TKSONG.” Just a few days ago, Martin wrote an open letter to Bad Bunny in Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día praising Bad Bunny for headlining “stages around the world carrying his language, his accent, and his story.”
“You won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots,” he wrote. “You won by staying true to Puerto Rico.”
Martin’s appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show makes sense thematically also because he became the face of Latin music’s U.S. crossover in the late 1990s, particularly with his smash single “Living La Vida Loca.” While they didn’t perform the track on Sunday, Martin and Bad Bunny joined forces on “Cántalo” from Martin’s “Pausa” EP in 2020.
Leading up to Sunday’s halftime show, much of the conversation revolved around whether Bad Bunny would make a political statement onstage. Last year, he made headlines by saying he would skip touring the United States to prevent ICE from targeting fans outside of his shows.
He doubled down on that sentiment at the Grammy Awards last Sunday. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” he said in English on the Grammys stage after winning his awards. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” he said. “We are humans and we are Americans.”The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love, so, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”
Before the game, a group of protestors took Tasman Drive near the East Side entry of the stadium carrying “ICE OUT” towels and “Abolish ICE Now” posters as Seahawks and Patriots fans started to funnel their way into the stadium.
On Thursday, Bad Bunny sat down with Ebro Darden and Zane Lowe of Apple Music for a press conference event, and shared that he wanted the show to be a “huge party” for everyone. He said, “They don’t even have to learn Spanish. It’s better if they learn to dance. There’s no better dance than the one that comes from the heart.”
Sunday’s halftime show made history as the first mostly Spanish-language performance at the Big Game. Bad Bunny was one of the Super Bowl show guests back in 2020, when he and J Balvin took the stage for “I Like It” during Shakira and Jennifer Lopez headlining performance. Gloria Estefan, who performed during the halftime show in 1992 with Miami Sound Machine, is the only other previous Latin halftime performer.
Gaga, who turned in a memorable performance as the Super Bowl halftime headline performer in 2017, told People earlier this week that she has “endless admiration for Benito.” When asked if she had any advice for him ahead of the halftime show, she said, “Honestly, I don’t think he needs any from me… He knows who he is, and that’s the only thing that matters when you step onto that stage. All he has to do is be the beautiful person he already is, and the world will feel his heart.” Back in 2023, Gaga also surprised Bad Bunny by introducing his performance as musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.”