Breaking down the symbolism in Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show
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12:30 PM on Monday, February 9
By RICARDO ZUNIGA
For his Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny transported the field in Northern California around 3,500 miles, transforming it into the fields of Puerto Rico. Even before he launched into “Tití Me Preguntó,” the Puerto Rican superstar had suffused the set with symbols of the island — and a sense of wider Pan-Americanism.
Here's a breakdown of the Easter eggs hidden in plain view during the 13-minute set.
The show opened in a sugarcane field, an homage to Puerto Rico's main cash crop when it became a U.S. territory at the end of the 19th century. While the island transitioned from an agricultural society in the 1950s as tax incentives were introduced to encourage manufacturing, pava-sporting jíbaros (farmers) are still active — and iconic.
The jíbaros commonly wear all white, as Bad Bunny did throughout his appearance. White, after all, helps beat the Caribbean heat. But there's also a common saying in Latin America: “Esta vestido de punta en blanco” — meaning “dressed in all white” but in a more figurative sense, “well dressed.”
Touting its “coco frio” wares, the stall evokes the Caribbean roadside stands selling cold, refreshing coconut water in the fruit itself — none of that boxed stuff you'd find at the grocery store. Just add a straw. (But don't get it on your all-white clothes. It'll stain.) The coconut iconography proliferated the show, including the drawings of coconut footballs in the introduction.
Other roadside stops in the show: dominoes, a common pastime; a makeshift nail salon; a cash-only gold and silver stall; and a taco stand. Everyone, after all, loves tacos.
Bad Bunny made a quick stop for piraguas, a type of shaved ice. Each syrup bottle featured a different Latin American flag — a recurring theme in a show that took pains to acknowledge the interplay and commonalities among countries in the Americas. Take the boxers that followed soon after, Xander Zayas and Emiliano Vargas, who respectively wore the flags of Puerto Rico and Mexico on their shorts. Puerto Rico and Mexico have a heated rivalry in boxing that goes back decades, and both have boasted multiple world champions.
Dancing outside the casita were a range of celebrities with ties to different countries in the Americas: singers Cardi B (Dominican Republic), Karol G (Colombia) and Young Miko (Puerto Rico), actors Jessica Alba (Mexico) and Pedro Pascal (Chile) and baseball player Ronald Acuña Jr. (Venezuela). Influencer Alix Earle and Bad Bunny's business partner Dave Grutman were also there.
And we can't forget the music itself: The sequence included a projection of the sapo concho cartoon that's become synonymous with Bad Bunny and Puerto Rico, as well as an appearance from Nicaraguan conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.
One of the most talked-about segments of the show was the very real wedding officiated onstage, where the vows were immediately followed by a surprise performance from Lady Gaga. Clad in a light blue dress, Gaga sported a large pinkish-red flower: the flor de maga, the national flower of Puerto Rico.
A less official symbol of Puerto Rico? The small child asleep on the chairs on the outskirts of the wedding. It's a common sight at Latin American gatherings, as kids fall asleep on the makeshift beds while their parents dance the night away.
After the wedding, it was time to party. Serving up a shot was Toñita, the owner of Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club — one of the last Puerto Rican social clubs in New York. She received a shoutout in his song “NuevaYol.” On the siding, made up to look like a liquor or beer brand was the word “Conejo” — fitting for El Conejo Malo (quite literally, “Bad Bunny.”)
No stranger to anthemizing a major sporting event (“La Copa de la Vida,” anyone?), Ricky Martin — another Puerto Rican legend and crossover star — sang Bad Bunny's “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” sitting on a white, plastic chair in front of a plantain tree. Not only are the chairs a common sight at gatherings, but the setting also evokes the cover of Bad Bunny's “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” That album just took home several Grammys, one of which cameoed right before Martin's performance.
Bad Bunny and several jíbaros scaled sparking power poles for a performance of “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”). The tableau referenced the catastrophic Hurricane Maria and its aftermath as well as the chronic power outages that persist on the island.
The Puerto Rican flag waved during the performance featured a lighter shade of blue than the official flag — and it's no printing accident. It's the original Puerto Rican flag, a symbol closely associated with the independence movement. When the U.S. took over the island, the blue was darkened to mirror the U.S. flag.
The entire performance was a gold mine for any experts in vexillology — the study of flags. Toward the end of his performance, Bad Bunny proclaimed, “God bless America,” before reciting the countries that comprise North and South America as the representative flags streamed behind him. It was a final nod to Pan-Americanism and the idea that “America” encompasses far more than the United States.
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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman and Mallika Sen contributed to this report from “NuevaYol.”
