For the first time in Super Bowl history, a Latino soloist will headline the halftime show with a fully Spanish-language performance and somehow, it feels long overdue.
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny has spent the last decade redefining what global stardom looks like when English isn’t the default. His sound, described by the Recording Academy as “an ultra-catchy brand of Latin trap, a Spanish-language take on Atlanta-born trap music,” has crossed borders, charts and cultures without ever compromising its roots.
Here’s what you need to know about Puerto Rico’s biggest music star right now.
Representation, timing
The moment feels perfectly aligned with the NFL’s slowly evolving halftime stage, which in recent years has begun embracing a broader spectrum of identities and sounds. But the timing makes it even more powerful. Amid heightened tensions around immigration enforcement in the United States, spotlighting a proudly Latino, politically vocal artist from the Caribbean, on one of the world’s biggest stages, no less, in Santa Clara, California, feels intentional.
Before the lights flare and the bass rattles the stadium, it’s worth taking a closer look at the artist behind the moment — and the hits that brought him here.
Beyond the headlines
For much of pop media, Bad Bunny first entered mainstream American headlines not through music but through celebrity gossip. In 2023, he was rumored to be dating supermodel Kendall Jenner after the two were spotted together at fashion shows and private dinners. But reducing Bad Bunny to a tabloid footnote misses the larger story. Long before paparazzi lenses followed him, he was already reshaping Latin music from the inside out.
Bad Bunny is a four-time Grammy winner. In 2021, he took home Best Latin Pop or Urban Album for “YHLQMDLG.” A year later, he won the inaugural Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album for “El Último Tour del Mundo.” In 2023, he repeated the feat with “Un Verano Sin Ti,” an album that became a cultural phenomenon and dominated global charts for months.
Just one week before he’s set to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, he clinched the Grammy Awards’ top honor on Feb. 1, taking Album of the Year for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”
“Believe me when I tell you that we are much bigger than just 100 by 35,” Bad Bunny said in his Spanish speech, referring to the approximate measurement of the island of Puerto Rico. “And there is nothing that we cannot achieve. Thank God, thank the Academy, thank all the people who have believed in me throughout my entire career.”
None of the albums relied on full-length English tracks. At most, Bad Bunny sprinkled English phrases into a handful of songs, refusing to dilute his Spanish identity even as his audience expanded worldwide.
SoundCloud beginnings
But the grind began years earlier. While studying audiovisual communication at the University of Puerto Rico, he worked days as a student and nights as a reggaeton and trap experimenter. He uploaded tracks to SoundCloud, recording music wherever he could, driven more by instinct than industry strategy. One of those early uploads, “Diles,” caught attention for its raw energy and unconventional flow.
Producer DJ Luian encouraged him to release his music more widely on YouTube, where it eventually reached Noah Assad, who would later become his longtime manager. Assad recognized “Diles” as something rare and a gritty reinterpretation of Atlanta trap beats filtered through Latin rhythm and attitude.
Collaborations soon followed with major Latin artists like J Balvin, whose career helped globalize reggaeton and Latin pop. In 2018, another milestone materialized when Bad Bunny teamed up with Drake on “MIA,” cementing his place in the US market.
Part of Bad Bunny’s appeal lies in his voice itself. The Guardian captured it best in 2020:
“Even if you don’t understand the Spanish lyrics, the very sound of his voice is appealing…”
Whether growling into the mic or drifting into melody, his vocal texture carries emotion beyond translation.
Touring the world
Nearly a decade ago, Bad Bunny was working as a grocery store bagger when a producer called after discovering his SoundCloud uploads. Today, he’s a Grammy darling up for several nominations this year, a cultural disruptor and now, a Super Bowl headliner.
As of 2026, Bad Bunny is in the midst of his “Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour,” spanning South America, Europe and Australia — noticeably skipping the United States due to concerns around immigration enforcement. That makes his Super Bowl appearance all the more striking: a singular return to an American stage that cannot ignore him.
In the official trailer for his upcoming halftime show, Bad Bunny’s song “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” which translates to “unforgettable dance,” plays as he moves alongside performers of different ages and from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The phrase “The world will dance” then appears in the trailer.
Bad Bunny will headline Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday, Feb. 8 (Monday, Feb. 9, PH Time).