At the 60th edition half-time Super Bowl show Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny, was the main performer, accompanied by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. With the recent accomplishment of winning Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammy’s, the artist performed hits from the “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” album.
The Super Bowl, an annual NFL game, was between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Each year, the Super Bowl hosts a highly anticipated halftime show featuring iconic musical performers. Bad Bunny paid homage to his Puerto Rican roots during the performance, opening the half-time show at the Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California by singing his 2022 hit, “Tití Me Preguntó.” The performer came out in an all-white suit with a jersey with the number 64 written above his last name Ocasio.
Bad Bunny paid tribute to his hometown Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. The American artist filled the stage with performers in sugar cane, palm trees, and other vegetation plants. costumes that are native to Puerto Rico. While walking through the lush plants, Bad Bunny passed sugar cane farmers with the infamous straw hat Bad Bunny wears in music videos, representing the farmers’ “a pava” (a traditional Puerto Rican straw hat). The singer performed his second song, “Yo Perreo Sola.”
During this 13-minute halftime show, Bad Bunny had two surprise guest performers. Lady Gaga was the first guest appearance, showing off her platinum blonde hair, with a baby blue salsa-inspired flamenco dress, accompanied by Puerto Rico’s national flower, The Flor de Mega, also known as, Red Hibiscus. Gaga performed her duet, “Die with a Smile,” with a Latin, salsa twist. The second guest performer, Ricky Martin sang Bad Bunny’s song, “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” in an all-white outfit, complementing Bad Bunny’s outfit. “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” is a song with lyrics calling out gentrification on the island of Hawaii. It is a trend which are fueled by tax incentives that lead mainland wealthy Americans to buy up land and homes, drawing a gentrification comparison to Hawaii.
This half-time show explored many tributes and symbolism to Puerto Rico and political stances. After singing other songs from his albums such as “EoO,” “NUEVAYoL,” and “DTMF.” The artist was also seen giving his Grammy to a child while watching Bad Bunny receive the Grammy for Album of the Year. The boy was a child actor that was representing Bad Bunny when he was younger. A lot of fans also saw parallels between this young actor and model named Lincoln Fox Ramadan and 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, the boy who was detained by ICE with his father on Jan. 20, 2026.
A wedding also occurred during the performance after the couple initially invited Bad Bunny to their wedding. The couple was instead invited to get married on stage during the Super Bowl half-time show, with Bad Bunny acting as a witness, signing their official marriage certificate. The ceremony included a real officiant, a cake, and was part of the performance.
During the end of the production, Bad Bunny was climbing an electric pole while singing “El Apagon” which translates to “the blackout” in English. This was a reference to Puerto Rico’s ongoing power outages due to crisises such as hurricanes. Many of his lyrics criticize the government for ineffective responses to these disasters. He also gave shoutouts to many countries across the Americas. At the end, the only sentence he spoke in English was “God bless America.”
The talented singer exited the Super Bowl with dancers, trailed by U.S. and Latin American flags The very last message posted on a giant screen across the field, read: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
This year’s Super Bowl had a lot of controversy with even President Trump criticizing it with a post on Truth Social that read, “The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” Turning Point USA also hosted an “All American Half-time Show” as an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime performance. Nevertheless, Bad Bunny’s performance is the highest viewed in NFL history, with over 128.2 million views according to The New York Times. Bad Bunny overcame a lot of hardships and represented more than his hometown; the Latinx community by spreading love over hate. At UWB, his final message is one we can all resonate with and promote during this new year.
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