As the Super Bowl LX halftime show got underway on Sunday evening with Bad Bunny leading the highly anticipated performance, fans tuning in couldn’t help but feel out of their depth as they realised they couldn’t actually understand the performance.
Puerto Rican native Bad Bunny conducted his entire set in his native tongue Spanish, which left a huge proportion of Americans - and the wider global audience - struggling to follow along as they didn’t speak the language.
Taking to social media to express their frustrations, one fan even branded it the “worst Super Bowl this century.”
Another user also echoed the sentiment, commenting, “Why as Americans are we watching the Super Bowl half time show in Spanish? With English being our national language, I could not understand a word. Not prejudiced, just don’t understand.”
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A third user also echoed the same message, as they added: “Ok, I do think it was kind of weird that nearly the entire halftime show of the Super Bowl was in Spanish.… and I say that as someone who appreciates Latin culture.”
Meanwhile a fourth didn’t hold back as they remarked: “The NFL having a Super Bowl Halftime Show where their performer sings ENTIRELY in Spanish & waves other nation’s flags, is 100 % a political statement. Bad Bunny will go down as the worst halftime show in the history of the league. America deserved better for its 250th birthday.”
Bad Bunny’s performance entirely in Spanish will come as no grand shock to fans of the Grammy award winning singer, as he has previously stated repeatedly that he doesn’t see the value in changing who he is to appeal to a mass audience.
He told Vanity Fair in 2023 that he would ‘never’ sing in English 'just because someone says I need to do it to reach a certain audience.’
“I think in Spanish, I feel in Spanish, I eat in Spanish, I sing in Spanish,” he told the magazine. He has since put out seven studio albums, without a single full song in English.
Not everyone was opposed to Bad Bunny's performance however, with some praising the singer for his unique take on the iconic US sporting event.
"I am an old white guy who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish and I enjoyed the hell out of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show," remarked one fan.
A second also agreed, adding: "The Bad Bunny Halftime show during the Super Bowl was done so well. I don’t speak Spanish but he’s clearly very talented. The production was amazing. He seized his opportunity and crushed it. Congrats to him and the rest of the artists and performers."
Approximately 42 to 59 million people speak Spanish in the United States, making it the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico. This population includes roughly 41–42 million native speakers, along with12-17 million bilingual or second-language speakers.
Prior to his performance, during an appearance on Saturday Night Live last year, Bad Bunny even jokingly encouraged his fans to learn Spanish ahead of his Super Bowl headliner, although he did later add that 'dancing' would also be a suitable alternative for those who hadn't quite brushed up on their language skills in time.
Topics: Super Bowl, Bad Bunny
Phoebe Tonks