Bad Bunny's Super Bowl show was full of symbolism: What to know
Bad Bunny wrapped a celebratory medley during his Super Bowl LX halftime show, performed nearly entirely in Spanish, with a powerful message of unity.
Near the end of his 13-minute set on Sunday, the Puerto Rican music superstar, whose full name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, yelled out "God Bless America" before naming dozens of countries across the Americas.
While leading a parade of national flags at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Bad Bunny started by shouting out Chile in South America, nations in Central America, and then moved to Mexico, the United States, and Canada in North America, before ending with his birthplace of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory with a population of over 3 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
After naming the countries, Bad Bunny shouted "seguimos aquí" -- Spanish for "we're still here" -- and spiked a football with the inscription, "Together, We Are America."
By naming each nation, Bad Bunny underscored how expansive and diverse the Americas are, with numerous countries falling under the umbrella term for the region, and highlighted a perspective beyond one that views "America" simply as shorthand for the U.S.
Gabriel Alejandro Negron Torres, a Bad Bunny fan who also hails from Vega Baja, the same hometown as the artist, told ABC News that he was overcome with "a lot of pride" seeing the 31-year-old perform the Super Bowl halftime show.
"[The message was that] everyone is welcome to enjoy our culture from the perspective of respect, dignity, admiration and love," Torres said.
Torres said that in Latin America, it is "very common to criticize" using the word "American" to only describe people from the U.S., while excluding other people from the Americas, and Bad Bunny's performance underscored "the premise that we're all Americans in the Americas."
"At a moment where the U.S. seems to be isolating itself from the rest of the world, it serves as a great message of international unity to speak of the Americas, including the U.S., as a beautiful region and one of shared history," Torres added.
Bad Bunny took audience members and millions of viewers through a tour of Puerto Rico in his halftime show, through a sugar cane field, represented by dozens of performers, to a colorful casita and the streets of the island's capital of San Juan, complete with domino players, block partygoers and even a piragua or shaved ice vendor.
He brought out famous guests, including fellow Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin, Karol G, Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba, Cardi B and Lady Gaga, who performed a salsa version of her song "Die With A Smile."
Gaga also wore a light blue custom Luar dress, as WWD reported, adorned with a red flor de maga, the national flower of Puerto Rico.
During his halftime showcase, Bad Bunny also carried the Puerto Rican flag, which featured a lighter shade of blue.
According to Carlos A. Morales-Ramírez, an assistant professor of geography at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the shade of blue in the flag Bad Bunny held was particularly meaningful.
"In 1995, the [Puerto Rico] government shifted the [flag] color back to a sky blue," Morales-Ramírez told ABC News. "Over time, the different blues have become associated with political ideologies: pro-independence supporters tend to favor the lighter blue version (like the one Bad Bunny used), while pro-statehood supporters usually prefer the darker blue."
Puerto Rico has been a U.S. territory for over 100 years, since 1917. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but can only vote in primary elections and can't vote in general elections or for U.S. president, and Puerto Rico's representative in Congress has no voting power.
For decades, Puerto Rico has seen an exodus of native residents due to political and economic turmoil, with one recent example being the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. The impact of the Category 5 hurricane, which led to nearly 5,000 deaths, is still being felt, with frequent power outages plaguing residents years later.
Bad Bunny referenced Puerto Rico's electricity crisis -- some of the island's infrastructure remains unrestored eight years after Hurricane Maria -- in his halftime show, climbing prop power line poles alongside performers onstage.
ABC News' Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
