Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny is one of the most-streamed artists in the world and widely considered the top Latin musician of the 21st century. His unique mix of traditional Puerto Rican and Caribbean sounds – think salsa, bomba and plena – with reggaeton, Latin trap and pop have garnered him a massive global fan base.
He won music’s top prize last Sunday at the Grammys, where he was awarded album of the year for his 2025 hit “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” And now, just a week later, the 31-year-old superstar will headline the Super Bowl halftime show – one of the biggest stages in the world.
Despite his fame, Bad Bunny drew fury from some conservatives last year when the NFL announced him as the halftime headliner. Some on the right say they’ll boycott his show this weekend by watching a separate, unaffiliated program hosted by Turning Point USA. Still, millions of Americans – and a sizable international audience – are expected to tune in to his performance.
Here’s what you need to know about Bad Bunny ahead of Sunday’s show:
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Puerto Rican, born and raised
Bad Bunny was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a town just outside San Juan. As he sings in “La Mudanza,” his father worked as a truck driver, and his mother was a teacher. The oldest of three, Bad Bunny has spoken about growing up in a “very Catholic” home with a tight-knit family that listened to a lot of salsa, merengue and baladas.
The singer-rapper has made Puerto Rico a central theme of his body of work. He has spoken at length about the social, economic and political issues Puerto Rico faces as a U.S. territory and advocated for the island’s sovereignty. He has also boosted Puerto Rico’s economy: His 30-date “No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí” residency in San Juan boosted the island’s gross domestic product by about $400 million, according to Wells Fargo estimates.
(While some right-wing commentators have voiced opposition to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show by claiming that he’s not a U.S. citizen, the artist, like all Puerto Ricans, is American. The island is a U.S. territory.)
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Love, political resistance and partying
While plenty of Bad Bunny’s music centers on Puerto Rican identity, the island’s strife as an American territory and other social commentary, his work also talks about love, heartbreak, family – and partying. Lots and lots of partying.
Songs across his albums, but particularly on “Un Verano Sin Ti” and “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” talk about Puerto Rico’s struggles with gentrification, the departure of its people to the mainland and corruption. With “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” – which is expected to be heavily featured Sunday – the singer-rapper crafted a celebration of his homeland, combining reggaeton rhythms alongside plena, salsa, bomba and other Puerto Rican and Caribbean sounds in homage to his musical heritage. The album’s title translates to “I should’ve taken more pictures,” and some of the songs talk about nostalgia for lost love and homelands left behind.
Bad Bunny is supportive of the LGBTQ community, using an appearance on the “Tonight Show” to bring awareness to the killing of Alexa Negrón Luciano, a transgender woman. He also drew acclaim – and conservative condemnation – for performing in drag in the music video for “Yo Perreo Sola,” a song about women’s independence that has been adopted as a feminist anthem in Latin America.
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From bagging groceries to the nation’s biggest stage
Now he’s one of the biggest stars in music, but Bad Bunny began his musical career uploading Latin trap tracks to SoundCloud while attending the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo. He would moonlight as a bagger and cashier at Econo, a grocery store in the island, to sustain his musical career. He released his first major hit, “Soy Peor,” at 22, but it wasn’t until 2018 that he gained widespread notoriety for joining Cardi B and J Balvin on the hit “I Like It.” Later that year, he released his first album, “X100PRE.” Sung completely in Spanish, the album reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart.
In February 2020, he graced the Super Bowl stage for the first time, appearing as a guest performer in Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s halftime show. He dropped his second solo studio album, the critically acclaimed “YHLQMDLG,” later that month. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, making it the highest-charting all-Spanish album at the time. By the time he released his fifth album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” in 2022, Bad Bunny had reached international acclaim. “UVST” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and became the most-streamed album of all time on Spotify.
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So, are his songs all in Spanish?
Yes.
Bad Bunny has famously produced record-breaking, award-winning albums fully in Spanish, and “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” became the first all-Spanish album to win the Grammy for album of the year. While he does speak English, Bad Bunny has maintained his body of work, as well as most of his communications with fans, in Spanish. He will be the first Latino and primarily Spanish-speaking artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show solo.
He has poked fun at this, telling viewers during a “Saturday Night Live” episode in October that those who don’t speak Spanish had four months to learn the language. Duolingo, the language-learning application, has since launched a campaign reminding folks to practice their Spanish before the big game.
But during a pre-Super Bowl news conference Thursday, Bad Bunny had a message for fans who did not spend the last four months learning Spanish conjugations: relax.
“People only have to worry about dance,” he said. “They don’t even have to learn Spanish.”
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Bad Bunny’s essential hits
If you want to practice your Spanish or your dancing before Sunday, here are some of Bad Bunny’s top hits, in no particular order:
“Nuevayol”: An ode to the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York City, this song features a sample of El Gran Combo’s “Un Verano en Nueva York.” The music video depicts images of the diaspora as well as resistance to colonialism, and heavily criticizes President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.
“Tití Me Preguntó”: This fast-paced dance track – in which Bad Bunny makes clear that he’s not ready to settle down romantically – features a mix of rhythms including Dominican dembow and Latin trap.
“Baile Inolvidable”: Bad Bunny sings about lost love in this 2025 salsa hit, which puts together the themes of melancholy, memory and romance that feature throughout “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” The song also features live instruments including trumpet, trombone and saxophone.
“El Apagón”: This genre-hopping song comes with politically charged lyrics commenting on the displacement of Puerto Ricans and the privatization of the island’s energy grid. Widely embraced as a Puerto Rican anthem, this song dropped with a 23-minute documentary highlighting injustices in Puerto Rico and emphasizing the resistance movement there.
“DtMF”: The title song on Bad Bunny’s latest album, “DtMF” carries nostalgia for moments and places that have been left behind, as well as loves that are no longer there. With the song, Bad Bunny pays homage to Puerto Ricans who have left the island, and talks about the importance of enjoying the present before it becomes the past.