Plastic Chairs, Piraguas, and Social Clubs: Decoding the Puerto Rican Soul of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Performance

Bad Bunny made history at this year’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show as the first artist to perform their entire set in Spanish, turning the world’s biggest stage into a moment that brought Latino culture, and more specifically Puerto Rico, to a global audience.

Underneath the chart-topping hits like “Tití Me Preguntó” or “Eoo,” from his Grammy-winning album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, was a world of symbolism, one that celebrated Puerto Rican history while tracing a journey of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Here’s a closer look at some of those moments below.

Sugar Cane Opening

The sugar cane set that opened Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance wasn’t just a visual choice, but a tribute to Puerto Rico’s roots. Paying homage to the island’s agricultural history and the generations who worked the land, the scene added emotional weight to the performance,  grounding the beginning in memory, resilience, and cultural pride.

Puerto Rican Scenery

As he moves down the field, Bad Bunny weaves past everyday staples of the island, from a coco frío stand to a piragua cart, passing through boxers and a neighborhood jeweler, each one a real local business rooted in Puerto Rico. Making his way to the casita — similar to the one from his “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí” residency — filled with celebrity guests like Karol G, Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, and Jessica Alba, the party is about to really get started.

Yes, A Real Wedding

Further driving the message of love and unity, a real wedding took place just before the reveal of Lady Gaga’s guest appearance, during which she donned the flor de maga, the national flower of Puerto Rico, for a salsa rendition of “Die With a Smile.” The party continued with salsa dancers moving across the stage effortlessly and full of joy, an essential component of any Hispanic celebration.

Toñitas

Not only spotlighting Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny’s “Nuevayol” highlighted Nuyorican culture, with a set that mimicked a marqueta, a barbershop, and the famed Toñitas, a Puerto Rican social club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, also referenced in the song. The club’s owner, Toñita herself, was part of the big night, even handing the artist a shot.

Ricky Martin‘s Spotlight

Ricky Martin, another one of the night’s special guests, sat in a white plastic chair against a backdrop identical to the DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album cover to perform “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii.” The song explores ongoing displacement driven by rising costs, natural disasters, and the energy crisis in Puerto Rico, pleading that the island not face the same fate as Hawaii.

Electrical Poles

At the end of Martin’s verse, the power cuts out behind him as dancers and Bad Bunny crawl up electrical poles, a symbol of the constant outages caused by an outdated electrical grid and the natural disasters that continue to impact the island. Hurricanes like Maria in 2017, which destroyed 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution lines, and Fiona in 2022, which left roughly 80 percent of residents without power.

Bed Made of Chairs

Perhaps the moment that transported every Latino to their childhood was Bad Bunny waking up a sleeping child who had made a makeshift bed out of chairs. As children, we knew the party that started at 8:00 p.m. would run well into the wee hours of the morning. As our parents danced to the sounds of Marc Anthony and La India, we knew the only thing we could do was make ourselves comfortable—whether that’d be on some chairs or on a pile of North Face coats.

El concepto de DORMIR EN DOS SILLAS EN UNA FIESTA, experiencia UNIVERSAL de los Latinos Bad Bunny realmente NO FALLA UNA pic.twitter.com/yn95z6D8NF

— sofia (@suehenito) February 9, 2026

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance is a testament to his love for his culture. With every Suzy Q, piece of signage, and cultural reference, he transformed the world’s biggest stage into a living celebration of Puerto Rican life, history, and resilience, inviting millions to see not just the music, but the stories behind it.

Check out the record-breaking performance here.