Bad Bunny says he can't sleep ahead of Super Bowl halftime show performance
- - Bad Bunny says he can't sleep ahead of Super Bowl halftime show performance
Bryan West, USA TODAY NETWORKFebruary 6, 2026 at 2:48 AM
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Bad Bunny sat with Apple Music hosts Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden at Feb. 5's Super Bowl LX Halftime Show press conference.
The global superstar, whose legal name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, offered rare insight into the cultural moment and creative vision behind one of the most anticipated and debated halftime performances in NFL history.
Bad Bunny walked on stage wearing an all-charcoal outfit completed with a faux fur coat, beanie and oversized sunglasses to raucous cheers of "Benito!" Lowe asked him, “How do you feel right now?”
“To be honest, I don’t know how I’m feeling. There’s a lot,” he said. Switching between English and Spanish, Bad Bunny said he feels happy and he’s taking the moment one day at a time. He couldn’t sleep Feb. 4 because he kept thinking about the performance. It’s 20 minutes of him, “doing something that I love.
“I feel more excited about all of the people than thinking about me,” Bad Bunny said. “My family and all my friends.”
Charlie Puth, Brandi Carlile and Coco Jones talk pre-game performances
Before Bad Bunny came out, Lowe and Ebro talked to Charlie Puth (singing “The Star-Spangled Banner”), Coco Jones (singing “Lift Every Voice”) and Brandi Carlile (singing “America the Beautiful”).
Puth has been “rehearsing for a month,” in the shower mostly. He admits it's "one of the hardest songs to sing."
For Jones, who likes to eat Lays chips before every performance because Whitney Houston said it was good for your voice, this experience is “the bees knees. This is one of the most highly viewed events of all time, you know? And so it’s hard to compete. Maybe my wedding will be up there.”
And Carlile, a Seattle Seahawks fan, says the song “is more of a prayer than a post. The song is a bout a country, a beautiful country that ebbs and flows in terms of hope and it’s a work in progress.”
Inside Apple Music's playbook for Super Bowl 60 halftime show
Apple Music executives exclusively told USA TODAY that the 2026 halftime campaign was rooted in ten words Bad Bunny said that defined the entire creative direction: "This isn't my halftime show; this is everyone’s halftime show."
The quote became the through line for a show built to feel global. The message also stood in contrast to early online criticism questioning whether a Spanish-language performer should lead America's biggest entertainment stage.
Apple Music's relationship to Bad Bunny began in 2016 when the streaming app first placed the Puerto Rican artist on a playlist. Three years later, Lowe interviewed him on a boat in San Juan Harbor and left convinced of his star power.
Since then, Bad Bunny has become one of the world's most streamed musicians, blending reggaeton, trap, pop and alternative styles while breaking touring and streaming records.
On Feb. 1, "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy for album of the year.
A halftime show built in secrecy
Jay Z's company Roc Nation selects the halftime performer, but Apple Music builds the global campaign. Executives say secrecy is so strict that even senior leadership doesn't know the performer until close to the announcement.
To prepare, Apple Music forms cross-functional "tiger teams" that develop mood boards and short lists, ready to activate the moment news breaks. The company then rolls out playlists, archival interviews, artist tributes and global videos across 175 countries.
Last year's Kendrick Lamar halftime show drew more than 130 million viewers, the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history. Apple hopes to expand that audience, especially overseas, mirroring the NFL's recent push for growth in South America.
After this year’s trailer dropped, streams of "BAILE INoLVIDABLE" surged 54 percent in the U.S. and 36 percent worldwide.
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bad Bunny says he can't sleep ahead of Super Bowl halftime show
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
