Updated on: February 8, 2026 / 6:36 PM EST / CBS News
On the heels of his historic night at the Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny is set to take the stage for the halftime show at the 2026 Super Bowl on Sunday, as the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks meet in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.
The hugely popular Puerto Rican rapper and singer says he'll bring "a lot of my culture" to the big game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced in September that Bad Bunny will be this year's halftime show headliner.
The 31-year-old superstar, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won two top awards at the Grammys last Sunday - Best Música Urbana Album and Album of the Year for his record "DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS" - the first time an all Spanish-language album earned the night's biggest award.
"To be honest, I don't know how I'm feeling. There's a lot. I'm still in the middle of my tour. I was just at the Grammys last week. All of that," Bad Bunny said at a Thursday news conference hosted by Apple Music, which is sponsoring the halftime show.
"I'm excited, but at the same time, I feel more excited about the people than even me - my family, my friends, the people who have always believed in me," he said. "This moment, the culture - that's what makes these shows special."
He was tight-lipped about what the performance would entail or if there would be any other artists joining him onstage.
"It's going to be a huge party," Bad Bunny said. "I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really don't, I don't want to give any spoilers. It's going to be fun."
The halftime show will also feature interpreter Celimar Rivera Cosme doing Puerto Rican Sign Language.
Bad Bunny will be the first native Spanish speaker to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, and his selection prompted criticism from some, including President Trump. Another wave of backlash cropped up when Bad Bunny said "ICE out" during one of his Grammy acceptance speeches last week.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly defended and stood by the selection.
"I'm not sure we've ever selected an artist where we didn't have some blowback or criticism. It's pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching," Goodell said in October.
"He's one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world," Goodell said. "That's what we try to achieve. It's an important stage for us. It's an important element to the entertainment value."
Asked about Bad Bunny's comments at the Grammy Awards, Goodell told reporters, "Bad Bunny is, and I think that was demonstrated last night, one of the great artists in the world, and that's one of the reasons we chose him."
"But the other reason is he understood the platform he was on, and that this platform is used to unite people, and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talents, and to be able to use this moment to do that," he said. "And I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he'll have a great performance."
Charlie Puth took on national anthem duties at the Super Bowl this year. The 34-year-old singer has called the national anthem "one of the most beautiful pieces of music," but has also said it is "the hardest to sing."
The New Jersey native started out posting videos of himself singing on YouTube, but his career has since blossomed, and he's released four albums and been nominated for four Grammy Awards.
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Bad Bunny set for historic Super Bowl performance Bad Bunny to be first artist performing at Super Bowl entirely in Spanish 02:52 Bad Bunny to be first artist performing at Super Bowl entirely in Spanish (02:52)
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