Unlike past halftime show headliners, Bad Bunny has yet to make a full song in English, explaining to music publication SPIN in 2021 that “Spanish is [expletive] cool, more than English.”
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“I’m pleased that we are in a time where I don’t need to change anything about myself — not my musical style, not my language, not my culture — to go far,” he added. “That doesn’t mean I’ll never sing in English.”
It’s been an astonishing rise for the singer, rapper, and songwriter born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who a decade ago was working as a supermarket bagger while uploading his music to SoundCloud. While often tagged as Latin trap, música urbana, or reggaeton, Bad Bunny routinely draws on a vast range of Latin, rock, hip-hop, and pop styles. And while he doesn’t shy away from social commentary, he also makes music that can light up any dance floor.
Add in his cutting-edge fashion sense and an indifference toward gender norms — which is as laid back as his vocal style — and listeners begin to understand why the 31-year-old has become a dominant cultural figure to millennials and zoomers well beyond the Spanish-speaking world. A recent Emerson poll found that nearly two-thirds of US voters under 30 described themselves as “excited” about his halftime performance, with a majority of all Black and Hispanic voters also expressing that sentiment.
Bad Bunny at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala in New York, May 6, 2024.NINA WESTERVELT/NYT
Thanks to global hits like Daddy Yankee’s 2004 song “Gasolina,” reggaeton was already a mature genre when Bad Bunny first started releasing a series of singles in 2016. His first album, “X 100pre,” showed many of the traits that have become Bad Bunny’s trademark: a thoroughly modern (and heavily auto-tuned) sound, layered-message lyrics that display both swagger and vulnerability, and an offbeat vibe that brings an art school approach to popular music, the way that David Bowie and Talking Heads once did.
The album also includes guest spots from hip-hop and EDM stars Drake and Diplo, as well as El Alfa, the king of the high-speed Dominican reggaeton subgenre known as denbow.
As his popularity has skyrocketed, Bad Bunny has centered pan-Latin musical traditions. The song “un X100to,” with Texas’ Grupo Frontera, had a regional Mexican sound. His most recent LP, “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” shows the development of Puerto Rican music from the plena and bomba traditions to salsa. Folk sounds were even more prominent in his 2023 Grammy Awards performance and his acoustic NPR Tiny Desk set (which featured Boston-based cuatro master Fabiola Mendez).
He’s also maintained his political edge on and off stage, becoming a frequent critic of the current administration. Most recently, he declared “ICE out” during one of his acceptance speeches at the Grammy Awards last weekend, adding that, “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
Bad Bunny accepts the album of the year award during the 68th Grammy Awards.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
When he returned to the stage to accept his award for album of the year — making history with “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” the first Spanish language LP to win the honor — he said, “I want to dedicate this award to all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.”
But Bad Bunny had been at loggerheads with President Trump long before last weekend. In 2018, during the first Trump administration, the singer complained to Jimmy Fallon about the president’s response to the devastation caused to Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. In 2024, he endorsed Kamala Harris’s candidacy after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during a Trump rally. The 2025 song “NUEVAYoL” includes an AI-created Trump imitation in which the president apologizes to immigrant communities. (Trump blasted the Super Bowl gig as “absolutely ridiculous,” claiming he’d never heard of Bad Bunny.)
Bad Bunny has also made pointed comments about issues related to Puerto Rico. His generational anthem “Una Velita” slammed the Puerto Rican government’s hurricane response, while “El Apagón” included lyrics about utility provider Luma Energy amid power outages that have plagued the island. Both his songs and his public appearances have made clear his support for Puerto Rican independence rather than statehood.
He also drew attention to his home with his San Juan concert residency, which spanned 31 three-plus-hour shows. Fans from around the world — including Boston — came to the island and added an estimated $200 million to the local economy during a slow tourist season.
Bad Bunny performs during his first show of his concert residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July 2025. Alejandro Granadillo/Associated Press
The prolific artist has sent well over 100 songs into the Billboard Top 100. Which of those will be performed on Sunday has been kept under wraps, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters that the halftime show is “used to unite people,” adding, “I think Bad Bunny understands that.”
One place Bad Bunny won’t be any time soon is Boston, where he made his local debut at the Agganis Arena in 2018, was honored with Bad Bunny Day in 2022, and played two TD Garden shows and one Fenway Park concert between 2022 and 2024. His current world tour is skipping the mainland US because of his concern that, as he told i-D magazine, “there was the issue that … ICE could be outside [the concert venue].”
Bad Bunny’s collaborative efforts extend well beyond his music. Among the many artists who’ve worked on his videos are the influential Puerto Rican actor Jacobo Morales and the cutting-edge video director and Polaroid photographer Stillz. Historian Jorell Meléndez-Badillo wrote a series of short narratives for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” But for all of that rarified company, Bad Bunny has also dabbled in pro wrestling and been a frequent and willing pitchman, appearing in some 40 commercials for brands like Cheetos, Pepsi, and Corona.
Now, those worlds come together for this Sunday’s halftime show. And make no mistake: While his art might have enough layers to be the subject of college courses, Bad Bunny’s live performances are full-on grand spectacles filled with catchy and often licentious songs. Ahead of the big performance, get to know Bad Bunny with this mini playlist.
1. “MÍA” — This collaboration with Drake introduced Bad Bunny to partygoers around the world, and has been a constant at cookouts since its 2018 release.
2. “I Like It” — The pre-COVID days were dominated by Bad Bunny’s collaborations with Colombian reggaeton star J. Balvin. The two musicians teamed up with Cardi B for this smash, then made the album “OASIS,” and with Jhay Cortez recorded “No Me Conoce,” which remains one of the most popular tracks that any of the three artists have recorded.
3. “Afilando los Cuchillos” — Bad Bunny’s reputation for social commentary started with this collaboration with Residente and iLe. The song accused then-Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello of being “un incompetente homofóbico” – an incompetent homophobe. Days after its release, Rossello resigned.
4. “Andrea” — One of the best examples of Bad Bunny’s penchant for rich storytelling is his collaboration with Nuyorican indie duo Buscabulla, which is about the dreams and struggles of a Puerto Rican woman. The need to end domestic violence has been a recurring theme in Bad Bunny’s songs, such as “Solo De Mi,” and also was a component of his 2020 Billboard Music Awards acceptance speech.
5. “WELTiTA” — Bad Bunny continues to center Puerto Rico’s once-overlooked underground scene in this collaboration with the trio Chuwi. It’s also an example of how, despite all the flair and energy of his live performances, his lyrics can be wistful and dreamy.
