Bad Bunny’s historic Super Bowl performance was laden with symbolism, celebrating Latin American pride and Puerto Rican culture on one of the world’s most watched stages.

The show focused on love, joy, and diaspora identity while sending a political message at a time when the United States is plagued by division and increasingly violent oppression of immigrant communities.

The Puerto Rican rapper became the first Spanish-Latinx solo artist to headline the iconic halftime show, and was praised for conveying this message in a way that resonated with mainstream audiences in communities seeking pride and identity in the United States and around the world.

Experts said the halftime show and its global reception represented a “hugely important” moment culturally and demonstrated the powerful voice of Spanish-speaking people in the United States.

Fellow Latin artists J. Lo and Shakira co-headlined the 2020 halftime show, which drew 103 million viewers, according to ESPN. Bad Bunny’s 13-minute performance was a tribute to life in Puerto Rico, giving an estimated 135.4 million viewers a taste of his world.

During the opening song, set to his hit song “Tití Me Preguntó,” the rapper was first seen surrounded by workers wearing paba straw hats in a sugar cane field. Then he wandered through the vibrant neighborhood, filled with coconut and taco stands, Piraguan shaved ice, boxing matches, and men playing dominoes.

The show featured guest appearances by Lady Gaga, who sang a salsa version of “Die With a Smile,” and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, who sang “Lo Que Le Paso A Hawaii.”

Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, who is of Caribbean descent, and Mexican-American film star Jessica Alba made cameos.

Towards the end of the performance, Bad Bunny declared, “God bless America,” and proceeded to list nearly every country in the Americas, from south to north.

Apple Music, the show’s sponsor, announced that the halftime show press conference was the most-watched in Super Bowl history.

Consuelo Martínez Reyes, senior lecturer in Spanish and Latin American studies at Macquarie University, told SBS News that the day was “an important day for Puerto Ricans around the world and for Latinos as well.”

Martinez, who is also Puerto Rican, said Bad Bunny “captures the conflict that all people in the diaspora go through, between being who you are and always being someone else, or being surrounded by an environment that forces you to adapt to the culture around you.”

“So we’re all very proud today.”

Unraveling the symbolism

Martinez said she liked the way the show began with people working in the fields and then introduced the unique elements of Puerto Rican culture, with the rapper “taking us from the land to the streets to the house.”

She highlighted two “key signs of protest” that stood out to her.

In one scene, an acrobat jumps off a telephone pole, an obvious reference to Puerto Rico’s power crisis.

The island is still recovering from frequent power outages nearly a decade later after Hurricane Maria severely damaged its power infrastructure in 2017.

“This was a big deal because Puerto Rico is going through a crisis that is very closely related to that, so this speaks to colonialism,” Martinez said.

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and its people are U.S. citizens. However, Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections, and the territory’s representatives in Congress do not have voting rights in Congress.

Martinez also pointed to Bad Bunny’s “God Bless America” ​​moment and called it “a very typical Super Bowl.”

“Yet he continues to name all the countries in the Americas.

“This is a moment that every Latin American has experienced, when you have to explain to someone that you don’t say America, you say America in Spanish, because for us the Americas are all countries.”

“It’s just a beautiful moment.”

Bad Bunny ended his performance with the Spanish phrase “seguimos aqui.”, This translates to “we are still here.”

“This is a statement about immigration in the United States, and it’s very important to all of us,” Martinez said.

The performance as a whole struck the “perfect balance” between a political message and giving English-speaking audiences a chance to party with Bad Bunny and learn about his culture, she said.

“Very important” moment

Anna Nicola Henger, a scholar with the Iberian and Latin American Studies Collective, said Bad Bunny’s performance was a “hugely important” cultural moment. Spanish-language artists breaking into the mainstream at this level demonstrate “the enormous importance of Spanish-speaking people in the United States.”

Hengel told SBS News that Puerto Rico’s political status and lack of political representation in the United States remains a “gray area” and a source of tension.

The show received a lot of rave reviews, but also drew heavy criticism from US President Donald Trump and those around him. President Trump posted on Truth Social: “It makes no sense and is an insult to our great America,” and “No one can understand a word this man is saying.”

“I think this is what Mr. Trump and his collaborators have always done: create fanciful beliefs about what America is,” Henger said.

“It’s a kind of utopian white middle-class space.”

“The reality of American history is…incredibly diverse and made up of people from very diverse cultures.”

“So, of course, Bad Bunny’s performance, which represents this anti-fantasy model, is not going to be something that the Trump campaign would like.”

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