Bad Bunny's performance motivates US territories to confront their identity

Bad Bunny's half-time show at the Super Bowl Feb. 8, 2026. Photo courtesy of NFL

By Jayvee Vallejera

Bad Bunny's halftime show at the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 was a densely layered performance, packed with visuals and symbolism that highlighted Puerto Rico’s culture and history.

The Puerto Rican pop superstar's thinly veiled political statement resonated with other U.S. territories and their lived experiences. The performance motivated U.S. territories to confront their identities.

“We have a truth teller in a moment in time where people are trying to suppress the truth. I just feel so proud that it was somebody from one of the territories, a part of America that is just constantly forgotten,” said Dakota Camacho, a songwriter, artist and cultural advocate from Guam.

Along with Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory with limited political participation in the national landscape.

The U.S. territories have the highest per-capita rates of military enlistment in the United States. Yet they are considered second-class citizens, governed by the Insular Cases, a series of Supreme Court decisions holding that some constitutional provisions do not apply to U.S. territories.

Territorial citizens cannot vote for the president and their representatives to the U.S. Congress have no voting power.

The unresolved political status and identity of the American territories were brought to the national stage when the NFL picked Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8.

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican performer became a controversial figure who divided America, but the NFL stood pat on its decision. He was the first Latino solo artist to headline the set and performed songs mostly in Spanish.

Speaking at an online forum hosted by the advocacy group Right to Democracy, artists and community advocates described Bad Bunny’s performance as an impressive show of the commonalities among the territories—including unreliable electricity—that make them interconnected like one family.

Siloe Andino, a Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter and poet, said Bad Bunny made an astute move when he invited other Latin American and Caribbean performers to join in celebrating their cultures and music to deliver a message of unity.

Lorelei Monsanto, a community leader from the U.S. Virgin Islands, agreed.

“We need to start thinking to ourselves that we are inclusive and stop the separation, because the separation is harming us,” she said, noting that the U.S. Virgin Islands has a mixed diaspora, made up of a wide range of people of Spanish heritage.

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Leila Staffler, a filmmaker and community advocate from the Northern Mariana Islands, said Bad Bunny's performance made her feel like she was part of Puerto Rico that day.

“I learned later when I watched the different videos that broke it down. Like, it was so full of symbolism. I loved all the different stories that were told later, explaining what his message was behind each of the parts,” Staffler added.

Jayiah Saelua, an artist and athlete from American Samoa, was not familiar with Bad Bunny until the Super Bowl controversy made headlines.

"I'm a huge fan of him now because of the message that he gave to America at a very, very important time, a time when America needed that kind of message—the message of unity and celebration of diversity," he said.

At the virtual forum, Camacho played a voice clip of a young man he had asked about the Bad Bunny show to bring the youth's voice into the conversation. The boy shared a story about one of his teachers asking his tribal elders in the Pacific Northwest what the most destructive thing people from the other side of the Pacific brought here was.

“His elders thought about it for a bit, and what they ended up saying was ‘doubt.’ The most destructive thing that the people from the other side of the water brought was ‘doubt,’ for us to stop believing in how powerful and intelligent we are,” Camacho said.

Camacho said Bad Bunny’s performance summed it all up: “We have the power.”

Adi Martinez-Roman, webinar host, said the Bad Bunny halftime show triggered conversations about delicate issues.

“It is very important to have those conversations even when people don't think the same as us," he said. "At the end, when Bad Bunny mentioned all the countries in the Americas, all these countries are also going through their own situations of division, of toxicity, of oppression, and need liberation, even when they are not a colony of the United States. They are also suffering from issues with the same challenges."

Saelua said it brought out some unattractive aspects of Samoan conservatism, such as comments that the show should have been in English, reflecting a common complaint within certain circles. Or that at least Puerto Ricans can vote, but not American Samoans.

When countries’ flags were displayed at the halftime show, there was a bit of hope that it would also display flags of U.S. territories in the Pacific. That did not happen.

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