From album of the year to halftime performer.
Bad Bunny turned Levi’s Stadium into the streets of Puerto Rico during his Super Bowl 2026 halftime performance Sunday night. He opened with “Tití Me Preguntó” and danced through one of the most elaborate sets in halftime history, bringing out plenty of stars including Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.
The Puerto Rican native wore a custom white football jersey by Zara, which was emblazoned with the name Ocasio as well as the number 64.
Bad Bunny’s real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, which explains the former — but the numeral’s a bit trickier to decipher.
Fans speculated that it could be a tribute to his mother’s birth year. Others pointed out that the number also reflects the initial falsely reported death toll from 2017’s Hurricane Maria, which rocked the island and was actually one of the deadliest in United States history.
There’s also the 64th United States Congress, which passed the landmark Jones-Shafroth Act granting statutory citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917.
However, it appears most likely that Benito was pointing to his own indelible mark on music history.
In 2023, his album “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for album of the year at the 64th Grammys.
And at last week’s 2026 Grammys, he took home a total of three awards — including album of the year for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” the first-ever Spanish-language album to win in the category.
The fashion darling also made history on the step-and-repeat, wearing Schiaparelli’s first red carpet menswear design: a corseted tuxedo with laces up the back.
The rapper used his two televised acceptance speeches to make political statements and protest ICE. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” he said. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
He later appeared to present his actual Grammy award to a child watching a clip of his acceptance speech on a small TV during the halftime show.
While Donald Trump told The Post he’s skipping the big game in protest and Turning Point USA, the conservative political activism group, said it would hold its own competing halftime show with Kid Rock as the headliner, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell backed Bunny.
“He understood the platform he was on,” Goodell said of Bad Bunny’s Grammys speeches before pivoting. “This platform is used to unite people and be able to bring people together. I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that.”
For his part, the King of Latin Trap — who previously made a cameo during Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, wearing a bejeweled silver outfit — appeared emotional at a press conference before the big game, tearing up as he talked about his mom.
He also teased that the performance would be raucous.
“I just want to have fun, it’s going to be a huge party … I don’t want to give spoilers, people only need to worry about dancing. They don’t even have to learn Spanish; it’s better if they dance, but there’s no better dance that comes from the heart,” he said.
Bad Bunny announced he would be headlining the show in September 2025, telling Page Six in a statement, “What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture, and our history.”
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