An analysis of the cultural references in the Super Bowl halftime show
The Super Bowl took place on Feb. 8, 2026, with the Seattle Seahawks beating the New England Patriots 29-13. The halftime show featured Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican artist who recently won three GRAMMY Awards: Album of the Year, Best Música Urbana Album, and Best Global Music Performance. He also became the first artist to perform only in Spanish at the Super Bowl halftime show.
The setlist was as follows: “Tití Me Preguntó,” “Yo perreo sola,” “Safaera,” “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” “EoO,” “MONACO,” “Die With a Smile,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL,” “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” “El Apagón,” “CAFé CON RON,” and “DtMF.”
Mashable described the show as, “Bad Bunny turn[ing] an American stage into a global dance floor… even holding a football that read, ‘Together, we are America’.” While celebrating all the Americas, Bad Bunny’s performance had many cultural references to Latino life.
The opening portrayed Puerto Rican sugar fields. In the fields, workers wearing traditional pava hats portrayed the jíbaros, 19th-century agricultural workers. CBC explains the history stretches farther back than the 19th century, saying, “enslaved [Latino] people were made to cultivate sugar cane starting in the 1500s, and crops were sold abroad by settlers who colonized the Caribbean islands.”
Bad Bunny also included several traditional Puerto Rican instruments, like the pandero (hand drums), the cuatro (Puerto Rico’s national instrument: a 10-string guitar), the güiro and palitos (percussion instruments), maracas (rattles filled with seeds or pebbles), and cencerro (a cowbell).
There were also references to the average Puerto Rican neighbourhood as the performance featured a piragua stand selling shaved ice, boxing, plantains, domino tables, nail salons and barber shops. Forbes describes them as “businesses that anchor neighbourhood life [in Puerto Rican culture].”
Even Bad Bunny’s jersey had meaning behind it. Forbes explains the number 64 and the name Ocasio on the back referenced his Uncle Cutito, who was born in 1964 and taught Bad Bunny about the NFL. Cutito passed in 2024, before Bad Bunny could take him to a Super Bowl show. The jersey was made to honour his uncle, who had left Puerto Rico at the age of 17 for work.
Lady Gaga, who was the guest star of the halftime show, wore a brooch with a red “flor de maga,” the official flower of Puerto Rico. CBC notes, “Puerto Ricans see the flower that’s native to the island as a symbol of strength, resilience, and beauty.” Gaga’s light blue dress matched the light blue in the Puerto Rico flag Bad Bunny used. Replacing the dark blue normally on the flag, the lighter colour “was originally used by those in the pro-independence movement when the U.S. sought control of the island.”
Part of Bad Bunny’s performance was climbing electricity poles during his song “El Apagón”, which translates to “The Blackout.” CBC says the song “reflects socioeconomic issues on the singer’s home island, especially the frequent blackouts that occur there due to an unreliable power grid.”
Another memorable part of the performance was when Bad Bunny gave a little boy, who watched his acceptance speech for Album of the Year, the Grammy he won. The boy was played by Lincoln Fox, a five year old child actor. CBC suggests the child “seemed to represent a younger version of the star himself, or perhaps the next generation of Puerto Rican artists.”
Overall, the Super Bowl halftime show was filled with meaningful symbols and references, which Mashable says, “the biggest Super Bowl moments can come not just from football, but from the music that unites us all.”