BAD BUNNY’S SUPER BOWL
PERSPECTIVES
WHAT BAD BUNNY’S SUPER BOWL MOMENT REVEALS ABOUT AMERICA
Bad Bunny. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty.
As someone who grew up in Latin America, lived in Europe for more than a decade, and has spent the last twelve years in the United States, everything I’m seeing around Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance leaves me with a bittersweet feeling.
NEW YORK CITY | By Pablo Herrera | Founder’s Note
On one hand, I’m glad to see the United States finally acknowledging that nearly 60 million Spanish speakers in a country of over 330 million matter. On the other, the reaction to this moment once again exposes a deeper cultural insecurity that has been building for years.
Let’s look at this objectively.
The United States is going through a difficult adjustment process. Every global power faces this at some point. A country where part of the population still insists that a performance on a global stage should only be in English is not showing strength. It is showing insecurity.
Immigrants are not the problem. The United States has always been a country shaped by immigration. The real challenge is accepting that the idea of unquestioned cultural superiority is fading.
I always encourage my students to live abroad. I tell my Latin American students to leave their comfort zone and learn from other cultures. I tell my European students the same. And I especially encourage North American students to do it.
Closing yourself off culturally is intellectual poverty. Defending a nation while pretending external influences do not exist is not patriotism. It is tribalism. And it signals fear, not pride.
Bad Bunny’s halftime show also reveals something else that is worth understanding.
Do not assume this means the United States has suddenly become more open-minded, particularly within the music industry.
Bad Bunny’s success says as much about the exhaustion of the Anglo mainstream as it does about Latin visibility. Latin communities have been massive contributors to this country for decades, often while being treated as secondary participants in the national narrative.
For many Americans — not all, but many — Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, or Panama blur into a single idea. The cultural diversity south of Texas is still widely misunderstood.
“Bad Bunny is not happening because the industry suddenly discovered Latin culture. He is happening because the industry needs renewal. When Latin rhythms dominate the conversation, it is partly because mainstream Anglo pop is searching for new energy.”
This is not new.
Remember when MTV resisted playing Michael Jackson because he was “not rock”? That was never about genre. It was about gatekeeping.
Something similar echoes today.
So to those who say, “We are in America — speak English,” and to those celebrating this as a sudden awakening to diversity, my reading is less romantic.
This is not purity.
This is not enlightenment.
This is industry.
This is economics.
Still — as a Latino — I am glad to see Puerto Rican culture take one of the biggest stages in the world.
That matters.
Even when the reasons behind it are more complex than the celebration suggests.
Pablo Herrera
Founder and CEO
Teens Media Network®
Bad Bunny delivers an impressive Super Bowl LX performance, nombrando todos los países de las Américas.
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