The Super Bowl halftime show is well-known for its cultural influence in the U.S., with a multitude of notable figures performing. This list of singers now includes this year’s headliner, Bad Bunny.
The Super Bowl combines sports, entertainment, and advertising, making it the undisputed leader in marketing and one of the most profitable broadcasts nationally.
As a three-time GRAMMY Award winner, Bad Bunny serves as a representative of Hispanic culture, continuing to make his impact in mainstream media. His presence is more than a performance; it’s giving voice to a community that’s often overshadowed in the industry.
For decades, a multitude of Hispanic artists have felt pressure to switch to primarily singing or rapping in English to gain a wider audience. Shakira shares her own journey with Variety, describing how, “Acceptance of Spanish-language music as part of the mainstream has come so far from when I started.”
Bad Bunny’s album El Último Tour Del Mundo became the first all-Spanish album to reach number one on the Billboard 200. One of his most well-known albums, Un Verano Sin Ti, became the first Spanish-language album to receive a GRAMMY nomination for Album of the Year.
His performance at the Super Bowl represents a moment where the Spanish language can be appreciated on a nationwide scale in its pure form.
While this represents a huge milestone win, Bad Bunny has faced some major backlash after being announced as the 2026 headliner. He recently went on his No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí tour without having any American stops due to his concerns about possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at his shows.
He has been known to use his platform for advocacy, especially in relation to the Puerto Rican community; in his music, he makes slight references to emphasize the current struggles Puerto Rico faces. Bad Bunny went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January of this year and showcased Puerto Rico’s culture by crashing Fallon’s monologue and starting a true celebration.
The major debate going around the internet is whether he’ll bring guests, and who they’ll be. The Super Bowl is well-known for having surprise guest appearances during its halftime shows.
With Bad Bunny bringing artists such as Rauw Alejandro as a guest on his most recent tours, it’s hard not to try and speculate. I’ve come up with some of my own predictions for who the next guest appearance could be.
Personally, I believe that Bad Bunny is going to take this opportunity of being on a global stage to celebrate his ethnicity by bringing a fellow Puerto Rican artist to reinforce the support and pride.
He could go two different routes, one by bringing on Daddy Yankee for a more nostalgic feel and to show tribute to one of the pioneers in the industry who paved the way for Latin artists to enter the mainstream in the U.S.
Another route could be bringing on Rauw Alejandro, as they’ve worked together on stage in the past, and he serves as one of the new figures in reggaeton. These choices highlight the evolution of Puerto Rican artists and their incorporation into the space.
Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl is more than just a performance; it’s a way to showcase culture and give voice to Spanish music that hasn’t been forced to assimilate with American pop culture. Bad Bunny reinforces the fact that the Hispanic and Latinx community is finally taking up space in the mainstream.
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