How Bad Bunny pulled off a historic Super Bowl halftime show

Bad Bunny scored a touchdown earlier either squad did during Super Bowl LX connected Sunday, marching down the tract during his halftime amusement earlier spiking a shot astatine the extremity zone.

His metaphoric touchdown culminated a 13-minute Latin-fueled show and was an homage to the countless artists that came earlier him, said Harriet Cuddeford, the originative manager down the performance.

The Puerto Rican vocalist became the archetypal Latin creator to instrumentality connected music’s biggest signifier alone, performing astatine Levi’s Stadium successful Santa Clara conscionable a week aft his historical Grammy triumph for medium of the year.

Bad Bunny wanted his show to halfway connected this “idea of honoring each the radical that ran the yards earlier him that got him to wherever helium is, and past the thought of paying that guardant into aboriginal generations,” Cuddeford said. “That was truly represented by the thought going from 1 extremity to the other.”

The originative squad down the show, led by Cuddeford and signifier decorator Julio Himede from Yellow Studio, had astir 2 months to make the amusement earlier rehearsals began successful aboriginal January, a fast-paced and “fairly wild” process, Cuddeford said.

The existent amusement “was the champion tally we’d had of each the rehearsals,” Cuddeford said. “The beingness conscionable smiled down and was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I don’t adjacent truly person words for that. Just, however that feels successful your assemblage is crazy.”

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime amusement featured much than 300 dancers, according to the originative squad down the performance.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl was not without criticism. Turning Point USA, the blimpish enactment founded by the precocious Charlie Kirk, organized an opposing halftime amusement featuring Kid Rock.

President Trump, who antecedently said Bad Bunny’s show would “sow hatred,” called the amusement “one of the worst, EVER!” successful a station connected his societal media level pursuing the show.

Cuddeford and Himede said the originative squad was truthful profoundly immersed successful bringing Bad Bunny’s “clear individuality and vision” to beingness that they had nary vigor to walk connected extracurricular criticism.

“If everyone other is making each of this noise, cool, but like, we cognize what we’re doing,” Cuddeford said.

The making of Benito Bowl

Sunday’s halftime amusement took spot conscionable aft 5 p.m. Pacific, erstwhile the prima was inactive shining successful California. The daylight was a cardinal situation to the originative team, Cuddeford said.

The West Coast sunlight would disrupt the performance consciousness that astir halftime shows have, Cuddeford said. It was already acheronian retired erstwhile Kendrick Lamar took the signifier for past year’s amusement successful New Orleans.

So the squad got creative.

Cuddeford had worked with Bad Bunny connected his televised performances passim 2025, including the Latin Grammys and “Saturday Night Live.” She knew Bad Bunny was a “showman,” she said, and leaned into his theatrical skills to physique retired a halftime amusement dissimilar immoderate different — 1 that felt much similar a movie than a concert.

“There’s truthful galore things that you’re utilized to seeing astatine the Super Bowl, and surely connected the Super Bowl side, they’re precise utilized to doing things a definite way,” Cuddeford said. “We were like, ‘Let’s conscionable effort and ideate the abstraction differently. Let’s effort and marque thing immersive. Let’s marque a journey.’”

The squad divided the signifier into assorted smaller sections to accommodate the “vignettes” that Bad Bunny would locomotion done arsenic helium told the communicative of “real radical successful mundane beingness that are celebrating the Latin community,” Himede said.

The show began with Bad Bunny walking done a sweetener cane field, interacting with a beloved L.A. taco stand, a jeweler, a nail technician and a radical of older men playing dominoes. The vocalist dilatory made his mode down the stage, stopping by La Casita, popularized during the singer’s caller satellite tour, and adjacent witnessed a couple’s existent wedding.

The “DTMF” vocalist had a imaginativeness for astir of the show, and it was up to the originative squad to bring it to life, Cuddeford and Himede said. The show’s peculiar guests, Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, for instance, were chosen by the singer.

The Puerto Rican vocalist had wanted Martin to execute “Lo que le paso a Hawaii” astatine his Puerto Rico residency, but it didn’t cookware out, Cuddeford said, truthful Bad Bunny made definite helium could marque the Super Bowl performance.

Toward the extremity of the performance, Bad Bunny handed 1 of his Grammy Awards to a young boy. That infinitesimal was the singer’s idea, and was planned mode earlier helium took location 3 Grammys past week, Cuddeford said.

The vocalist grew up watching his idols triumph awards connected television, and eventually, those idols began handing him the awards. The now-viral infinitesimal was Bad Bunny’s effort astatine inspiring a caller procreation of younger kids “to judge that they tin bash it” also, she said.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show was meant to consciousness much similar a movie than a concert, according to the originative team. The Puerto Rican vocalist held the island’s emblem arsenic helium sang “El Apagón” during the halftime show.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Bringing a imaginativeness to life

Bad Bunny’s halftime amusement show featured much than 300 dancers, aggregate moving stages and, astir surprisingly, a existent wedding.

The originative squad decided aboriginal connected that a wedding ceremonial would perfectly encapsulate “love, joy, transportation and family,” that spans crossed each communities — the nonstop tenets that the show centered on, Cuddeford said.

Luckily for them, wedding invitations are the astir communal instrumentality message that Bad Bunny receives, she said. The reggaeton vocalist sifted done scores of invitations earlier landing connected the fortunate couple. Bad Bunny served arsenic a witnesser to their nuptials.

Wedding ceremonies are “very Latin,” Himede said, a “time wherever I tin spot my hundreds of cousins and uncles that we have.” At the aforesaid time, the feelings evoked from a wedding are “something that everybody astir the satellite relates to,” helium said.

The on-stage ceremonial was visually inspired by a plaza successful San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is known for weddings, which Himede visited during 1 of their galore trips to the land successful mentation for the show.

Near the extremity of his set, Bad Bunny proclaimed, “God bless America,” arsenic helium reached the extremity zone, earlier naming each the countries successful North and South America arsenic dancers waved their respective flags.

Bad Bunny past turned the shot helium had been holding toward the camera to uncover a message: “Together, we are America.”

“We person the aforesaid world. We’re each one. We’re each humans. Let america beryllium the same,” Cuddeford said.