Super Bowl Halftime Show: Bad Bunny Brings Love and Unity in a Celebration of America

Before I get into all the context and controversy surrounding this halftime show. I want to say that it is a top 4 show for me. My list goes Prince (forever number 1), Beyoncé performing Formation and stealing the show from Coldplay, Rihanna and then Bad Bunny. This year’s show had great music, was layered with symbolism and had great guests.

There was a lot of lead up to this year’s halftime show….more than I think there has been in the past decade. You had Green Day opening with songs explicitly about the president being an idiot and calling out ICE the day before and you had Bad Bunny…who recently cancelled a US tour in response to ICE and has openly criticised the president. Usually, the controversy is reserved for after the show and not weeks before.

Let’s set the context. When the full musical bill was named, President Trump took specific aim at Green Day and Bad Bunny. He criticised that it was going to be entirely in Spanish and claimed that “no one will understand it”…well…except for the tens of millions of American citizens who speak Spanish. Then he really told on himself by endorsing an alternative halftime show hosted by Kid Rock and a bunch of white artists. Claiming that the show with the most straight white people was the “real American” show and urging people to watch it…remember…the person spending all this time on how white a halftime show is…is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! Wow. The bar is really low in America right now. Not helping matters that the president posting a racist meme of the Obamas as monkeys and then saying it was a staffer’s fault. Once again, THIS IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Well, all of this swirling around had a lot of questions about the halftime show and what was going to happen. Would there be violence? Would there be a protest? Would there be hot salsa dancing? In order…no…kind of…and most definitely yes. In a show filled with everything from Pedro Pascal to a legal wedding, there is a lot to talk about.

Let’s start at the beginning. Green Day with pre-game. I think pre-game has only been a thing in the last 5 years or so after Apple Music became the Super Bowl sponsor from Pepsi. Green Day are music vets are were pretty solid. They gave you what you’s expect: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Holiday and American Idiot were standouts. The NFL usually doesn’t do such guitar centred rock for the Super Bowl, so it was good to see that genre represented. The night before, Billy Joe replaced some lyrics in American Idiot with MAGA, Trump and ICE, so we were wondering if he would do the same in pre-game. They played the songs pretty straight up and pretty well. I mean, the song American Idiot is a protest song anyway, so just playing it is protest enough really. Great energy. Great protest. Great way to open the show.

Next came the different anthems before the big game. Charlie Purth, an up and coming pop star with a ton of hits already, gave us the National Anthem. It was pretty solid and I love the keyboard and fairly stripped back version. I must admit that Whitney Houston is number 1 and everything else is just serviceable. We will now go to Brandi Carlile with America the Beautiful. I really enjoyed this version, because it had her alt country delivery but also a genuine feeling of joy as she was singing it. Moreover, it was a protest in itself to have a queer artist singing America the Beautiful when the president is constantly trying to undercut LGBTIQA+ rights.

Another form of subtle protest in the land of the president going anti-DEI is Coco Jones singing Lift Every Voice and Sing. The NFL adding Lift Every Voice and Sing has been a thing for like 5-7 years, so don’t listen to anyone who makes it seem like its some DEI woke thing that just happened. That is disingenuous and probably racist. Coco wore a long white dress with some red and blue on the side as she was backed by an African-American string section all wearing white suits with a red and blue stripe on the sleeve. I thought the costuming was brilliant with a little nod to the American flag, which signified that all cultures make up America and we should not erase or favour one over the other. Coco’s performance was on point with outstanding gospel touches and some really soulful vocals. Once again, her performance and the nod to the American flag was a subtle protest against the president’s recent racist post and anti-DEI messaging.

Now we get to the big one. Bad Bunny. First of all, Apple has gone full music video to the point where I’m not sure you could have seen anything in the crowd. There was a stage, but he was only on it like 80% of the time. However, I’m not in the crowd, so I don’t care. I’m going to do the music first and then the symbolism. He fit a lot in 13 minutes. We had like 10 tracks, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, an actual wedding, Perdo Pascal dancing with Cardi B and Jessica Alba…as well as dancing on top of a pick-up truck…how American is that?! Talking about the music is difficult because there are like bits of songs all blended together, so I will focus on the highlights. It starts with Bad Bunny walking through cane fields and interacting with other Peurto Ricans at the store or playing dominoes or making drinks. During this section he is singing his big hit Titi Me Pregunto. This led to some singing on top of a building and then my favourite part, which was dancing on top of a pick-up to a version of EoO. The field was filled of some of the sexiest background dancers I have ever seen, as well as Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba and Cardi B. The energy was through the roof, which led to an actual wedding on top of the stage. The people parted to reveal Lady Gaga doing a salsa version of Die with a Smile, which was just fire. The other surprise guest was Ricky Martin who did a quick verse of the Bad Bunny track El Apagon. Loved the two guest and was genuinely surprised. Would have loved for more Ricky, but there could have been time limitations.

Now, the end sees Bad Bunny saying “God bless America” and then announcing all the countries that make-up the Americas as people waved flags behind him. He then said that love is stronger than hate, spiked a ball in the end zone and danced off the field. All of the performers were people of colour and Bad Bunny celebrated their everyday lives. This stands in stark contrast to the government’s fear tactics and casting all immigrants that are of colour as criminals. Bad Bunny’s entire set humanised immigrants of colour and gave people a look at how they want a better life. It says a lot that messages of unity, humanity and love are considered protest…but that’s where it is in the US.

I loved this show and it is everything that makes America great. We had artists of different sexuality, different ethnic backgrounds, different ages and different musical genres all coming together with one single message of love. The entire shw was amazing and that fact that all the protest was about love and unity and not overtly violent protest shows how the power is wrong and people need to question their fear tactics. I assume that Apple Music will make it a single like last year’s show, so be on the lookout for that. I can’t wait.