As the Super Bowl LX halftime show got underway with Bad Bunny leading the highly anticipated event, some fans tuning in couldn’t help but feel out of their depth as they realized they couldn’t actually understand the performance.
Puerto Rican native Bad Bunny conducted his entire set in his native tongue Spanish, which left a 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.”
Bad Bunny was joined by Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga for his Super Bowl performance (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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.”
Someone else penned: “Worst halftime show EVER!!”
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 outlet. The rapper has released seven studio albums, without a single full song in English.
Not everyone was opposed to Bad Bunny’s performance, however, with others praising the singer for his unique take on the iconic US sporting event.
Bad Bunny divided viewers as he stuck to his native Spanish for his entire set (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
“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 person.
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.”
Another viewer simply commented: “Thank you NFL! We needed that!”
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 to 42 million native speakers, along with 12 to 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.
How much do artists get paid for the Super Bowl halftime show?
While you’d think that performing on one of the biggest stages in the world would earn you the big bucks, surprisingly, artists do not receive a direct paycheck for the Super Bowl halftime show.
“We do not pay the artists,” NFL spokesperson Joanna Hunter told Forbes in 2016. “We cover expenses and production costs.”
Meanwhile, Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, confirmed that Super Bowl performers do get a ‘union scale’ – a minimum wage guaranteed by a union contract.
This is largely because the halftime show is not just a performance, it’s a money can’t buy opportunity for promotion and exposure.
After Rihanna took to the Super Bowl stage in 2023, her Spotify streams in the US soared by more than 640 percent, while song sales and searches for her Fenty Beauty brand also increased.
Jennifer Lopez reportedly gained over two million new followers across her social media after she headlined the halftime show with Shakira in 2020.
Following The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl performance, demand for his concert tickets skyrocketed. His After Hours Til Dawn tour has since become the highest-grossing tour by a male solo artist in history after raking in $1 billion.
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Chris Graythen
Topics: Super Bowl, Bad Bunny
