Bad Bunny delivered a beautiful statement during the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
It wasn’t political, although surely some will see it as such. Instead, it was emotional. And it can be summarized something like this:
We are all Americans. Puerto Ricans are Americans. Chileans are American. Mexicans are Americans. Canadians are Americans. Everybody who lives in North and South Americas can claim that title.
“Together, we are America,” was the message that was emblazoned on, appropriately enough, a football held in Bad Bunny’s hand.
That message — driven home as the flags of all the countries on the two continents were paraded around the field at the end of the production — was what will be remembered from the entirely fascinating 13-minute Halftime Show.
What a triumph for Bad Bunny, the star who used his platform at the Grammy Awards one week earlier to issue an “ICE Out” statement and had millions wondering how he would use this even bigger platform to further support the Latin community. Instead, he just let the music do the talking — yes, in Spanish — and the point was driven home even more soundly than a hundred polished political soundbites could do.
The eight-song performance was set in a tropical island setting — presumably, Bad Bunny’s native Puerto Rico — and kicked off in rousing fashion with a triple-shot of “Tití me preguntó,” “Yo perreo sola” and “EoO.”
Lady Gaga made the first guest appearance of the show, turning out to sing a “Die With a Smile.” Moments later, we’d get the second guest — Ricky Martin, who sounded incredibly strong on “El apagón.”
Bad Bunny closed his set in a sea of colorful flags from around the Americas, with his smash hit “DtMF,” the title track from “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” — which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year award one week prior.
It marked the first time a Spanish-language album had won the ceremony’s top prize.
The singer, whose full name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has cultivated a multifaceted career that has seen him dabble in acting and even professional wrestling. He previously appeared in a Super Bowl Halftime show in 2020, as a guest of headliners Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
The Big Game opened with Green Day, which came out of Rodeo in 1987, finally getting its Super Bowl moment.
The East Bay punk legends — which have been worthy of headlining the Halftime Show for well over two decades now — instead opened up the Super Bowl pregame entertainment festivities.
The East Bay band, consisting of vocalist-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool, performed as previous Super Bowl MVPs including Tom Brady, Jalen Hurts, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Jerry Rice made their way onto the turf.
Green Day performed a four-song set of mostly upbeat and often abbreviated fan favorites, including “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” “Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and “American Idiot.”
And while the band and particularly Armstrong are known for their outspoken beliefs, Green Day did not use the Super Bowl forum to make any political statements, instead focusing on the excitement of the situation.
“Welcome to the Bay!” Armstrong said. “It’s Super Bowl 60!!”
The pregame entertainment also included Coco Jones delivering a soaring version of “Lift Every Voice” (aka the Black National Anthem). Jones is an immensely talented R&B/pop/soul singer, best known for the Grammy-winning hit “ICU.” She released her full-length debut album — “Why Not More?” — in 2025.
Charlie Puth flawlessly handled the national anthem. The singer, known for such multi-platinum-certified hits as “Marvin Gaye” and “See You Again,” will return to the Bay Area to perform at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on May 1.
Brandi Carlile, the acclaimed folk-rock-pop singer-songwriter with a staggering 11 Grammy victories to her credit, sang “America the Beautiful.” Carlile will be back in the Bay Area to perform on March 6 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The singers were accompanied by ASL performers Fred Michael Beam (national anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing”) and Julian Ortiz (“America the Beautiful”).
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