When Football Meets Reggaeton: The Cultural Shift of the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is more than a sports event. It is a day when America stops, and rare are those who do not have their eyes set on the biggest sports event of the year. The pinnacle of the NFL season is not all about football. While the result matters the most, there’s something set in between the first two quarters and the last two. We’re talking about the Super Bowl halftime show. For Americans, sports need to be entertainment first and foremost. The one sport that does it best in the National Football League.
The 2025/26 NFL season kicked off a few weeks back, and while the teams were fighting it out on the gridiron, the entertainment part was also set in motion. At the moment, when the stakes aren’t the highest as far as standings and fight for playoff sports go, one big announcement came our way. A clear sign that the halftime Super Bowl show is important is that the announcement was made as early as in October. It’s simple, people want to know who will perform. We’re not going to say that the halftime show is as important as the match that will decide the NFL champion for the season, but it’s almost there.
The number of people who will tune in for the game just to watch the halftime performance counts in millions. There were HT performances that left the game in shadow as far as entertainment goes. Last year, it was Kendrick Lamar who put on a show that will be remembered, and before him came Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and the gang, Bruno Mars, Shakira, Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Michael Jackson and many more throughout the Super Bowl’s long history.
This year, the honour to keep the fans entertained during the Super Bowl belongs to Bad Bunny. In what came as a surprise announcement, the Puerto Rican rapper received the honours to represent himself, America, and the NFL at the biggest stage of them all. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, professionally known as Bad Bunny became famous after his 2016 song Soy Peor became a global hit. Bad Bunny is credited as a person who presented Latin Rap to the world, and still serves as its biggest representative.
There aren’t many people rapping in Spanish, who have managed to gain worldwide recognition, and due to this fact, Bad Bunny also carries the title of King of Latin Trap. With songs such as Mia ft. Drake, and I Like It ft. J Balvin, Bad Bunny has enough material to keep even the neutral fans for 15 minutes. His performance is going to last. Unfortunately, the decision to pick him as the halftime performer wasn’t without controversy. It has gone as far as Bad Bunny having to defend himself, and the league’s decision during a Saturday Night Live skit. This was the second time that BB appeared at SNL, and the three time Grammy winner was left unimpressed with folks who are not satisfied with his selection.
As you could guess, the conservatives were against him performing, and many were quite vocal in stating their dissatisfaction. As far as Bad Bunny is concerned, he had the following to say: “You might not know this, but I’m doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. And I’m very happy, and I think everybody’s happy about it,” which led the crowd to erupt in applause, before he continued, even Fox News!”
While some higher ups in the government publicly criticized Bad Bunny, and even claimed that the Super Bowl attendance will be filled with ICE agents due to belief that many illegal immigrants will be in the crowd, his colleagues were quick to jump to his defence. One of the first to speak publicly was Jenifer Lopez. Many people are unaware that Bad Bunny already has an appearance at the SB HT show. Back in 2020 when J Lo and Shakira were headlining the event he was a guest performer together with J Balvin. For J Lo, their Super Bowl appearance was a moment of creating culture, and that Bad Bunny is now deservedly at where he is, and that’s the Super Bowl halftime show.
For J Lo there is no controversy surrounding the decision to pick BB to perform at America’s biggest sports event, while she remains realistic in the fact that for many people, this will be the first time hearing Bad Bunny despite his worldwide fame. She believes that’s good news as Bad Bunny is an artist whose music transcends language according to Lopez. It remains interesting to see Bad Bunny receiving criticism considering that J Lo received the honour to do shows at both the Super Bowl and the World Cup in the USA, in events that sparked no controversy at all.
It is unfortunate to have this intermingling of sports, politics, and music, but that’s the world we live in. There will always be those who are not primarily focused on football, entertainment, the game itself as we are. Yet, thanks to these critics, the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show is already one of the most talked about events in 2026 despite us being five months removed from it. With buzz growing, fans are excited and ready to place bets, so check the Superbowl odds on Stake.
This event shapes American culture each year, and its importance is recognized all over the world. This year, the Super Bowl will be held at Santa Clara, California, at the Levi’s Stadium, which is a home to the San Francisco 49ers. While under political critics’ harsh views, those who have music on their mind, see the Bad Bunny’s selection as an ideal one. After all, he is currently one of the biggest musical stars in the world, thus making him a perfect pick to perform at America’s biggest sports event. We should also mention that he’s already moved his career to Hollywood by appearing in projects such as Happy Gilmore 2 and Caught Stealing.
As we said, there are a few more months to go until the February game, and many experts are already claiming that Bad Bunny’s show could attract a record number of viewers. The Puerto Rican rapper has a massive Instagram following standing at close to 50 million, and his musical presence goes far beyond only the Latin American. The biggest critic of his halftime performance at the Super Bowl is that it is not going to go in line with American values. This is a funny thing to say, considering that Puerto Rico is an American territory, making the critics look not only stupid but also ignorant.
Yes, Bad Bunny raps only in Spanish, but at least today, in the modern society we live in, one should know that music is an universal language. Bad Bunny is not only popular in North and South America, but also in Asia, Afric, and Europe. This is interesting to know, considering that the only country where Spanish is the official language in Europe is Spain, while Bad Bunny remains popular in places such as Croatia, Serbia, Italy, England, and Germany just to name a few countries.
The artist plans to start a World Tour on November 21st this year which is to last up until July 22nd of 2026. Just some of the places where he will perform include Mexico, Colombia, Australia, Portugal, Spain, England, Italy, Poland, France, Sweden, and Belgium. In many of these countries, Bad Bunny has already sold out stadiums, making him the first Latin act to do so. It is obvious that Bad Bunny’s personality is not one of division, but one of unity, and we are sure that he will represent all the values of the game in the right manner.
One could even argue that the fact that Bad Bunny will perform at the NFL Super Bowl halftime show is good for the league and the sport. It is a well known fact that the league is trying its best to spread its popularity across the global markets. There are games being played in Mexico, Germany, England, Ireland, and Brazil. Thanks to BB being the main performer at the Super Bowl halftime show is an attempt by the league to attract viewers that wouldn’t normally be there for the game itself.
At the end of the day, the halftime show is an event that’s there for itself. It is there to entertain both the fans at the stadium and those watching from home. For an artist performing, it is the biggest stage imaginable, which serves to give them exposure to a bigger audience than ever, while in the case of Bad Bunny it goes both ways. As we’re used to, the event will have one of both sports, economic, and cultural impact, it’s just that it started with the controversies early on, compared to the controversies after the fact, we’re used to.
It is an opportunity for Bad Bunny to get a chance to carve his name in history by performing during the biggest annual sports event in the USA, while reflecting on a cultural trend he is setting himself, and that will resonate for years to come. It hasn’t often been the case that the world’s biggest musical star is a Latino man. Considering that the SB performance will occur in the midst of Bad Bunny’s worldwide tour called DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS World Tour we are sure he will be up to the task on more levels than one.
As far as the game itself is concerned, the battle to secure their place there is going between the NFL franchises. We’re only five weeks into the season, and there are no more undefeated teams. This hasn’t happened in over a decade, showing that the level of parity in the league is on the highest level in recent memory.
At the moment, the team trending the most toward the Santa Clara, California appearance are the Detroit Lions with their odds being set at +700. Despite losing both of their coordinators during the offseason, the magic of Dan Campbell is still enough to take the Lions far. After losing to the division lions Green bay Packers in week 1, the Lions have gone onto a four win streak, wrapping it up with a dominant win over the Cincinnati Bengals in week 5. As far as the Super Bowl odds go, the Lions are leading the pack at the moment.
Right next to them are the reigning champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, who are favoured to make back to back finals with their odds being set at +900. The defeat in the hands of Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos in Week 5 was a reality check, which we are sure will ignite the spark under the feet of Nick Sirianni and his boys in Philly. The Eagles offense will require a few tweaks in coming weeks, as they’re not functioning as a unit, and a team that has Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith, and AJ Brown cannot be poor in both running the ball and passing the ball.
Buffalo Bills
Just like the Eagles, the Bills have received their first defeat of the year. Josh Allen lost to his division rivals the New England Patriots, and since his debut in the league, Allen wasn’t on the losing side against the Patriots all too often. The AFC East will be more interesting this season than in the years prior, but no one should look past Allen and the Bills to wrap up the season as the No. 1 team in both their division and probably in the conference. With their odds being set at +425 at the moment, this could be as good a moment as any to place your bet on the Bills going all the way.
Whoever appears in the Super Bowl come February, we are sure that it will be a game to be remembered. The same can be said for the halftime show, which at the moment, attracts much more attention than what transpires on the NFL gridirons. February cannot come fast enough.
