By: Alison Echeverria Soto ’26
On Jan. 15, 1967, the first ever Super Bowl was played. Since then it has had a radical transformation from a mere football championship with 61,946 people in attendance to the United States’ most-watched annual event. This year’s Super Bowl had 124.9 million people all around the world watching. From fans of the two teams playing, to regular football fans, advertisement watchers and halftime enjoyers, Bad Bunny’s halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers becoming the most watched halftime show in Super Bowl history.
The halftime show was more than a musical performance though. It was a representation of hispanic culture that started off with Bad Bunny introducing the sugarcane fields where Black and Latino blood built the Caribbean to its highest potential at that time. As he passes by the field we see multiple scenarios representing culture such as people playing dominoes which is how old men run the neighborhood, and women getting their nails done representing beauty, gossip, power and therapy. Additionally, as he walked along the fields, we saw Puerto Rican champion boxer Xander Zayas and Mexican American prospect Emiliani Vargas representing the historic rivalry between both countries as boxing was a way out of poverty.
As he moved on from the songs “Titi Me Pregunto” and “Yo Perreo Sola,” we were surprised with Lady Gaga performing a salsa version of “Die With a Smile” and joined for “Baile Inolvidable” where a couple actually got married. The couple invited Bad Bunny to their wedding as a joke but later found out he invited them to get married during the performance. As everyone dances, you see kids asleep on chairs representing how you adapt to adult life, no babysitter, just family.
He performed “Safaera,” “Monaco,” “El Apagon,” and “Cafe Con Ron.” Guests were surprised when performer Ricky Martin came out and sang, “Lo Que Paso A Hawaii.” As a Puerto Rican who sang in English to succeed in the United States in the 90s, that day he sang an anti-colonist song entirely in Spanish on one of the biggest stages in that same country.
What was so special about this performance is that Bad Bunny brought real people and businesses to the stage, such as Tonitas, the last Puerto Rican owned bar located in New York City. It’s a Caribbean social club where people go to play dominoes, drink, dance and just have a fun time.
Bad Bunny didn’t just perform, he showed Latino culture exactly as it is lived. Sugarcane fields, coco frio, domino tables, barbershops, kids asleep on chairs at late night, and even frozen ice stands to show the value of work, faith, beauty, hustle, family, joy and survival. This wasn’t aesthetics. This was a memory, community and history on a stage with millions of people watching and feeling prideful about their heritage.
The Raider Press 