NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defends decision to have Bad Bunny as Super Bowl halftime performer, recognizing his international fame.
Bad Bunny named his second album, "Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La," which translates to, "I Do Whatever I Want."
It's a credo the megastar has embraced throughout his decade-long career. Whether collaborating with artists ranging from J Balvin (their 2019 album "Oasis") to Cardi B ("I Like It"); redrawing the boundaries of Urbano music; showcasing bold fashion choices; shattering industry records on Billboard, Spotify and the Grammys; or standing unbowed in his support of his native Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny's path has been proudly singular.
As the unapologetic "King of Latin Trap" finesses his biggest performance yet - the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California - a slew of questions, misconceptions and opinions have commandeered TV talk shows and the internet.
For those curious about the 31-year-old born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and his decorated career, here is a primer on the son of a truck driver and schoolteacher who went from bagging groceries at an Econo supermarket in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico while uploading musical creations to Soundcloud to the biggest global star in music.
Where did Bad Bunny get his stage name?
It's an oft-told story, but Bad Bunny adopted his cartoonish moniker long before his music career ascended.
As he explained to the Today show in 2025, "Bad Bunny" stemmed from a photo of him as a child in a bunny costume, holding a basket with an indifferent look on his face.
"It's funny because I always say that I was mad that day on that picture. There's no bad bunnies, I think. Even a bad bunny is gonna look like a good bunny. So it fit perfect on me because I could be bad, I could be good," he told Willie Geist with a smile.
Geist pointed out that there was no way that Bad Bunny could have known that one day his self-chosen nickname would follow him to worldwide stardom.
"Insane," he says. "I never thought that. But yeah."
Bad Bunny does return to his Benito birth name when moonlighting on screen. He's had several acting opportunities, including starring alongside Brad Pitt as a hitman known as "The Wolf" in "Bullet Train," a love interest in "Cassandro," Adam Sandler's caddie in "Happy Gilmore 2" and his first major role in 2021, as a member of a Tijuana cartel in the acclaimed Netflix series, "Narcos: Mexico."
Does Bad Bunny sing only in Spanish?
Much of the controversy surrounding Bad Bunny's impending Super Bowl performance pertains to him singing exclusively in Spanish.
As he told Spin in 2021, "I'm pleased that we are in a time where I don't need to change anything about myself - not my musical style, not my language, not my culture - to go far. That doesn't mean I'll never sing in English. I already sang in Japanese, so maybe one day I'll sing in English. It feels great to do things my way."
Bad Bunny isn't expected to change his approach for his Super Bowl show, which usually run about 12-14 minutes and frequently feature truncated renditions or medleys of songs from artists with extensive catalogs. Considering Bad Bunny has landed 113 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 - both with artists including Drake, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez and solo - he will have to seriously pare down a setlist to squeeze in his biggest hits.
Has Bad Bunny performed on the Super Bowl before?
This isn't the first time Bad Bunny is appearing at the Super Bowl. In 2020, he joined Shakira and Jennifer Lopez - natives of Colombia and Puerto Rico, respectively - for their Latin-focused performance that included a mashup with Shakira of her "Chantaje" and his "Callaíta."
Bad Bunny's appointment as Super Bowl ringmaster aligns with the NFL's pursuit to broaden the audience for American football.
The league has courted overseas markets for nearly two decades, staring with a game in London in 2007. While the majority of contests have been held in the U.K., in recent seasons, the NFL International Series has hosted five games in Mexico City, four in Germany, two in São Paulo, Brazil, one in Madrid and, on the docket for the 2026 season, Rio de Janeiro and Melbourne, Australia.
What accolades has Bad Bunny earned?
Bad Bunny's dedication to his native language has hardly hindered his success.
Along with his six Grammy Awards, 17 Latin Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards and a parade of trophies from BMI Latin Awards and ASCAP Latin Awards - industry powerhouses that celebrate the most played Latin songs of the year - Bad Bunny's career has been built on billions of streams and physical sales alike.
His current album, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" ("I Should Have Taken More Photos"), made history Feb. 1 as the first Spanish-language Grammy album of the year winner. It sold nearly 48,000 copies on vinyl its week of release in January 2025, making it the single-largest sales week on vinyl for a Latin album since 1991, according to Billboard. The album - heralded for its focus on traditional Puerto Rican music styles including plena and bomba - stayed at No. 1 for four weeks while singles "DTMF" and "Baile Inolvidable" launched into the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Bad Bunny's 2022 album "Un Verano Sin Ti" ("A Summer Without You"), was celebrated as the first all-Spanish album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and also became the first all-Spanish album nominated for a prestigious album of the year Grammy Award.
On the streaming side, Bad Bunny has been unstoppable. He's the first musician named Spotify's Global Top Artist four times (2020-2022 and 2025), scoring more than 19.8 billion streams of his songs in 2025. Spotify also crowned "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" the most-streamed album of 2025.
What does Bad Bunny sing about?
While Bad Bunny is emphasizing the rhythmic appeal of his music in teasers for his Super Bowl performance, spinning in circles with dancers of varying ages and ethnicities and proclaiming "the world will dance," he's also addressed weighty topics in his songs.
"Sólo de Mí," ("Only of Me") from his 2018 debut album, "X 100pre," spotlighted domestic violence in Latin America. Two years later Bad Bunny protested the death of a trans woman in Puerto Rico when he appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" to sing "Ignorantes" ("Ignorant") while wearing a long skirt and a shirt reading "Mataron a Alexa, no a un hombre con falda," which translates to "They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt."
Bad Bunny has been vocal with criticism about President Donald Trump, starting with the administration's delayed relief efforts following Hurricane Maria in 2017, which devastated parts of Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny also took exception to a comedian at a Trump election rally referring to his homeland as "a floating island of garbage" in 2024, leading the musician to endorse Kamala Harris.
In 2025, Bad Bunny performed an historic 31-show residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which attracted sold-out crowds totaling more than 500,000. While the first batch was reserved for residents of the island, Bad Bunny encouraged tourism to Puerto Rico for 21 of the shows. Rolling Stone reported that the non-profit DMO Discover Puerto Rico estimated that the residency brought in about $200 million in tourist dollars spent on lodging, transportation, and food.
What has Bad Bunny said about Donald Trump and ICE?
Bad Bunny's follow-up tour did not include any U.S. dates because he feared his fans would be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"There was the issue of -- like, (expletive) ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about," he told i-D Magazine last fall.
Bad Bunny made the administration’s anti-immigration policy a centerpiece of his video for the song “NUEVAYoL.”
Trump has stated he will not attend this year’s Super Bowl, citing the “terrible choice” of Bad Bunny and opening ceremony performers Green Day as part of his reason to skip the event.
Bad Bunny kept a sense of humor about the controversy surrounding his appointment, sharing during his hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” in October how excited he is to perform and then joking, “I think everyone is happy about it. Even Fox News.”