Here’s a rather essential fact about the guy some conservatives tried to cast as an enemy to American values well before his Super Bowl halftime show even began: As a kid, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny, was literally a choir boy. He grew up to become one of the least problematic humans in the entire music industry, an introspective, humble guy whose biggest “scandal” involved tossing an intrusive fan’s phone into the bushes.
On the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Rolling Stone’s Julyssa Lopez — who’s been interviewing Bad Bunny for years — joins host Brian Hiatt to look back at Bad Bunny’s career path, unpack his Super Bowl performance, and puzzle over the oddly intense controversy surrounding it.
The mere announcement that Bad Bunny would headline the halftime show was enough to ignite outrage from some MAGA quarters — a reaction Lopez says she never saw coming. “I thought, if anything, celebrating a halftime performance in Spanish as sort of a historical moment would be something to embrace and aspire to,” she says. To hear the entire podcast episode, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.
Especially after Bad Bunny took on ICE at the Grammys, conservatives seemed to expect some sort of anti-Trump extravaganza. What they got was something far more subtle, powerful, and joyful: a communal celebration of Puerto Rican identity as well as the unity of countries across the Americas, along with unabashed patriotism for the United States. A performance that was supposed to be somehow so transgressive that it merited an alternative Turning Point U.S.A. halftime show — starring purported moral exemplar Kid Rock — ended with red, white, and blue fireworks. “If you love America, you have to love all of America,” Lopez says. “And Puerto Rico is part of America.”
There certainly were political messages in the show, including the apparently troublesome suggestion that love is more powerful than hate. And there was real resonance in enlisting Ricky Martin to sing the anti-colonialist song “Lo Que Le Paso a Hawaii.” ”The way Ricky had to get famous was to learn English and to cross over and to assimilate to the U.S. in a lot of ways,” Lopez points out. “It gives me chills to think about it, but Ricky now in his adulthood, singing in Spanish and singing about colonialism, I think was an especially powerful move on Bad Bunny’s part.”
And then there was Lady Gaga’s appearance, which was solely about Bad Bunny’s sheer Little Monster-dom, rather than any particular message. At the same time, says Lopez, to hear a song like ‘Die with a Smile’ set to a salsa rhythm, was also really important — hearing what these songs that you might recognize sound like if they’re put in the context of Puerto Rico, if they’re put in the context of Latin music, and all the possibilities that are available.”
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