Tag: halftime show
Bad Bunny’s Halftime Performance: Reactions from the PC Community
by Shannon Kelly ’26 on February 12, 2026
News
On Sunday, Feb. 8, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, colloquially known as Bad Bunny, performed during halftime of the 60th Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. He made history as the first Latin artist to headline the consistently most watched event on television each year in the United States. His performance included guests such as Ricky Martin, Cardi B, Karol G, Jessica Alba, Pedro Pascal, Lady Gaga, and others. For Americans, the Super Bowl halftime show emblematizes the vast social and cultural identities that exist within our country. It is currently estimated that 135 million people watched the halftime performance on Sunday, which was described as a “cultural game changer” in which Bad Bunny “delivered an interactive celebration of Latino culture at one of the most contentious times for the community in the United States.”
The show has garnered praise, controversy, and tension, including on our own campus. Many individuals on this campus utilized YikYak, an anonymous application that allows you to communicate with others in your respective communities, to resort to racist speech and ideology when discussing the halftime performance. For example, many people posted about not understanding the music due to Bad Bunny solely singing in Spanish, wrongly assuming Bad Bunny is an immigrant despite being from Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory), and many made comments sexualizing the dancers. Comments that were made by Providence College students in a group chat include a sarcastic, “I loved all the English” and, “I don’t speak Spanish. I’m not American enough.” Other comments that were made on YikYak include, “Get ICE up and moving around,” “Love me the all inclusive DEI Halftime Show,” and, “English please damn.” This demonstrates the tendency to interpret a performance solely through one’s own cultural identity and a lack of desire to understand both cultural and linguistic experiences that differ from your own. The possibility of YikYak being banned on PC’s wifi is currently being talked about in the Faculty Senate.
Bad Bunny’s performance highlighted many parts of the Puerto Rican experience in terms of politics, sociality, history, and culture. He even said that he sought to “bring what people can always expect from me and a lot of my culture.” Specific examples include demonstrating Puerto Rico’s agricultural roots in the sugarcane fields, casitas where people live, individuals playing dominoes, and a general focus on Puerto Rican resilience, especially in recognition of their colonialist past, which includes involvement from the U.S. After Bad Bunny won his Grammy for Album of the Year, Ricky Martin addressedBad Bunny, saying he had “won without changing the color of your voice. You won without erasing your roots. You won by staying true to Puerto Rico.” Additionally, Bad Bunny’s performance occurred just months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that declared English as the national language, despite an estimated 42–45 million people speaking Spanish at home in America and a wide array of languages being spoken throughout the U.S.
The President made statements about Bad Bunny’s performance on Truth Social, calling it a “slap in the face to our country,” “an affront to the Greatness of America,” and emphasizing that it “doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence.” Turning Point USA hosted their own “All American Halftime Show,” which was presented as an alternative to watching Bad Bunny. Their halftime show was explained to be “an opportunity for all Americans to enjoy a halftime show with no agenda other than to celebrate faith, family, and freedom.” It is estimated that around six million people watched it, although the official total is under speculation.
An anonymous PC student advised “everyone to rewatch the performance and really sit down with yourself” in order to “empathize that we are not against each other but against the system that is bringing us down.” Bad Bunny powerfully ended his performance by saying, “God Bless America” and listing countries from South America, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. Behind him stood a billboard that read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” which is a necessary reminder both on this campus and in our world as a whole.
A Superb Super Bowl Halftime Show
by John Downey '23 on March 3, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
A&E - Film & TV
A Superb Super Bowl Halftime Show
Hip-Hop Artists Deliver a Historic Performance
Olivia Riportella ’25
The Super Bowl LVI halftime show could quite possibly go down as the greatest halftime show of all time. With electrifying performances from superstars Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and a surprise appearance from 50 Cent, the 2022 display is truly unmatched.
What is particularly special about this show is that it marks the first time ever that a lineup consisting solely of hip-hop artists has taken the Super Bowl stage. Despite hip-hop dominating mainstream music and the culture of the NFL for quite some time, such artists have never headlined the event until now. However, the league’s celebration of hip-hop and its evolution over the past three decades made for a spectacular, high-energy performance.
The show was kickstarted by the legendary Dr. Dre. If anyone was the star of the night, it was he. He floated up from his producer’s chair with his arms outstretched to Los Angeles, asserting his West Coast’s sonic dominance. Indeed, sitting behind a mixing board in a nod to his roots as a celebrity, he essentially declared himself the patron saint of the West Coast sound. What made Dre stand out the most from his fellow performers is the work that he has done with them over the years, helping each of them achieve some of the most significant milestones of their careers.
The perfect opening, Dre’s timeless song “The Next Episode,” filled the audience with nostalgia as he and Snoop Dogg electrified the stage with ease. Snoop sported a blue and gold bandana-patterned tracksuit from head to toe and topped off the ensemble with white sunglasses, looking cooler than ever. He finished his opening performance by teaming up with Dre to sing hit song “California Love,” originally by Dre and the late Tupac.
Next to perform was unexpected guest 50 Cent, who made an unforgettable surprise appearance. Delivering his smash hit “In Da Club,” 50 Cent showed up below Snoop and Dre hanging upside-down in a red-lit room full of dancers. This iconic entry was a nod to his 2009 music video for “In Da Club,” in which he also appeared hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Next, the feminine energy of Mary J. Blige captivated the audience, as the performance cut to her singing her hit “Family Affair.” Blige was covered in white and silver sparkles from her bodysuit down to her thigh-high boots, surrounded by dancers wearing similar iterations of her dazzling ensemble. Blige then shifted into her hip-hop soul ballad “No More Drama,” solidifying her set as a perfect middle act. Notably, Blige was the only non-rap artist who performed.
Kendrick Lamar was next to take the stage, rising up out of shipping boxes labeled “Dre Day” to perform his iconic song “M.a.a.D. City.” Lamar then switched to his single “Alright,” a rather socially-charged anthem. He was backed by dancers in militaristic black suits, making a clear statement about today’s social climate in the midst of Black History Month. Dre and Eminem then joined Lamar onstage to finish his set with “Forgot About Dre.”
It was then Eminem’s turn to wow the audience. The rapper gave an angsty, chill-inducing performance of his iconic single “Lose Yourself.” He truly shook the stadium as he sang the track more flawlessly than ever. What made Eminem’s performance even more special is the fact that it was Dre who signed him to his very first record deal, and thus played a large role in propelling him to fame. Notably, like Lamar, Eminem also took a political stance, ending his performance by taking a knee in honor of Colin Kaepernick and other African-American NFL players who have protested racial injustice and have been met with controversy.
To cap off this stellar lineup, Dr. Dre returned to the stage. He took to the piano and began to play the opening bars of “Still D.R.E.” At this moment, all of the night’s performers united atop the stage for one final song— one, of course, produced by Dre. The literal and symbolic unity of this ending to their superb performance confirms these artists’ everlasting sonic dominance not only in hip-hop, but across mainstream music as a whole.