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I’m going to wager that no other Super Bowl Halftime Show artist in history has garnered as much chatter, opinion, controversy or opinion pieces as Bad Bunny, who will perform on Sunday (Feb. 8) at the final between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots in Santa Clara, California.
Every media outlet in the country seems to have a point of view: Is his performance a political statement? A cultural statement? An act of defiance? An act of disrespect toward this most venerable American sports tradition? A Latino power move? A Puerto Rican power move? In the past few weeks, I’ve received dozens of emails offering the opinion of industry leaders, hospitality executives, CEOs, entertainment figures, data companies and, in a twist, countless Latino and Puerto Rican university professors and PhDs touted as sage talking heads.
The opinions on Bad Bunny tend to fly fast and furious or high and lofty. In my entire time covering Latin music, I’ve never encountered such a plethora of “experts” on any artist, much less one that most have almost certainly never met, much less interviewed (shout out, however, to professors Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, who authored the excellent P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (Duke University Press).
I’ve also never encountered such a highly-politicized halftime performance, despite the artists’ attempts to not make it political.
“I’m just a normal guy that makes music,” Bunny said in an interview Friday with Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans. “I want people to feel happiness and joy. I want to make people dance. I want to make them feel proud and think that everything is possible.”
As transparent as that statement is, pundits are stuck on the fact that last summer, in an interview with i-D Magazine, Bunny said he wasn’t touring the U.S. for now because he had done so in the past, but that the possibility of ICE agents targeting his fans was a factor.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times. All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent.” He added, “But there was the issue of — like, f—king Ice could be outside [my concert].”
Is that really a political statement? Last week’s NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that 65% of Americans — that’s two-thirds of the country — say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has “gone too far,” an 11 point increase since last summer, when Bunny first mentioned the agency. In other words, the Puerto Rican star voiced what the majority of the country feels.
When Bunny picked up his Grammy award for album of the year this past Sunday (making history with the first all Spanish album to win the category), he gave a beautiful acceptance speech focused on pride and Puerto Rico, and punctuated at the very end with an “ICE out.” Again, is that really a political statement, in the wake of the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota at the hands of ICE?
No. It’s common sense and decency.
Beyond that, however, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Bad Bunny’s upcoming performance has many up in arms because he will sing only in Spanish, the language he’s always performed in and the language that’s made him the most-streamed music artist in the world on Spotify. And yet, in this country, many still see Spanish — which is also my native tongue — as the language of poor immigrants, of foreigners, of less-than.
Bad Bunny’s popularity does not stem from politics. It comes from making catchy, hooky, well-crafted songs that stem from a place of honesty and consistency in message that appeal to the masses, regardless of language and regardless of origin. In fact, when he recorded Debí Tirar Más Fotos, the album that propelled him to the Super Bowl and to his historic Grammy win, he wasn’t aiming for international recognition.
“I said, ‘I’m going to make an album from Puerto Rico, for Puerto Ricans,” he told me during an interview in August. “I didn’t think it would transcend so much. I genuinely didn’t care if this album was heard in this country or that country. I was happy to have it be successful in Puerto Rico.”
But with its irresistible beats, punctuated by traditional Puerto Rican rhythms and instrumentation, Debí Tirar struck a chord, becoming a global invitation to dance and celebrate. What else could be more in keeping with the spirit of the Super Bowl?
On Sunday, when Bad Bunny takes the stage, let’s stop for 30 minutes with the sermons and the politics and the lofty opinions. Let’s just shut up and dance.
