Bad Bunny's Super Bowl: a radical act of resistance
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
The pop star's show was a colorful and vibrant vision of Puerto Rican culture and heritage, from a real life wedding to boxing matches - and even a surprise cameo from Ricky Martin. Against a backdrop of widespread immigration crackdowns and targeted rhetoric, Bad Bunny centered joy as an act of resistance - and as a space for all people in North and South America to unite.
Brittany is joined by Pop Culture Happy Hour cohost Stephen Thompson, music and entertainment critic Reanna Cruz, and Alana Casanova-Burgess, host of La Brega podcast, to understand the version of America that Bad Bunny wants us to live in.
(0:00) Bad Bunny's performance was one of the all time greats
(03:04) The key moments: the parade of nations to Ricky Martin & Lady Gaga
(08:11) The story and world that Bad Bunny was building
(12:33) Weddings and joy as acts of resistance
(16:14) The Grammy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and what the moment meant
(23:57) Bad Bunny's radical politics vs. the NFL's politics
For more on Bad Bunny, check out this deep dive into his latest album: Bad Bunny & the battle for Puerto Rico
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This message comes from There's More to That, a podcast from the Smithsonian magazine. With an insatiable curiosity, host Ari Daniels covers history, science, and culture. Subscribe to There's More to That and find out how much more there is to almost everything. |
| 0:19.1 | Okay, we all just witnessed the Bad Bunny Halftime Show. |
| 0:23.4 | First Impressions. |
| 0:24.3 | What words are running through your mind? |
| 0:27.8 | Joy, excitement, weepa, this was four Puerto Ricans. |
| 0:33.1 | I was so gagged sitting in my living and watching it all unfold. |
| 0:37.0 | I was screaming. Sorry if my voice is a little hoarse. watching it all unfold. That was screaming. Sorry |
| 0:38.0 | my voice is a little hoarse. That's all right. I mean, there's so much to unpack in this |
| 0:43.9 | performance. This is an endlessly rewatchable performance because there is so much text and |
| 0:49.3 | subtext. But as far as first impressions and the first thing that I'm taking away, I think this is one of the top five Super Bowl halftime shows of all time. |
| 0:57.7 | Yeah, I think you're right. |
| 0:58.8 | I think Prince, for me, is probably still number one. |
| 1:02.2 | But this is up there with Beyonce. |
| 1:04.3 | This is up there with some of the all-time great Super Bowl halftime shows just as a piece of stagecraft, as a piece of just joyful |
| 1:13.6 | performance, so much movement, the camera work. This was an extraordinary technical accomplishment. |
| 1:21.4 | And we'll get to how joyful it was, you know, just as an experience, how much it meant to this hemisphere. |
| 1:30.9 | But I just, just to take a step back right at the beginning, I think this is one of the all-time |
| 1:36.0 | great Super Bowl halftime shows. |
| 1:42.0 | I'm still processing it. I mean, I'm very glad we're talking about this right now. |
| 1:46.0 | I'm still processing. |
| 1:48.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:48.2 | Well, I'm also Brittany Luce, host of NPRs. |
... |
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