The Current - The politics of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

Coming off his Album of the Year win at the Grammys, where he made a statement denouncing ICE, Bad Bunny will take the stage at the Super Bowl half time show. What message will his performance send, and why the NFL has gone against the White House to support him.

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find two blocks from the White House every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. including YouTube. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. If you're watching the Super Bowl this weekend, that is who you will see in the halftime show. The Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny will take to one of the world's biggest concert stages on Sunday coming off an historic win at the Grammys for Album of the Year,

the first Spanish language record to claim that title. And in his acceptance speech, before any thing, thank you's bad bunny said this. I'm going to say eyes out. We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans. Bad Bunny has long been a political artist. The decision to have him perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, especially now in the political climate that is unfolding in the United States, has sparked mixed reactions. Enthusiasm from fans. U.S. President Donald Trump calls it a terrible choice. The NFL held its ground and is expecting viewership to spike for the performance.

Richard Villegas is a music journalist, creator and host of the Songmess podcast focusing on Latin American music and community. He is in the Dominican Republic. Richard, good morning. Hello, Matt, good morning. So glad to have you on the program to talk about this. There are a lot of people who will tune into the Super Bowl and may not know one thing about Bad Bunny. Give me the 101. Who is Bad Bunny?

Oof, I mean, look, if there's one thing you need to know about Bad Bunny is that you're going to have a great time. It's going to be a great show. It's going to be great fun. Bad Bunny is the biggest star out of Puerto Rico easily in the last 10 years. And at this point of all time, he came to prominence as a trap artist on SoundCloud of all places. You know, everybody's been doing the 2016 challenge and what have you. Ten years ago, Bad Bunny was bagging groceries at a local supermarket. I mean, he is quite literally the embodiment of the American dream. And so from Trap, he just went into reggaeton, which is, again, one of the biggest musical exports of Puerto Rico of the past 20 years.

And then with this record that he put out last year, that we did tar more photos, he expanded that into like a really beautiful, loving sort of overview of Puerto Rican musical history, also going into bomba, plena, you know, folk music, just salsa. You know, it's a love letter to all aspects of Puerto Rican culture and music and tradition. What are the amazing things about him is that he has had success on his own terms, right? That he has not had to move to the mainstream. The mainstream came to him. That's correct, yes. So there's been a lot of discussion about, like, his record deal, because he's not signed to a major label, your Sony's or Universal's. He is signed to Rimas, which I believe is a label that he co-founded.

And I believe he has like a 90-10 licensing deal with a major label. But he owns all his masters. He has all creative control, which has allowed him to really push the boundary, not just sonically, but even visually. A couple years ago in the pandemic, he put out this video for a single called Yo Perreosola, where he was in full drag, which was unheard of in reggaeton. And it's often, you know, masculinity, not only in Latin America, American culture, but hip hop culture from which reggaeton is derived is something, you know, is a totem pole that you don't really touch. And so it was really quite, you know, transgressive. But again, the fact that he,

you know, can, can, can, can, has all of this creative control. He can be provocative and he can be, you know, he can propose fresh and new ideas and be boundary pushing. And that's really, like, kept him ahead of the curve. And sing in Spanish, not have to sing in English to be a superstar. Oh, absolutely not. No, I mean, it was actually when he joined, what was it, was it, was a Cardi B? or J-Lo, no, when he performed at the Super Bowl with Jay Balvin, he sang a little bit in English from that song that they had with Cardi B. And again, that was really quite unusual, you know, it was like the first time he'd ever performed in English.

He has not had to change the, you know, like his language. No, I mean, he would go, he started learning it when he like really started breaking into the United States. So he would go on the Tonight Show and really speak in broken English. and you can actually see the improvement of his domain over the language over the last couple years. But he hasn't needed to do that. I mean, you know, he just went to number one in China last week with a whole Spanish record, you know? So it's one of those things of like, you know, people forget that in the United States, upwards of 50 million people speak Spanish. He doesn't need to speak English.

I mean, you know, there's more people that speak Spanish at this point. What does it say to you, given all of that, that he's performing at the halftime show? I think it's wonderful. I think it's so exciting. I mean, it's not, you know, he's not the first Latino to perform at the halftime show. Gloria Stefan did so in the 90s. Just a couple of years ago, we had Shakira and J-Lo, which, again, it's widely held belief that either of them could have headlined solo because they really truly have the hits and the performing chops. So it's exciting to have a Latino there, especially at such a charged political time for Latinos in the United States.

But also, like, it just is the global rhythm. I believe for many, many years, the YouTube stats have shown that, like, out of, like, the top 10 videos every year, eight are by reggaeton videos, you know? So this is the global beat of the past 20 years. The U.S. has a hard time seeing outside of itself, but around the world, people recognize this beat,

the tumpa, Tumpa. The first time I ever heard Despacito, I was walking around Stockholm. So it's just, you know, this is just the beat that is playing everywhere. So it just makes perfect sense that, like, the biggest name in the genre would be at the Super Bowl. And yet he arrives in this moment where you have ice raids in the United States, mass deportations.

He didn't tour in the United States for this superstar, this enormous record, because he was worried about ice showing up outside of his concerts. And so what do you expect to see and hear from him on Sunday in this moment? I don't know. And that's what makes it the most exciting because he doesn't even really have to do anything anymore. People are already up in a tism. People are already mad. People have been mad since it was announced. So that he just has to show up and do a good job.

That's really all he has to do to make people, you know, again, the detractors upset. But is there an expectation on him? I mean, at the Grammys, he did make comments. He wasn't allowed to perform, but he did make those comments when he was on stage. Is there an expectation that he will do or say something explicitly to comment on the political moment that we're in? Look, I certainly hope he does. I don't know if there, I think that culturally speaking, yes, there is an expectation in that, you know, we keep talking about like, well, you have the platform, please use it. I mean, during, you know, J-Lo and Shakira's set, they, J-Lo had this allegory for children in cages, right? So, like, there is, I'm sure that there will be something to that effect, certainly about the ice raids. But so much of this last record had to do with colonization. It had to do with gentrification. It had to do with how Puerto Ricans are being driven from their homes being priced out by Americans. fleeing the mainland U.S., buying land because Puerto Rico is technically cheaper.

And so, like, you know, I think he will comment on that because, again, he's been riding the Puerto Rico train all the way. And he's very, I mean, Ricky Martin penned an open letter to him just this week, not only congratulating him, but but underlining how he has really bet on Puerto Rico and won. And that's really what's most important for Puerto Ricans. It's just like, we don't have to aspire to the mainland U.S. I mean, there is the matter of citizens. which it seems most Americans do not realize that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. And from the Grammys, I thought that the biggest, for me, the biggest takeaway was when he was bantering with Trevor Noah. And, you know, Trevor made this joke about like, oh, if things

continue like this in the U.S., can I move to Puerto Rico? And that he said, you know, bad money said, well, Puerto Rico is part of the United States, but he put that in air quotes because that brings into question the matter of sovereignty of like Puerto Ricans see Puerto Rico and and refer to it as their own country rather than, you know, and it's a colony. I mean, it's a, it's, the legal term is that it's a territory of the United States, but, you know, it's a colony. And so Puerto Rico doesn't have much agency when it comes to, like, political matters and even its own economy.

So I think he'll bring a lot of that sort of like Puerto Rican suffrage to the stage. I'm sure he'll address ICE for sure. The Latin American diaspora is huge and diverse and vast. But what do you think it means right now? to see themselves reflected on this stage. I heard people say that him even being there is a victory. Absolutely. Oh, my gosh.

I mean, with everything that's happening, I mean, and again, this is not new. Everything that's happening now is not new. I believe previous to what we're seeing now, I mean, the top head of, the top head count for deportations was held by Obama, actually. So like this, you know, the migratory immigration crisis in the U.S. has been long. It's prolonged. It's protracted. It's horrible. And so like this is not new, you know. And so like we have been embattled for a very long time. Again, the U.S., even though it's a nation built by immigrants on stolen land, it is also incredibly xenophobic, you know, and we won't necessarily need to get into that. But, you know, again, having Latinos at the forefront, not giving them a lick of English, that's my biggest hope is that he doesn't say a word of English throughout the whole runtime of the show.

What would that mean to you in front of 100 million people in the United States in this moment? If he doesn't say a word of English in his halftime show. It means he doesn't have to genuflect. It means that he doesn't have to bend to, like, again, like to the overlords, if you will. You know, it's just like, take me as I am. Take my people as we are. this is what we have to offer and we contribute. I mean, his residency in Puerto Rico, again, as you mentioned before, he did not tour the United States.

He did a 31-day residency in Puerto Rico. And that generated about $733 million for the island's economy, which is not a small take. You know, and so it's just, it's this idea of like, you know, Latin Americans contribute like everybody else, you know. And again, you know, we are bilingual. most Americans are not, you know? And so, like, that is such an interesting thing of, like, we are sort of segmented by language, you know, and it's just like, we don't have to compromise. It's not an if, it's an and, right? Like, we are more than just, like, English.

It's so silly. And I'm so happy that so much of this is questioning the status quo and this very bitter, polarized reaction. And, again, at the end of the day, I think it's just going to be a really good fun show. That's what he said. He said in his press conference that the world is going to be happy this Sunday and they're going to have fun. There will be dancing. Yes. I mean, and there's so much to dance too.

I mean, again, reggaeton has been the club beat for the past 20 years. But there's also going to be salsa. I mean, you know, I was in Korea this summer and I wandered into a bar and they were having a bachata class. You know, just like music transcends, you know, language. At the end of the day, you can usually tell what Latin music is through percussion and maybe horn. you know, that sort of cocktail that is ultimately Latino identity. You know, and so, you know, just to see that, I expect to see a full salsa band on the stage. I expect, again, there to be reggaeton.

I don't think there'll be any trap. I mean, he's been talking about how we're going to dance. You know, I expect to see lots of, like, folk, Puerto Caribbean folk music on stage. Richard, we will be watching. Great to talk to you. Thank you very much. You as well, Matt. Thank you so much.

Richard Villegas is a music journalist, podcaster, based in the dimension. Dominican Republic. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway.

Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.