The Puerto Rican star’s vision of American identity moved beyond colonial tropes to span an entire hemisphere

By now, many of us have a favorite part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time performance. It’s a dense, rich set that invites rewatching to take in every thoughtful, exuberant detail – even though it’s barely 14 minutes long.

My most beloved part occurs a little more than nine minutes into the homage, when the cuatro puertorriqueño appears. The stringed instrument has its own moment in the spotlight, shown in the talented hands of the cuatrista José Eduardo Santana just before Ricky Martin performs.

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© Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock

Puerto Rican musician transformed high street fashion into a symbol of cultural power and accessibility

• Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show review – a thrilling ode to Boricua joy

Of the many cultural flashpoints in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time performance on Sunday, one that few observers saw coming was his decision to wear two outfits by the Spanish high street brand Zara.

As the most-watched event on US television, the Super Bowl half-time show is a marketing moment as much as a musical one. From Rihanna’s pregnancy reveal to Kendrick Lamar’s show-stealing jeans, the 13-minute showcase has long doubled as a luxury fashion parade.

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© Photograph: Kindell Buchanan/PA

© Photograph: Kindell Buchanan/PA

© Photograph: Kindell Buchanan/PA

While Trump has attacked the Grammy-winning Puerto Rican star, celebrities have come out in force to support the half-time show

As blue, red and white fireworks filled the sky at the end of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show, a message filled the screen in all capitals: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

It was the enduring statement from a 13-minute spectacle that invited an estimated 135.4 million viewers into Bad Bunny’s world, with richly textured references to politics, history and Puerto Rican culture. The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio transformed the pitch of the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, into his own love letter to the island, with cinematic set pieces including sugarcane fields, a house party, and a lively wedding ceremony featuring a surprise performance by Lady Gaga.

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© Photograph: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Young Puerto Ricans say the star has opened the world’s eyes to their challenges, and to the island’s fraught territorial relationship with the U.S. government.

© Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

The claim that music sung in Spanish will alienate viewers ignores the fact that many people would rather join the fun than risk being left out of it

The morning after the 3 January US military action in Venezuela, in which Nicolás Maduro was captured, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace in parts of the eastern Caribbean, and my stay in St Kitts stretched into an unexpected extra week. At the mercy of the systems that determine which corridors open and when, and who gets routed where, an overwhelmed customer service agent suggested I charter a boat to nearby St Maarten, fly to Amsterdam, and then stitch together a series of flights to avoid the affected airspace. I understood the Caribbean, then, less as a string of proximate islands and, instead, as a set of routes connected by powers elsewhere.

Power doesn’t just regulate airspace, it also governs cultural transmission – who gets broadcast, who gets heard, and on what terms. That’s why the handwringing over the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, and the characterization of his almost exclusive use of Spanish in his music as an intrusion, feel so disingenuous. The drama isn’t about understanding the lyrics. Rather it’s a claim about Bad Bunny and his music as fundamentally un-American, stemming from a fear of feeling left out, or the more colloquially known fear of missing out (Fomo).

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© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images

Young Puerto Ricans say the star has opened the world’s eyes to their challenges, and to the island’s fraught territorial relationship with the U.S. government.

© Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Grammy-winning Puerto Rican star is in the center of US culture wars before leading this weekend’s half-time show

A few days after Christmas 2022, Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaetonero, appeared without warning on one of the most unlikely of stages: the roof of a Gulf Oil gas station in San Juan. To a massive crowd singing every word, he performed a surprise concert, along with friend and collaborator Arcángel, that was part hype-y music video shoot, part exultant post-tour homecoming, and part pointed critique. He ended the set with El Apagón (“The Power Outage”), a clubby protest anthem about local displacement and the rolling blackouts that have plagued Puerto Rico, a US “commonwealth” (read: colony), since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Bad Bunny sang it from a roof on Santurce’s Calle Loíza, a thoroughfare in a former working-class Black neighborhood now dotted with Airbnbs. But you do not need the full context to get the show’s contagious energy. Though I have never walked Calle Loíza, nor do I speak Spanish, the gas station show is still my favorite concert to rewatch via online fan clips: electric, organic, genuinely popular. In terms of reach, critical acclaim and longevity, Bad Bunny rivals – and sometimes outsells – the likes of Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Drake, though it is hard to imagine those peers appearing so unguarded, so public, as he does on that roof.

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© Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images

Welche Promis kommen, wer schaltet Werbung, was sagen die Kommentatoren: Beim größten Sportereignis der USA kann man auf fast alles setzen. „Prediction Markets“ sind nicht nur im Sport riesig, sondern auch in der Politik – und sie sind anfällig für Betrug.

The Puerto Rican singer’s highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time show has inspired non-Spanish speakers to study Puerto Rican dialect and slang

Bad Bunny is expected to perform the Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday entirely in Spanish – which has inspired fans to quickly learn the language.

In October, the Puerto Rican singer – born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – kicked off the 51st season of Saturday Night Live expressing pride over the achievement in Spanish, after which he said in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”

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© Photograph: Alejandro Granadillo/AP

© Photograph: Alejandro Granadillo/AP

© Photograph: Alejandro Granadillo/AP

Senator John Cornyn, once seen as a potential Republican leader in his chamber, is now depending on wealthy party donors to survive a right-wing challenge.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

State Representative James Talarico used the word “mediocre” in connection with a former House member who is Black. The controversy has repercussions for a key contest.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

First came a remarkable State Senate upset. Next up: two high-octane U.S. Senate primaries.

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

In a debate, Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico differed in their political styles but agreed that violent immigration agents needed to be held to account.

© Pool photo by Bob Daemmrich

Polls, careful remarks from JD Vance and chats with voters all point to some wariness.

© Vincent Alban/The New York Times

Two of the Democrats’ rising stars, Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, are seeing if a red state should be won courting disaffected Republicans or focusing on the party’s base.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

Two of the Democrats’ rising stars, Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico, are seeing if a red state should be won courting disaffected Republicans or focusing on the party’s base.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

Democrats want to regain control of the chamber, and they have recruited some top candidates. But they are facing a tough map.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times

Over the past week, C-17 heavy-lift cargo planes, which usually transport troops and equipment, flew to Puerto Rico at least 16 times, according to flight tracking data reviewed by The New York Times.

© Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters

Gen. Dan Caine is making the trip as President Trump is said to have approved plans for covert action in Venezuela.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times