Leave it to Bad Bunny to make history twice in one month.
After taking home the Grammy for album of the year for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (the first all-Spanish-language album to be recognized in the coveted category) on Feb. 1, the Puerto Rican artist will add a new accolade to his list of accomplishments.
When he takes the field Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the 31-year-old will become the first Spanish-language Latin solo artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, first sang at the Super Bowl in 2020 alongside headliners Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in Miami, delivering an unforgettable performance that showcased Latin music’s might and rising mainstream success.
While that show remains a culturally significant event for Latinos in the U.S., Bad Bunny’s performance represents a new milestone, according to Petra Rivera-Rideau and Vanessa Díaz, the co-authors of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.”
Bad Bunny will also be the first reggaeton artist to headline a Super Bowl halftime show. Interpreter Celimar Rivera Cosme, who performed at Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico last year, will also do a multilingual signing program featuring Puerto Rican Sign Language.
Here’s what else to know.
Bad Bunny gives spoiler-free preview of show
While avoiding potential spoilers, Bad Bunny said viewers can expect him to bring “a lot of my culture.”
“I just want people to have fun. It’s going to be a huge party,” Bad Bunny said at a news conference hosted by Apple Music, the halftime show’s main sponsor, on Tuesday.
He also poked fun at his “Saturday Night Live” monologue from October in which he told non-Spanish-speaking viewers they had four months to learn Spanish ahead of the halftime show.
“They don’t even have to learn Spanish,” he said Tuesday. “It is better if they learn to dance.”
As for possible surprise guests? “Well, you know, that’s something that I’m not going to tell you,” he joked.
Why has there been backlash toward Bad Bunny?
Bad Bunny will be performing as the Trump administration continues its wide-scale immigration crackdown and arrests Latino immigrants in large numbers.
In January, federal immigration authorities who were carrying out operations in Minneapolis fatally shot two U.S. citizens. Their deaths have amplified calls for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities where immigration raids have taken place.
Bad Bunny has not shied away from politics, particularly when it comes to Puerto Rico. The singer was among a handful of artists at the Grammys who made bold “ICE out” statements. He also previously called out the U.S. government’s botched response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2018 and demanded justice in the killing of Alexa, a trans woman in Puerto Rico, in 2020.
The artist has described his Grammy-winning album, which translates to “I Should Have Taken More Photos,” as his most Puerto Rican release yet. To pay tribute to his heritage, the singer blended reggaeton and other Latin urban rhythms with more traditional genres like salsa and Puerto Rican folk sounds like bomba y plena.
“The most important thing is that there’s an unapologetically Spanish-language artist at the Super Bowl,” Rivera-Rideau said. “And then, the fact that it’s happening in this particular political climate just adds even more significance.”
