What Bad Bunny’s halftime show means for Puerto Rico

Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY Fri, February 6, 2026 at 8:16 PM UTC

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For three hours last summer, Wilfredo José Burgos-Matos felt like he didn’t have to leave Puerto Rico again after moving away from the island 11 years ago.

Bad Bunny’s residency in San Juan last August hit Burgos-Matos like a wave of nostalgia, from the plena-style rhythm mixed with reggaeton and salsa filling "El Choli" coliseum to the pink casita and mountains built for the stage, bringing him back to his hometown of Aibonito, Puerto Rico.

“It just very honestly made me kind of realize, or even dream a little bit, about staying and not having to live again and go through this diaspora mourning, or this grief of always being in constant movement outside of the island,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s some sort of a gift that that Bad Bunny gave to Puerto Ricans.”

Now, Bad Bunny is bringing that same energy to one of the biggest global stages this weekend: the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show. Bad Bunny has repeatedly centered Puerto Rico in his music and his career, including his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” and his recent 31-date “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency in San Juan that generated millions into the island’s local economy.

1 / 0Bad Bunny makes history at the Grammys. The Puerto Rican star's career in photos.

Bad Bunny accepts the album of the year award for "DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS" onstage during the 68th Grammy Awards on Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles

Bad Bunny, whose name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has hinted his performance will be about unity during the trailer for the halftime show, where he danced with people from various ages and from diverse backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.

But it will also, undoubtedly, be about Puerto Rico.

“Benito speaks first and foremost to Puerto Ricans, and so he doesn't really care what other people think, and I think that's part of the formula for his success,” said Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bad Bunny leans into Puerto Rican pride

Over the past decade, Bad Bunny has skyrocketed to one of the world's biggest superstars, going from a local supermarket bagboy-turned-SoundCloud-rapper to the most streamed artist across the globe.

Through it all, he’s leaned into his Puerto Ricanness.

Boricua slang like perreo (a type of dance linked to reggaeton music), janguear (to hang out) and bichiyal (a stylish woman) are sprinkled throughout many of Bad Bunny’s songs. He's worn a pava, a traditional Puerto Rican straw hat, on red carpets and in the promo for the Super Bowl.

An advertisement for the Super Bowl LX Halftime show featuring Bad Bunny is seen in the Super Bowl LX Media Center at the Moscone Center on February 04, 2026 in San Francisco, California.

He highlighted the struggles Puerto Ricans experienced on the island following the devastating back-to-back hurricanes, including Hurricane Maria, in 2017, during a documentary-style music video for his hit, “El Apagon.” He’s highlighted the ongoing gentrification in Puerto Rico, including in his song “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” on his latest album.

“When you have a Puerto Rican, like Bad Bunny, appear on this massive platform, it is some sort of a reminder to viewers that Puerto Rico exists,” said Burgos-Matos, a Caribbean music academic. “That Puerto Ricans are not just consumers of U.S. culture or passive participants of the U.S.”

The rapper has also boosted tourism to the island. His residency last summer alone brought in estimates of $200 million to more than $700 million to Puerto Rico.

Bad Bunny shines a light on Puerto Rico’s history

But Boricuas in the United States and on the island are hoping that viewers of the halftime show will do more than just Google tickets to visit the island. Instead, some are hoping it will shine a light on the island’s deep history – and its complicated relationship with the United States.

Burgos-Matos, who left Puerto Rico more than a decade ago to further his education and now has a doctorate, currently lives in the Bronx, “an extension of Puerto Rico,” he said. His journey is one that many in the diaspora take.

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Roughly 5.8 million Puerto Ricans live in the United States, according to Pew Research Center. Another 3.2 million live on the island, which is a U.S. territory, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“There is a lot of trauma that Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans have been enduring for the past years with, not only with the ongoing colonial status, but also the economic crisis, the mass migration, the unpayable debt,” he said. “This…is a form of asserting some sort of cultural survival.”

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - SEPTEMBER 20: Bad Bunny performs live during "No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí; Una Más" Residencia at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot on September 20, 2025 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Gladys Vega/Getty Images)

Mikey Cordero, an artist living in Santurce, Puerto Rico, a neighborhood in the island’s capitol, said that Puerto Rico often “gets pushed to the side” politically and in media.

Specifically, Cordero hopes the performance will open a conversation about “colonization” and how laws in place, like the Jones Act, affect Puerto Rico’s economy. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory, and has long been the subject of the debate on whether the island should become a state or an independent country.

“He's giving you breadcrumbs into the Puerto Rican experience,” Cordero, 42, said. “I think if it brings more attention and more eyes on our story and our fight and our struggle – that's what I think even Bad Bunny wants – for you to like walk away with, to have that sense of prioritizing the Puerto Rican story.”

'The more local Bad Bunny gets, the more universal he becomes'

Puerto Rico’s story is a relatable one.

And some Boricuas anticipate that people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds won’t feel excluded. Instead, they’ll feel seen.

A woman photographs a couple in front of a mural of Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 13, 2025.

Meléndez-Badillo, who collaborated with Bad Bunny by writing historical narratives for videos for the artist’s latest record, said the reggaeton superstar explores themes around displacement, gentrification, and longing for home.

“Those are things that people can connect with regardless if they're from Puerto Rico or not,” he said. “Those are the things that people from the Global South have been dealing with for a long time.”

Dámaris Otero-Torres, an associate professor at Rutgers University who is teaching a class on the Puerto Rican star, said Bad Bunny’s message in his music is universal and can create solidarity, even as he makes “sure that people understand the richness of Puerto Rico and all the things that it has to be, not only the U.S. and its community, but the world.”

Him being chosen as an artist who sings and speaks almost entirely in Spanish is also a political act, Otero-Torres said, especially at a time in the United States where she says knowing another language is seen as a “liability.”

“Why can't you open yourself to learn of the richness of the vastness of the culture? … The United States is an incredible melting pot,” she said. “Speaking another language is not a liability. It enriches you. It allows you not only to understand other cultures, but to understand your own culture in deeper ways.”

The more local Bad Bunny gets, the more universal he becomes, Otero-Torres, who is from the Río Piedras neighborhood in San Juan, recalled reading recently.

“I think that's true,” she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bad Bunny’s halftime show – What it means for Puerto Rico

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