What K-pop and Bad Bunny have in common: Power of language, fandom, cultural pride
Bad Bunny performs during the Super Bowl LX halftime show at at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 8. UPI-Yonhap
Latin pop no longer regional phenomenon, carries global outlook
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show carried an energy Korean audiences already recognize: the confidence of pop that does not need to translate itself to be understood. Before it became a spectacle of fireworks, choreography and the roar of the crowd, it was a statement about language as power — the idea that a global stage can be claimed without switching tongues, flattening accents or sanding away cultural specificity.
The Puerto Rican singer transformed Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, into a full-scale Latin celebration on Sunday (local time), making it the most-watched halftime performance in Super Bowl history with more than 135 million viewers tuned in.
This was not merely another high-impact spectacle, but a cultural statement: For 13 minutes, Spanish dominated one of the most influential stages in U.S. entertainment, treated not as a niche language but as the default.
Like BTS or BLACKPINK performing in Korean at global stages, Bad Bunny didn’t code-switch for mass appeal. Instead, in a sensitive sociopolitical climate, he brought the audience into his world, accompanied by symbols and narratives that resonated deeply with the Latin community.
Bad Bunny performs during the Super Bowl LX halftime show at at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 8. UPI-Yonhap
The setlist traced the most emblematic moments of Bad Bunny’s career, featuring tracks such as “Titi Me Pregunto,” “Yo Perreo Sola,” “Safaera,” “EoO,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL,” “El Apagon,” “CAFe CON RON” and “DtMF.” The show also included collaborations that reinforced its generational and cultural message, including Lady Gaga in a salsa rendition of “Die With a Smile” and Ricky Martin performing “LO QUE LE PASO A HAWAii.”
Visually, Bad Bunny achieved something rarely seen on the Super Bowl stage by placing Latin pride at the center of the spectacle. Puerto Rican sugarcane fields, Mexican tacos, Caribbean fruits, the shaved ice dessert known as piragua, boxers in the ring, women in nail salons and men playing dominoes constructed a narrative of everyday Latin American life — scenes seldom represented on global platforms of this scale.
The performance did not shy away from critique, either. “El Apagon” brought attention to the real challenges facing Puerto Rico, including the fragility of its electrical infrastructure following Hurricane Maria in 2017. Meanwhile, “LO QUE LE PASO A HAWAii” functioned as a direct metaphor for contemporary colonialism, gentrification and the erosion of cultural sovereignty.
The show unfolded through moments of connection and nostalgia, framing the concept of “home” as a safe space while honoring cultural legacy and diversity. Closing with the phrase, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” Bad Bunny acknowledged each of the 35 countries that make up the Americas, reinforcing a collective identity that transcends borders and positions culture as a unifying force.
Bad Bunny performs during the Super Bowl LX halftime show at at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 8. AP-Yonhap
In 2025, Bad Bunny was named Spotify’s Global Top Artist for the fourth time after surpassing 19.8 billion streams. Just last week, he won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards for “DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS,” a first for a Latin artist and a fully Spanish-language album.
Rather than adapt to the global stage, Bad Bunny made the global stage adapt to him, just as K-pop artists have done with Korean. In both cases, language was not diluted for consumption. It was the source of emotional connection, cultural resistance and pride.
Latin pop may feel geographically distant from Asia, and from Korea in particular, but its global expansion follows a logic similar to that of K-pop. Both movements feature an intense relationship with fandom, carefully curated aesthetics, a strong cultural narrative and significant soft power. Just as K-pop brought the Korean language to global stages without translation, Bad Bunny has positioned Spanish as a dominant language in contemporary pop.
This resonance is already visible in Korea, where his songs play in clubs and bars in nightlife hubs such as Itaewon and Hongdae, carried by the same currents that once spread Korean music westward. With Asia next on his tour map — including stops in Australia and likely Japan — Bad Bunny is moving along a path K-pop helped pave: one where local music transforms into a global phenomenon without losing its identity.
Lucero Santiago is founder and CEO of Kmagazine, a Mexican media outlet specializing in Korean and Asian culture, with over 10 years of experience covering the hallyu scene in Latin America and Spanish-speaking countries.