Pop Culture Happy Hour - Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

At the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny put on an endlessly rewatchable performance. It featured Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and a real wedding. But it didn’t shy away from this political moment, and Bad Bunny’s place in the culture wars.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

At the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny put on an endlessly rewatchable performance. It featured Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin and even had a real-life wedding. It was filled with dancing and unabashed joy, but it didn't shy away from this political moment and Bad Bunny's place in the culture wars. I'm Stephen Thompson. Today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we are teaming up with It's Been a Minute for a recap of the Super Bowl halftime show. Here's host Brittany Luce. Okay, y'all, we all just witnessed the Bad Bunny halftime show. First impressions, what words are running through your mind? Joy, excitement, wepa, this was for Puerto Ricans.

I was so gagged sitting in my living and watching it all unfold. I was screaming. Sorry if my voice is a little hoarse. That's all right. That's all right. I mean, there's so much to unpack in this performance. This is an endlessly rewatchable performance because there is so much text and subtext. But as far as first impressions and the first thing that I'm taking away, I think this is one of the top five Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. Yeah, I think you're right. I think Prince, for me, is probably still number one. But this is up there with Beyonce. This is up there with some of the all-time great Super Bowl halftime shows just as a piece of stagecraft, as a piece of just joyful performance, so much movement, the camera work. This was a

an extraordinary technical accomplishment. And we'll get to how joyful it was, you know, just as an experience, how much it meant to this hemisphere. But I just, just to take a step back right at the beginning, I think this is one of the all-time great Super Bowl halftime shows. I'm still processing it. I mean, I'm very glad we're talking about this right now. Moments ago, we all witnessed the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show. And we were here to break down what happened in a performance and why. It mattered.

And to do that, we are here with music and entertainment critic, Rianna Cruz. Happy to be here. And Alana Casanova Burgess, host of La Brega podcast. Hello. I mean, honestly, my mind is blank. I just am like, okay, Puerto Rico flag emoji, crying emoji. Yep. Vibrating heart emoji.

I still have goosebumps and it's been like an hour. My phone was like blowing up. I catched up on all my text messages, people being like, are you seeing what's happening right now? I FaceTime my brother. Like, crazy stuff is going on. Listen, my mom, my sister FaceTime me right after it was over to say that our mom said that if she had a son, she would name him Panito. Wow. My mother, by the way, is not having any more children at 70.

Suffice to say, she felt very strongly. She feels like anything is possible. Right. And that's what Benito said. He said, believe in yourself. Okay. So I will note that we are taping this about an hour after the performance. So I know it's incredibly fresh. I know it's incredibly fresh. But Alana, Rihanna, what moments are sticking with you? Oh, I mean, the parade of American nations. Towards the end, we see Benito with the light blue Puerto Rican flag, right? Very important. And then he says, together we are all America, right? Is that right? And he's holding a... something akin to that. And it's also in his football with like together in all caps. And then he starts saying like just every country, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru. And he shouted out United States and he shouted out Puerto Rico. And we see just a parade of flags of all of the nations of the Americas. And there we see the other Puerto Rican flag, the official one.

and it was stunning. It was like a parade of nations. I mean, I agree. I'm in a similar boat that that lasting image of the parade of flags and kind of reframing the idea of what God bless America means as something that extends to both North and South America and Central America and the Caribbean, etc., etc. I thought that was really remarkable. But I think I'm really staying with the image of Ricky Martin singing Whate Le Paso Hawaii, which is a very strong song

about the idea of decolonizing both Puerto Rico and Hawaii and all colonized territories. It's a... We're also specifically not turning Puerto Rico into 51st state. Exactly.

Exactly. And kind of like a condemnation of what colonization is. I thought that was really powerful to have someone like Ricky Martin who was and still is one of the biggest crossover Puerto Rican musicians of all time. When Ricky Martin came into the music industry, he was straddling these two ways. world of like English speaking music and the Latin music industry. And I think his biggest hits,

he had to kind of record English and Spanish versions, right? Like he had to live in both of these worlds. He had to kind of fetishize his own culture for success and things of that nature. And to kind of have Ricky Martin singing this really powerful song that like is so pro Puerto Rican independence was really, really powerful for me. And that's, you know, I'm a little monster. That's not even going into the Lady Gaga. I was going to say, I can't believe Rihanna has gone this far without talking about Lady Gaga showing up at this show.

Lady Gaga came on stage. I kid you not. I got eight text messages in a row from people that I haven't talked to since college. Like, it was really amazing to see. I have to say, I was watching it with four other people and we were all like, who is that? Why? Who's this blonde lady on my screen? And I'm in like Puerto Rico mode.

So I'm like skimming through like every person I know. I'm like, who is it? Who is it? Who is it? Who is it? And then someone said, I think that's Lady Gaga. And we're all like, no way. What would she be doing there?

I was very surprised to see her. But I'll tell you what, that's salsa version of Die with a smile. I know. Listen, that slapped. I was like. Let me drop a little bit of Lady Gaga history on you. She has always been here for the Latino community. This is something that she's highlighted throughout the course of her career.

She sang songs in Spanish. She really is tapped in to the Pekenos Monstros, you know, her Spanish little monster fan base. It's always been part of her, a very strong part of her artistry, really, over the years. And her performing that, I was like, oh, it's giving a Vita. Like, she was in her Vita bag. Oh, my God. Sure, absolutely.

I feel like she was more in her lais la Bonita, after she was done, I was like, Madonna is somewhere. Madonna watch yourself. banging her fist against the table, like, with jealousy.

Because I definitely remember Madonna's Puerto Rican phase low. Oh, absolutely. Spanish lesson off of hard candy. Nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody. Okay, so I want to,

we've touched on so many different things already, but I think that that highlights like one of the big themes of, of the show, which was just like, this performance is about world building, Like Bad Bunny was inviting us to Puerto Rico from the very start. I mean, the first images that we see are, it looked like Hivaros, like kind of, you know, like farmers on a sugar cane farm, plantation, like cutting sugar cane.

Yeah, and then they bring that visual, obviously, to the football field. Now, the African American in me is like plantation football field, NFL combine. I went full like Dr. Umar like with my kukyama, I'm like, there's levels to this commentary right here. There are levels. I'm like, he's telling y'all to wake up. I don't know if he read all of that, but I will say it does kind of speak to, it speaks to the Caribbean diaspora.

It speaks to the African diaspora. It speaks to the slave trade, but it also speaks specifically to Puerto Rican history. I thought that was really interesting. But I want to hear from you all. Like, how would you describe the story he was trying to tell it and what moments really captured that for each of you? Stephen, I want to start with you on this one. Boy, I mean, where to begin? Because I'm still looking at this show from 10,000 feet in a way and thinking about it kind of in the context of all the culture war stuff surrounding it in the weeks leading up to this performance.

And how much this performance, as much as it has these layers and layers, and we're going to get to. the storytelling in a second and how it moves through, you know, the sugar plantations and ultimately where he's like giving a Grammy to his younger self and all these these different things that we can unpack. At the same time from 10,000 feet, I'm still thinking about how wholesome this show felt in a lot of ways, how unifying this show felt and how the, and I mean this in the best possible way, in the most complimentary way, how in offensive this show was. the aftermath of these weeks and weeks of buildup in which he has been kind of disparaged and kind of people trying to tear him down and, you know, alternate, you know, the alternate version of this halftime show that Turning Point USA put together with Kid Rock. And all these different things where you had, suddenly this show became this flashpoint in the culture war where it was seen as deeply offensive to a whole bunch of people in this country.

then you watch this show and how could you think that? And I think that in its own way, as much as we can unpack, like, this was political, this was political, this is art, this is narrative, this is, you know, if you know the history of this, then this comes out. As much as we're unpacking that stuff, just as a pure piece of spectacle, this was a piece of unifying theater. This was a, this was a, just a piece of spectacular entertainment. And so for me, I'm still kind of thinking about it. I want to hear thoughts about the details of the storytelling, but I'm still viewing this thing from 10,000 feet and just marveling at what a spectacular piece of unifying entertainment this was. How much I felt a sense of patriotism, a sense of unity, a sense of being a part of this bigger and more expansive and beautiful world. Specifically a world that is larger than just the United States.

Right. And as we've been discussing a sense of the Americas and not just America and almost inherent in that felt like a remark on perhaps the futility of borders. And these lines that are drawn from country to country, I felt like he was making a statement that expressed that they are useful. So in as far as they can bring community and pride. And then beyond that, beyond that, There is some way more room for fluidity there than we currently, I think, than we currently bring, I think, to the very United States interpretation of what a border is and is supposed to be. Yeah, I mean, I watched it from outside of the United States. I watched it from the Dominican Republic. And there were watch parties in town today. I've never seen that before. I mean, people were excited.

People were glued in. In terms of the wholesomeness, Stephen, that you were just talking about, There was this moment, I don't know if we're like, you know, growing from the 10,000, let's like drill down in. Drill down. But there was this moment, right, when he's doing the Titi Me Pregunto, where he's like going through all the girls, right? Like, La Sophia, narnico, right?

And then he picks out the engagement ring, right, from the jeweler, right? And then he's like, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to propose to her, right? Mucho de Ha'e-e-e-so. So then he gives the ring to this couple. They get engaged. then, you know, he turns around, and next thing we know, we're at a wedding. Other people are getting married.

And what is more wholesome and beautiful than a wedding? And it was a very Latino wedding. You had, like, the kid asleep on the chair that he had to wake up. It was just, there were so many details. And I was thinking, you know, Stephen, when you said, like, this is such a rich text, it absolutely is. I was also thinking, wow, he nailed everything. Like, you know, when you go to a bad bunny concert,

you're not going to see him do complicated choreography like his Beyonce, right? That's not where you're going to go see. But he nailed every point of that story, right? He nailed like every look in the camera, every line that he was saying. It was just so clear, like the portrait that he was painting of us. And it was so, it was so fun. Like, I was like, oh, I've been to that wedding. How lovely.

I think so. There we are. I don't know what Lady Gaga's doing there, but like it's great. Yeah. But I think something that Bad Bunny did really well on this note, right, is reframing joy as a radical act. And there were overt moments of protest in the performance

and in the whole like Miz An Sen of the halftime show. But I think at its core, it's a show that centered joy and joy as resistance. And I think like with the way that the United States is treating the Latino community right now, it feels wrong to celebrate in some ways. And I think that because Benito centered like a good time, right? He centered a wedding. He centered these moments of having fun.

Like I think of the two men. dancing pedd-out on screen. I was in a party. Everybody was screamed with joy. My jaw dropped, literally, because I was just so taken aback by the idea of like centering this joy and dance and framing it as an act of resistance. I think you're totally right. Like, like, it's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. It really is. Like, it's okay to be happy, you know? Like, I was sitting in my living room, surrounded by my friends. and we were all getting choked up. It was the same thing with the Grammys last week. Like when Bad Bunny won album of the year,

like all the Latinos in the room, myself included, started crying. Like it feels like a win for the community. And it feels so radical to have the biggest celebrity in the world, really, like speak for your people and say it's okay to dance. It's okay to have fun and feel good and dance Padeo and, you know, smile and stuff like that. Like it's exciting. I don't know.

It really, it's heartwarming. You know, one moment that immediately jumped out to me and many people watching was when Bad Bunny handed a Grammy to a young Latino boy. And I took that. I initially took that. I mean, he doesn't just hand the Grammy to a young Latino boy. It's like a young Latino boy. He's watched sitting on a couch with his parents watching Bad Bunny from last Sunday. Give his acceptance speech for, I think, album of the year at the Grammys.

And the camera pauses on this little boy for a few seconds, which is notable, right? Because this is, to Stephen's point, a show with incredible stagecraft and camera movements and choreo. And like, it was just, it was like, there's so much going on, so much motion. But so to stop on just one person for that long who wasn't moving, who was just a little boy smiling and holding this Grammy award. I think to a lot of people it definitely felt notable whatever the moment was the reaction online though

was speculation that the boy was Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old boy that the Trump administration has been aiming to deport NPR music confirmed with Bed Bunny's team that that was not Liam Conejo Ramos but I do think it says a lot about this moment and this performance

that the immediate online speculation turned to that as a possibility so quickly. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I almost want to amend what I said before. Like, it's not okay. But wouldn't you so much rather live in the world that bad bunny built for us today than the other world we've been seeing, right?

And of course, we look at that kid and we think, I don't know, we can all discuss whether we thought it was or not, but like that kid looked like Liam to me. It's also, you know, Conejo is bunny in Spanish. So I've always, like, since this story came out, it's, you know, tugged it at me, tugged at all of us, right? But, like, it could definitely be him. And I think for us, like, we know what Benito looked like as a kid.

We've seen the pictures. And that kid, yeah, I mean, it's impossible right now to see the show and not think that, I think. The place where my brain did go was, like, this child is the age. Right. And size so tiny of. the four or five and six year olds that, that, you know, our government has been separating from their families or deporting or locking in detention centers. I think that for so many of us, that's front of mind right now. And it's impossible, at least for me, it has been impossible

not to look at any child and not have that be the first thing that comes to mind. So in this highly choreographed, very intentional performance that, long shot on that kid, that was, like, not specifically this young boy, Liam, but that, oh, that, this thing that's happening overall, the detention and deportation of children is one of the first things that popped into my head more broadly. Coming up. Really? This is offensive to you?

Think about why this is offensive to you. After a quick break. That bad bunny in so many ways felt like he was really speaking directly to the audience. It was a performance to be seen for sure. But this is also a performance that was meant to be heard. There was the Jumbo Trine message at the end that read the only thing more powerful that hate is love, which is, I felt like a call back to me to Bad Bunny's acceptance speech, or one of his acceptance speeches at the Grammys last weekend.

Totally. And there was the football Bad Bunny threw to the ground at the end, which had the words together, We Are America, written on it. There were the... He spiked it because he knew what had just happened. This is why we have you here, Stephen, because I don't know what that means. There was a football game. He threw the football to the ground, like, woo, funk.

Yeah. And that is signifying that signifies success. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. And see, this is why we have you here. He knew he killed it, though, because at the end, when everybody was singing DTMF, and you see him take out his in-ears and the mic cuts off because he wanted that last moment to be with him and everybody on the field with him.

I thought that was really special too. You could tell that this meant a lot to him. I think by saying explicitly messages like believe in yourself and like love is better than hate, like if you divorce those statements from the show that we just watched, they could be painted behind the, on the end zone of any given NFL game where they like paint end racism. You know, on the, you know, where it's like where the NFL has adopted tons of kind of boilerplate statements pro-love, anti-hate, right? But within the context of the show, they felt meaningful.

They felt radical. And they, as I said kind of earlier in this conversation, they just undercut all of the culture war clap trap that surrounded the lead-in to this show. Like, really, you're offended by love is better than hate. You're offended by believe in yourself. You're offended by we're all human beings and we all deserve love and respect. Like, that's some, like, shocking, radical statement. So I think, I think in a way, the imp, some of the implicit messaging is, like, really, this is offensive to you? Think about why this is offensive to you.

Because it really, like, nothing that's being said here is actually offensive to you if you think about it. Well, that's why when the performance was announced, you know, and it was announced that Bad Bunny was going to be the halftime performer. Like, I had kind of a sour taste in my mouth, especially the show coming after an album that is so anti-colonial and so pro Puerto Rico, mostly because of this history that the NFL has. has with racism. And I just felt that was at odds with what Bad Bunny is trying to do as an artist and how radical of a performer Bad Bunny is, how radical his messaging is, both in and out of his lyrics. It took me a second to kind of get over that, so to speak. Eventually, I ended up at a point where I've kind of reconciled, you know, the politics of the NFL with the fact that Bad Bunny is inherently radical. Like I said earlier, like joy is resistance, I think is really powerful and

important. But at the same time, like, do we want to fit inside small boxes? You know, um, after seeing the halftime show, I am on the side of, I think it was good for him to get out there. But I do think his statements, as we've talked about, right, these kind of like, milk toast statements of love is more powerful than hate. Like, you know, there's only so far you can get with that. Hmm. Listen, oh my gosh, David, Alana, Rihanna,

this was a dream conversation. Thank you all so much for staying up and talking with me about all things bad bunny. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having us. Thank you, Brittany. I'm on the West Coast,

so I got a whole night ahead of me. Oh, my God, so you could like hit the club after this. I had to leave a party, and I'm like, and you'll be able to go. I devr'd the game. I'm going to go watch Seattle finish crushing the Patriot. I couldn't have.

Do we know who want, Or do you want to do you not want to know that? No, I just got the news alert a second ago. And it's like Seattle smothers New England. Oh, good. Oh, my gosh. That's going to put me in a good mood. That was Stephen Thompson, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour,

music and entertainment critic, Rihanna Cruz, and Alana Casanova Burgess, host of La Brega podcast from Futuro Studios, which has a brand new season out. And I am Brittany Luce. Host of NPR's, it's been a minute. This episode was produced by Liz Metzker, Corey Antonio Rose, and Mike Katzen. The showrunner for Pop Culture Happy Hour is Jessica Reedy, and the showrunner for It's Been a Minute is Barton Girdwood.

Hello, Come In provides pop culture happy hours theme music. Thank you for listening. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.