The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most watched cultural events in the US. Every year, tens of millions of viewers tune in, many of them less for the sport than for the spectacle. That reach makes halftime a rare moment in which ideas about national identity and belonging are staged for a global audience.

At the 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny delivered a halftime performance almost entirely in Spanish and packed with carefully staged symbolism. To understand what the show was communicating, it helps to look closely at four key moments.

The show opened in a landscape of sugar cane fields and performers dressed as jíbaros (rural farmers) wearing traditional pava hats. These elements nod to the island’s agricultural roots and carry deep historical and cultural weight, as sugar cane points directly to the plantation economy, first under Spanish colonial rule and later reorganised under US governance.

Ricky Martin is a Puerto Rican singer best known internationally for hits like Livin’ la Vida Loca.........

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