A Puerto Rican's Thoughts on the Super Bowl Performance

Julianna Concepcion | Opinion Editor

Island of Puerto Rico in Focus on a world map / photo by 'Natures Charm', licensed by Envato.com

  On February 8th, Bad Bunny performed for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, bringing out other artists such as Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. I believed this performance to be absolutely groundbreaking. As a Puerto Rican myself, I was able to find my culture somewhere I would least expect it, despite the fact that we are considered Americans (or so you would think).

Many people are upset that the whole show was in Spanish—besides the great Gaga cameo—expressing that since the majority of the U.S. is English-speaking, they should have brought out an English-speaking artist, even going as far as creating their own halftime show with only white artists. Our own president even went out of his way to aggressively criticize Bad Bunny on Truth Social:

"The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World. This “Show” is just a “slap in the face” to our Country, which is setting new standards and records every single day — including the Best Stock Market and 401(k)s in History! There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media, because they haven’t got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD — And, by the way, the NFL should immediately replace its ridiculous new Kickoff Rule. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Nothing says "presidential class" like saying "nobody understands a word this guy is saying".

On a lighter note, one thing that's amazing about Bad Bunny’s music is the fact that you can gather the emotion that comes from it through his instrumentals and how he performs in general. Although I did state that I am Puerto Rican, I also unfortunately don’t speak a lick of Spanish. Yet, DtMf (his most recent album) speaks deeply to me. One way in which I connect with my culture as I navigate learning the language is through its history, one of Bad Bunny’s most history-forward songs being “LO QUE LE PASO A HAWA’II”, directly translating to: “What Happened to Hawaii” (I speak about the meaning of this song in one of my previous articles).  

  The fact that he brings out another Puerto Rican artist, Ricky Martin, to give a mournful lament was surprising and emotional for me. I personally feel a disconnect with my culture since I am second-generation, non-Spanish speaking, and I have also never set foot in my family’s homeland. But hearing this warning to the people of PR made me yearn for my own culture more than I already do.  

Puerto Ricans who are on the island can’t vote in presidential elections; they are being pushed out of their land—hell, the majority of Ricans currently live in the states rather than the island. This direct criticism of what the U.S. is doing to Puerto Rico could only be sung in the island’s beautiful dialect, where R’s sound like L’s and St’s sound like S’s.  

We see him perform songs like “Titi Me Pregunto,” while walking through people chopping sugar cane wearing pava’s, meant to represent Puerto Rico’s history with sugar cane plantations, coconut and piragua stands, elders sitting around an outdoor table playing dominoes, etc. I have never seen my culture represented in such an accurate and positive way. Hell, before all we had worldwide was JLo.  

The idea of people being angry over something so beautiful and meaningful to so many people like me is baffling. Whether these reactions are rooted in racism, colonialism, whatever, they directly oppose the idea that Puerto Ricans are Americans. Whether you like it or not, my ancestors built your country.

Additionally, people are overlooking the fact that Google exists. Look up the lyrics and at least attempt to understand why this is so important.