Recollection and reflection on an extraordinary performance

By Yamilla M. Tate
(Image above: Based on photo via Rimas Publishing)

“Que rico es ser Latino.”

This is the line that opened the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime performance for the first predominantly Spanish half-time show in Super Bowl history. 

Bad Bunny, who for this performance went by his true name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, brought his audience to Puerto Rico for a cultural experience that highlighted pride in his Puerto Rican heritage and the value of love and unity during dark times. 

The performance was a multi-generational showcase of Puerto Rican arts across the archipelago and its diaspora, particularly its Nuyorican diaspora. 

Benito closed with a redefinition of the phrase “God bless America” by calling upon the entirety of the hemisphere. From Chile to Canada, all of America’s flags marched to close the halftime show, and with a final touchdown, he blessed his motherland, Puerto Rico.

The scene opened up to a Spanish title card for the Super Bowl and viewers found themselves in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, surrounded by its workers. As Benito walked through the sugar cane field, he opened with the first global hit of his career, “Tití Me Preguntó.” 

Viewers were able to catch glimpses of everyday life in Puerto Rico: coconut, piragua, taco, and jewelry stands, admiration for boxing, women being the foundations of households, domino games and nail appointments. 

The house of his month-long Residencia in Puerto Rico became the setting for the middle section of his performance ,where the musical and dance tradition of reggaeton took the spotlight. 

“Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee, widely recognized as the first reggaeton song to reach mainstream global recognition, played as dancers perrearon to a scene reminiscent to a house party in Puerto Rico. 

From here, love takes an even more prominent role in the story Benito weaves and the viewers are given the chance to take part in a Puerto Rican wedding in El Morro. 

Lady Gaga, accompanied by a traditional ensemble, delivers a salsa rendition of her hit “Die With A Smile” and the wedding attendees dance as a real wedding takes place throughout this section. 

From here, Benito fell into New York City, where the Nuyorican diaspora took the center stage, highlighting daily life in NYC Puerto Rican communities. 

The Residencia house was replaced by a barbershop and bodega where traditional drinks were being served. 

The celebration was interrupted by electricity posts short-circuiting and “El Apagón” plays as dancers strapped to the posts perform, failing to fix the issue. 

A Puerto Rican cuatro began playing and Ricky Martin sang a section of “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii” in a recreation of the album cover for Benito’s award winning album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. 

Benito began wrapping up the performance with the only English portion he spoke “God bless America” and America’s flags  marched with him and the performers, exiting the field, closing with a celebration featuring all of our flags united, joyful, and blessed.

The performance was rich in cultural allusions to Puerto Rican life, history and heritage. 

Its symbolism speaks heavily to the historical moment the U.S. is currently in. The fact that the performance opens with the joyous statement “que rico es ser Latino” (roughly translates to “it’s so great to be Latino”) at a point in time where Latinos in the United States are facing overt persecution and profiling, is not lost upon me. 

At a time where exploitation and persecution in agricultural fields are more visible in the country’s consciousness, it is not lost upon me that Benito chose to set the opening in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields, a setting well recognized in Puerto Rican consciousness as the sites of brutal exploitation and agricultural wars sparked by U.S. intervention. 

It is not lost upon me that Benito made sure the struggle and exploitation of Hawaii and its people were recognized as a mirror of Puerto Rico’s own longstanding struggle and exploitation under colonial rule, now that so many Americans can not help but realize history repeats itself.

 It is not lost upon me that at a moment where the contributions and legitimacy of migrant presence in this country is being questioned, Benito chose to highlight Puerto Rican musical and artistic contributions that have reached global influence and to remind viewers that said community has been contributing to the United States in its soil through its diaspora for long enough to have its own distinct and recognizable culture. 

It cannot be ignored that at a point in time where speaking anything other than English in public can land our residents in harm’s way and questioning, Benito chose to deliver this landmark performance almost entirely in Spanish. 

The power behind the only English portions spoken being exclusively about love and a call to union across communities cannot be ignored. 

At a point in U.S. history where people are being shamed and frightened into hiding and erasure, it is not lost upon me that the camera lingered on a Latino child watching Benito receive his Grammy on a television set, accompanied by his family. 

Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio delivered a love letter to his heritage, to his people, to resistance in the face of erasure and persecution, and called for unity at one of our most divided moments, not by telling us to, but through example. 

What better way to end this bastion in representation, resistance, and cultural celebration than with “seguimos aquí”?

 We’re still here.

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Yamilla M. Tate is a Buffalo based writer/poet.