Thank You Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny absolutely killed it with this show, and it all started with a gentleman wearing a “pava” and holding a guitar saying, “Que Rico Ser Latino,” and no truer words have been spoken. Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, starts off the show with a rendition of “Titi Me Pregunto,” and as he’s performing, he’s walking through a maze going through different cultural tableaus like the “Coco Frio” stand, then proceeds to make his way to an elderly group gathered around a dominoes table playing dominoes.

As he continues through the maze, he comes across a “Piraguas” stand, then a taco stand, two boxers jabbing at each other, and then a jewelry kiosk handing him what seems to be a wedding ring. The moment he sees what it is, he makes a face and instantly hands the ring to a gentleman right before he proposes. Shortly after that, “Yo Perreo Sola” starts blasting, and from there the camera shifts to “La Casita,” which was integral to Bad Bunny’s tour set. As he was performing, there was practically a house party within “La Casita.”

As the song is playing, the camera goes across the people dancing outside “La Casita,” and we get to see all sorts of celebrities like Jessica Alba, Cardi B, Karol G, Pedro Pascal, Young Miko, and even Ronald Acuña Jr. made an appearance. We even get a short moment where everybody on stage, including Bad Bunny on top of “La Casita,” was perreando and simply just enjoying the moment as one of his most exciting and exhilarating songs, “Yo Perreo Sola,” is playing.

Shortly after that, we get a brief rendition of “Safaera” with even more perreo going on, and man oh man, at this point I was going absolutely berserk. To top things off, we get a small portion of the chorus to the song “Party,” where the crowd just starts yelling “party party party,” and that can get anyone going considering the sheer amount of excitement the crowd displayed once that came up, and obviously it’s very easy to sing along to for obvious reasons.

After that small rendition, we get Bad Bunny giving us even more perreo with “VOY A LLEVARTE A PR,” and at this point I literally lost it. The sheer amount of dopamine this performance gave me cannot go understated, if I’m honest with you all. And trust me… it did not stop there.

As that song comes to a close, we get snippets of iconic reggaeton songs and artists, starting with Tego Calderón, then Don Omar, shortly after Chencho Corleone, and of course the legendary and what most would say the most iconic, Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” starts playing. Bad Bunny then says, “Están escuchando música de Puerto Rico,” which by all means is 100% true, and proceeds to play “EoO,” completely overloading this performance with the utmost amount of perreo in the most Bad Bunny way possible. I can’t emphasize that enough or even further explain that, because that’s just what Bad Bunny does.

As the perreo portion of the show comes to a close, we hear “Monaco” start playing with a close shot of Bad Bunny speaking to the camera saying, “My name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, and if I’m here today… It’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself. You should also believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Trust me.” Obviously, it was in Spanish since it was Benito speaking, but that’s a clear translation.

We then get a couple getting married on stage, followed by one of the biggest surprises of the night: Lady Gaga performing “Die With A Smile,” but with a bit of sazón, if you know what I mean. With a touch of salsa mixed in with her beautiful vocals, man oh man, that part got me all choked up. To make it even better, we get “BAILE INOLVIDABLE,” with Benito and Lady Gaga dancing a bit of salsa during the performance. To me, this was the peak of the performance because I was filled with so many different emotions.

Shortly after that, more salsa starts playing with Bad Bunny performing “NUEVAYOL” in front of “La Marqueta,” which is basically a bodega in New York, with a crowd of people dancing in front of it and Benito, of course, being in the middle of it all. The camera then shifts to a TV showing Bad Bunny winning his Grammy in front of a small family sitting on the couch, and then we see Bad Bunny himself give the Grammy to the small child who gets up the moment Benito approaches him. That was an adorable moment, I’m not gonna lie to you guys.

The last surprise guest of the show was Ricky Martin himself, performing a short bit of “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAII,” and it was a surprise to everybody. It couldn’t have been more beautiful. That one shocked my mom and grandma for sure. They were absolutely stunned and filled with emotion.

Shortly after that, we get Bad Bunny performing “El Apagón,” ironically enough on an electric tower to symbolize the meaning behind the song, then seamlessly keeping the upbeat transition going into “CAFÉ CON RON.” All I’ve got to say about that is WOW. And if I hadn’t been wowed enough at this point, it was definitely about to get even wilder.

As he was performing, the camera cuts to another shot with a bunch of people running and carrying flags from all over America. And by America, I mean all of America. All of North and South America were displayed, with Bad Bunny shouting out every single country while holding a football that read, “TOGETHER, WE ARE AMERICA,” symbolizing togetherness across the two continents.

As the show comes to a close, we get one last song, and of course it’s “DtMF.” At that point, I was completely overwhelmed with emotion, mostly joy. That was the most beautiful performance paired with the most beautiful message, capped off with words on the stadium screen that read, “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love.” WOW.

Now clearly, I might be biased because I’m a huge Bad Bunny fan and have been for nearly a decade, but no one, and I mean no one, can say that wasn’t moving, especially for the Latino community. I loved every bit of that performance, and it’ll definitely go down as the most memorable Super Bowl halftime show simply because of the message behind it all. Huge shoutout to Benito, man. You killed it once again… and are we surprised? THE BEST IN THE WORLD.