Micah Sorae
Bad Bunny has been unavoidable so far this year. From closing 2025 as Spotify’s most-streamed global artist, a record he has now achieved four times following previous wins in 2020, 2021 and 2022, to, within a matter of weeks, headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show and winning Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, he has put together one of the most remarkable career runs in recent popular music. At the same time, his success shows how mainstream pop is evolving, with non-English artists now sitting firmly at the centre of the industry.
Bad Bunny’s Grammy win on Sunday, 1st was undeniably historic. Debí Tirar Más Fotos (usually abbreviated to DTMF) became the first non-English language album to win the Recording Academy’s most prestigious award, Album of the Year. Culturally, this moment is extremely significant in highlighting how mainstream music is opening up to a wider range of voices and influences. Likewise, the win shows popular music is no longer dominated by English-language pop. In doing so, it creates space for non-Western artists to see their work valued and celebrated by the industry’s most powerful institutions, while also inspiring future musicians in Puerto Rico and beyond to believe that global recognition is within their reach.
In his acceptance speech, delivered mainly in Spanish, the DTMF singer dedicated his award to “all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams”, paying tribute to immigrant communities and their experiences. The moment echoed a broader trend among artists such as Billie Eilish and Olivia Dean, who both also used their acceptance speeches to uplift marginalised groups. Read in context, these gestures reflect a response to the current American political climate, shaped by ongoing debates around immigration and controversy surrounding the actions of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) towards migrant communities.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday (8th) marked another culturally defining moment in his rise, making him the first Latin American man to headline the world’s biggest entertainment stages. The performance represented yet another milestone in his career, reinforcing the idea that global recognition is no longer limited by language or geography.
Not everyone, however, welcomed this shift. Figures such as Donald Trump criticised the decision, describing it as a “terrible choice” that will “sow hatred”. Conservative organisations, including Turning Point USA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk, called for a boycott and promoted an alternative “All-American Halftime Show”. The show broadcast alongside the Halftime Show, with millions missing Bad Bunny’s performance to watch the All-American Halftime Show instead. Despite this backlash, the National Football League stood firmly by its decision, with commissioner Roger Goodell praising Bad Bunny as “one of the greatest artists alive”.
The criticisms previously affected Bad Bunny’s performances. Alongside his Super Bowl performance, on his globally sold-out Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour, Bad Bunny completely avoided US venues, citing concerns about whether United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be at his concert due to his large Spanish-speaking audience, illustrating how care for his fans in our politically tense climate shapes his artistic direction.
Instead, he announced a 31-day residency in his homeland of Puerto Rico, a place that deeply inspired the album itself, encouraging fans from the US and beyond to experience the island first-hand. According to estimates from Wells Fargo, the shows generated around $400 million for the local economy, highlighting how, even amid global fame, he has not forgotten his beginnings.
From sold-out shows to winning Album of the Year, it undeniably has been Bad Bunny’s year…
In many ways, the controversy surrounding his performance reveals deeper tensions about identity and belonging in popular Western cultures. Much of the criticism stemmed from the assumption that a non-English-speaking artist should not headline an event closely associated with American culture. Yet, as a Puerto Rican performer, Bad Bunny is himself also American, reflecting the country’s complex multicultural reality. His presence at the Super Bowl challenged narrow ideas of national identity, highlighting how contemporary America is shaped by a wide range of languages, cultures and experiences.
From sold-out shows to winning Album of the Year, it has undeniably been Bad Bunny’s year, cementing his status as one of the most influential pop stars of his generation. Yet, unlike the traditional global artist, he has achieved this level of success while performing primarily in Spanish, at a time when debates around race, language, and nationality remain deeply charged. Rather than limiting him, these conditions entrenched his cultural significance, positioning him as a boundary-breaking artist and a symbol of possibility. In breaking barriers without abandoning his roots or avoiding political realities, Bad Bunny offers a powerful example for future musicians who do not fit the traditional mould, showing that global success no longer requires conformity to the narrow mould of the past.
Micah Sorae
Featured image courtesy of Caleb Woods via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article photos courtesy of @nfl and @grammys via Instagram. No changes were made to these photos.
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