On Sunday night, infamous Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny gave a soulful performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, moving millions of fans to tears of pure joy.
Shortly after winning 3 GRAMMY awards, he became not only the first primarily Spanish performer in Super Bowl history, but also the first Latin solo artist to ever headline the halftime show. This is a proud achievement Benito brings to his hometown of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.
He performed loads of popular songs like “Tití Me Preguntó,” and even some from his GRAMMY award-winning album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS: “BAILE INoLVIDABLE”, “NUEVAYoL,” “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” and “DtMF.” The symbolic performance — following last year’s performance by Kendrick Lamar — showcased how love always triumphs over hate. Not only this, but he also incorporated the message that taking pride in where one comes from is a joy in itself.
The performance incorporated many symbolic and cultural references: the set display of sugarcane plantation workers wearing traditional pava hats, the tíos playing dominoes, the New York-style bodega, an in-real-time wedding ceremony, a child asleep on plastic chairs, and a family watching Benito’s acceptance speech. There were also electrical poles used to symbolize regular power outages the island of Puerto Rico faces, a taco stand, a piragua stand and a coco frio stand, and a display of flags from all the countries of South, Central, and Latin America.
A number of other notable faces appeared during the performance, such as Lady Gaga giving us a stunning Latin rendition of “Die With A Smile.” Ricky Martin, Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, and Karol G also made appearances.
This was a display of love and unity in a time of fear and hate. Despite English not being Benito’s first language, he aspires to use music as the universal language to communicate with the world. To quote his words from the halftime show press conference: “They don’t even have to learn Spanish. Better they learn to dance. There is no better dance than the one that comes from the heart.”
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