The Grammy-winning Puerto Rican megastar delivered a powerful, detail-packed performance that paid tribute to his history and teased more greatness for his future
When the NFL announced in September that Bad Bunny would perform at the Super Bowl half-time show, the immediate expectation was that Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio would Make a Statement.
There was, of course, backlash from the people who think a performance in Spanish is un-American (all while Puerto Rico remains a US territory). But there was also criticism from those who argued that, post-Kaepernick, there is no performance on an NFL stage that could meaningfully challenge the power whose invitation into its center of capital and nationalism these artists accepted. And as we’ve reached peak Bad Bunny this week, Puerto Ricans have pointed out that many fans’ investment in the island ends with the artist.
Still, 2025’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos was the monumental latest entry in Bad Bunny’s documentation of Puerto Rican struggle. Its sober caution against the erosion of a Puerto Rico for Puerto Ricans amid foreign tax incentives and mass economic displacement; its honoring of Afro-Puerto Rican modes of musical storytelling and resistance in bomba and plena; its 31-show residency at el Coliseo de Puerto Rico in lieu of an international tour brought millions into the island’s economy. All of it was in solemn devotion to never compromising his land, identity or history.
