Wait, Why Was Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Performance So Controversial?

February 10, 2026·40 min·3 clips

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl stage was designed as a sugarcane plantation to represent Puerto Rico's history and identity.

The Super Bowl performance kicks things off. Brian Hyatt starts with the strange mix around Bad Bunny's halftime show: people loved it, people argued about it, and somehow both reactions made sense. Then Jalisa Lopez joins from Puerto Rico, where the view is a lot less abstract. Old San Juan is not just scenery here. Jalisa talks about open air bars packed with people screaming and singing along, so the performance feels less like something beamed in from a distance and more like a shared local moment. From there, the episode gets into how Bad Bunny became the kind of global star whose choices can set off celebration and debate at the same time. Drake is the clean example. On Nia, as Jalisa remembers it, Bad Bunny did not switch into English or meet Drake on Drake's usual terms. He pulled Drake into Spanish. That says a lot about the whole career: huge reach, but the center stays where Bad Bunny wants it. The early records already make that case. Brian hears range on the debut, including a track that almost sounds like pop punk, while Jalisa brings up Tenemos Que Hablar as a favorite. La Romana takes a different route, with dembow sitting beside Latin trap and other turns that do not feel designed by committee. Then the conversation lands on the 2020 album. Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana plays almost like a thesis statement, with Jalisa translating it as I do what I want or I do whatever I want. The pandemic backdrop gives that album extra charge. Everyone was stuck inside, and Bad Bunny was making music that pointed straight back to the club, especially Zafaera with its old school reggaeton punch, beat switches, and Missy Elliott sample. The episode works because it stays loose. It links the crowd reaction, the records, and the stubborn fact that Bad Bunny's crossover was never just about crossing over. Even the signoff has a little bite: Jalisa is in Puerto Rico sunshine while New York sits at negative four degrees, which feels about right for a conversation about place, sound, and cultural weather.

As heard by us

A scene-rooted look at how Bad Bunny's halftime set landed as both celebration and friction.

Rolling Stone Music Now treats Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show as both a celebration and a flash point, and Brian Hyatt and Jalisa Lopez do a good job tracing the road to it.

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Why you'd press play

For a clear read on why this halftime set felt both joyous and controversial.

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