4 days ago
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I see myself somewhat of a Super Bowl halftime amusement expert: I don’t cognize overmuch astir football, but I definite cognize a hellhole of a batch astir philharmonic icons, pop culture, and putting connected a show. So, it’s with those credentials that I hereby state that Bad Bunny’s halftime show astatine Super Bowl LX was 1 of the champion ever, if not the precise champion of each time. There, I said it.
Despite the opinions of some, you didn't request to talk a azygous connection of Spanish to recognize that Benito's show was a fun-filled and meaningful solemnisation of music, joy, and unity, which is precisely what the satellite needs successful 2026. I've rewatched it astir six times, and I'm inactive noticing caller details and Easter Eggs that I missed before. It's axenic magic.
So, betwixt the real-life nuptials, the personage guests, and, of course, each those "plant people," originative manager Harriet Cuddeford and manager Hamish Hamilton person chatted with Variety astir however the amusement came together, with Hamilton calling it "the biggest squad effort of a amusement I person ever been progressive in."
So, here's a look astatine what they revealed...
1. First up, for that unthinkable opening conception wherever helium sang "Tití Me Preguntó" portion walking done the sugarcane field, they flew successful existent concern owners from Puerto Rico to beryllium portion of it.
From the nail technician to the piragua vendor, and adjacent the 2 boxers, the radical that Benito interacted with were the existent deal. "The show is celebrating mean people, and what it is to beryllium quality and emotion and person joy, and truly admit 1 another," Cuddeford said of this decision. "This was to amusement however overmuch helium values his community, to observe mean radical connected the world’s biggest stage, particularly radical who are of value successful Latino culture." Benito is, of course, from Puerto Rico, and his Grammy-winning album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, is simply a solemnisation of his beloved culture. "He’s a precise authentic person, Benito, and it’s astir conscionable being authentic and precise existent and precise human," she added.
2. Speaking of mean people, we've gotta speech astir the wedding. As you've astir apt heard, the antheral and pistillate who got joined connected signifier close earlier Lady Gaga's impermanent show were really a existent engaged mates from Ontario, California, and I'm not definite I've ever been much jealous of 2 radical successful my life. According to the directors, the mates had 15 spare wedding invitations and, a fewer months earlier the Super Bowl, decided to nonstop 1 to Bad Bunny arsenic a joke. Little did they cognize what would travel next...
"Bad Bunny’s bureau reached out, and they thought, 'Amazing, possibly we’ll get a signed photo.' But they were invited to a Zoom call, which they thought was benignant of weird," Hamilton said. The mates were Bad Bunny fans and had already planned to usage his song, "Baile Inolvidable," for their archetypal dance. "They went from readying to play it astatine their wedding to being connected the Super Bowl with him live, singing it, and with the bonus prize of Lady Gaga being the wedding vocalist arsenic well," Hamilton added. In lawsuit you were wondering, the clergyman that joined them was an actual, ordained minister, too.
3. Gaga and the newlyweds weren't the lone peculiar guests connected the shot field. Ricky Martin, different Puerto Rican icon, showed up to execute "Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii," Bad Bunny's opus astir protecting their island's culture and identity. According to Cuddeford, Ricky's engagement was precise meaningful to Benito and a idiosyncratic petition of his.
"It was conscionable precise almighty to person a Puerto Rican icon whom helium profoundly loves and respects to articulation him and to execute that song," Cuddeford explained. "It was thing that during his residency, helium had galore impermanent artists would travel and sing that. He’d ne'er managed to align to person Ricky bash it, truthful helium was truthful excited to person Ricky bash it astatine the Super Bowl."
4. On the taxable of peculiar guests, determination was a saccharine infinitesimal erstwhile Benito handed 1 of his precocious won Grammys to a tiny boy, who was shown watching his acceptance code connected a TV. There was immoderate online speculation that this lad was Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old from Minneapolis who was detained by ICE successful January. However, this rumor was rapidly debunked.
Cuddeford clarified that the Grammy infinitesimal was Benito's thought and was each astir inspiring the adjacent generation. "He’d grown up watching his idols connected TV getting awards. In his beingness now, helium stands connected signifier and gets fixed awards by his idols," she explained. "He knew the Grammys were coming up, and helium was hoping to triumph something. And past evidently helium won Best Album past weekend."
Fans noticed that the young kid histrion was wearing an outfit that looked akin to 1 a young Benito wore successful a viral photograph of him arsenic a kid. This, arsenic you'd astir apt expect, was precise intentional. "This is truly representing a younger mentation of himself, with the anticipation of him inspiring the kids of today," Cuddeford explained. As for whether the small lad inactive has the Grammy? "I really don’t cognize if helium took it back," she added. "Knowing him, helium mightiness person conscionable near it with the kid, honestly."
5. He whitethorn beryllium Bad Bunny, but it besides sounds similar he's a Brave Bunny, too. One of my favourite parts of the amusement was erstwhile helium danced connected powerfulness enactment poles portion singing "El Apagón" (The Blackout), a infinitesimal that symbolized Puerto Rico's ongoing electrical powerfulness crisis. In this segment, Benito climbed up the poles and performed connected a beauteous tiny level astatine the top. Having watched this a fewer times, I did effort to spot a information harness, but, arsenic it turns out, helium didn't deterioration one, which wasn't needfully perfect from a wellness and information standpoint.
"He refused to deterioration a harness. He was like, 'I don’t request it,'" Hamilton said, revealing that determination was an upside to the daring move. "There are each kinds of ineligible ramifications to that, which is not truly my thing, but interestingly enough, erstwhile helium decided helium wasn’t going to deterioration a harness, we were capable to past enactment a camera connected the rod to look down astatine him climbing up!"
Benito surely looked precise assured up there, which isn't a astonishment erstwhile you perceive that it lone took him astir "three minutes" to cleanable the climb. "There was each information and rigging and each of that available, obviously, of course, but helium didn’t privation it. He does his ain stunts, that guy," Cuddeford said. "At rehearsal, we were each like, ‘Is helium gonna beryllium OK?’ But helium conscionable went consecutive up determination and managed his vocals. Very agile. He could just, like, grip anything."
6. And that wasn't the lone stunt. There was besides a infinitesimal erstwhile Benito fell done the extortion of the pinkish casita, crashing successful connected a household watching the Super Bowl astatine home. Most of this was pre-recorded, but that didn't mean it was needfully straightforward to propulsion disconnected connected the day.
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