A year ago today, I wrote a column about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, and this year, the performance by Bad Bunny was unlike any other, yet there were many similarities.

The most obvious difference was the language — his whole performance was in Spanish. I took four years of Spanish through high school and college, but I understood about as much of the lyrics as anyone who has never studied the language.

I have also never listened to Bad Bunny’s music before, because it’s in Spanish. Yet, I found a great deal of enjoyment in the performance the Puerto Rican put on. 

One of the greatest things about the Super Bowl halftime show is the imagery, and it did not disappoint. The NFL playing surface was transformed into a sugar cane field, with a central stage resembling a traditional home, with traditional storefronts and tons of other native Puerto Rican imagery.

There was a marriage on stage — a bona fide marriage. The couple asked Bad Bunny to come to their wedding, and though he declined that request, he made an offer to them to get married on the Super Bowl stage. That’s pretty darn cool.

Guest appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin added a little spice, though I was a little disappointed there were not a couple more guest performances.

The best parts, by far, were the very beginning and the very end. Bad Bunny entered the stage with the name “Ocasio” across his back — not his stage name, but his family name. The first words out of his mouth (yes, in Spanish) were: “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. And if today I’m here at the Super Bowl, it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself.”

That’s a message we can all stand behind in any language. At the show’s end, he named every country in North America, South America and Central America — and paraded the flag of each of the countries he named. It was a message of unity, capped with the phrase, “God Bless America.”

It invoked an old Hispanic trope, that the United States frequently use “America” to reference only one country, when the Americas encompass many more cultures and traditions than just those of the USA.

Yet, the message was not one of division, it was one of love. Plastered across the jumbotron was the phrase, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

In my opinion, and you can take it or leave it, it was in stark contrast to the opposition to Bad Bunny being awarded the performance. From what I have seen on social media, many of our friends and neighbors opted for the competing halftime show, the Kid Rock-headlined Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show.”

The connotation of that phrasing is that the Super Bowl Halftime show is unAmerican because it was in another language and performed by someone that doesn’t fit the Anglo-European majority of US citizens.

Yet, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, born in Puerto Rico in 1994, is an American citizen by birth, the same as Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett. No matter whose music you prefer — and I’ve listened to way more Kid Rock in my days than Bad Bunny — the implication that Ocasio is not All-American is inherently unAmerican.

As a nation, our vast cultural differences are what make us strong. From traditions to food to music and everything in between, being American is more than what the “All-American Halftime Show” portrayed it to be. And I’ll borrow a couple paragraphs from my column last year that still stand true:

“If you did not enjoy [Bad Bunny], don’t fret! The Super Bowl has been very hip-hop and R&B driven in recent years, and judging by the history of performers, I’m anticipating a switch in demographics. The early 2000s saw many more mainstream artists center stage, like Aerosmith and NSYNC in 2001 and U2 in 2002. The lineup from 2008-2010 was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band, and The Who.

“For me, those three years were the least memorable in the last 20, but as they say, different strokes for different folks.

“No matter who plays the halftime show next year and beyond, I hope they use it as an opportunity to entertain, but also to educate, inform and inspire. 

“And if I find myself not understanding the message, I hope it makes me think.”

Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He is a three-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or [email protected].