by: Tori Schubert
People Editor

The 60th annual Super Bowl took place on Feb. 8, starring Bad Bunny, otherwise known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, as the halftime performer. With a variety of sets, dances, skits, and songs, Bad Bunny delivered an entertaining production for his audience.

Opening with a fan favorite, Tití Me Preguntó, Bad Bunny entrapped the audience in his performance, regardless of which language viewers spoke. His sets ranged from sugarcane fields to living rooms, maintaining a quick pace throughout his show. Among the unique qualities of his performance was the presence of a wedding ceremony. Although many fans believed the ceremony to be fake, the anonymous couple was legally married on stage in front of more than 70,000 audience members, and viewed on live television by millions.

Bad Bunny included a variety of tracks from four different albums, released over the course of five years. He sang fragments of 12 songs in a 14-minute performance. Alongside him were over 300 backup dancers and special guests, including Lady Gaga and Los Sobrinos. This Puerto Rican salsa band accompanied Gaga in her salsa rendition of Die With a Smile. Following the conclusion of the show, Gaga wrote, “It was my absolute honour to be a part of Benito’s halftime show.”

Despite the performance garnering the fourth-largest audience in the event’s history, Bad Bunny’s show was received with much controversy. The Puerto Rican artist was the first to perform a Super Bowl halftime show primarily in Spanish. Many were unreceptive when he was first announced as a headliner, and according to National Public Radio, “Some conservatives lashed out at the Puerto Rican artist being chosen to headline the game, with some refusing to watch while incorrectly calling the singer a ‘foreigner.’” As a result, Turning Point USA, a conservative organization, held a separate halftime show, hoping to avoid the diversity and language barriers presented in Bunny’s. The alternative show, dubbed the All American Halftime Show, hosted artists such as Kid Rock, Lee Brice, and Brantley Gilbert. The artists played primarily pop and country songs, opening with a guitar rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Ultimately, this show accumulated about 6.1 million viewers on YouTube and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, falling far short of Bad Bunny’s 128.2 million.

Known as a proud Puerto Rican and activist, Bad Bunny never strayed from his beliefs or allowed the negative comments to affect him, despite the significant backlash. His final song was DtMF, a track filled with hope and a joyous tune. Ending his performance by naming most countries in North and South America before displaying the message “Together, we are America” written on a football, Bad Bunny made his message of love and his stance against hate clear.

(Sources: ESPN, NYT, NPR, The Guardian)