It’s disingenuous to pretend music has never been political.
It’s even worse to pretend it shouldn’t be.
Super Bowl Sunday graced the screens of the American people on February 8th, 2026. It was different this year. There wasn’t a threat of a three-peat, an underdog story, or even a manufactured rivalry like the past six years. This year, football fans were forced to sit through an uncharacteristically boring game with a team that barely fought their way in and no real stakes for either side. Despite the recurring debate over the halftime show being more important than the actual game, football fans and casual viewers were united in their halftime show anticipation.
What Is the Halftime Show?
The halftime show for the Super Bowl is a global stage — highly coveted, highly promoted, and only allowed for the best of the best performers. With the constant turmoil the United States has been experiencing since the re-election of Donald Trump, the halftime shows are at their most political. For Super Bowl LIX, Kendrick Lamar performed a show that highlighted Black culture. He platformed already influential Black voices in Samuel L. Jackson, SZA, Serena Williams, and Mustard while critiquing the United States’ treatment of Black Americans. Lamar was met with vitriol for being un-American and his perceived hatred for the country.
For this year’s Super Bowl, Bad Bunny seemed to take inspiration from this display and injected his own culture into the bloodstream of the NFL. His halftime show platformed Latin countries and the plights of Latin people, especially in the wake of ICE’s polarizing interference in American cities. He included similarly influential Latin voices like Ricky Martin and Los Pleneros de la Cresta as well as motifs bringing awareness to issues in Latin countries. Bad Bunny used electric line props to critique Puerto Rico’s poor electrical grid, sugar cane fields to show the history of Afro-Latino enslaved people picking sugar cane, taco trucks to depict the way Latin culture is consumed in the States, and many more nods to the struggle.
This halftime show was history, but Bad Bunny made history well before stepping foot on stage.
When Bad Bunny was announced as the headliner, conservatives everywhere took to the internet to voice their dissatisfaction. Despite Bad Bunny being American — due to Puerto Ricans being considered American citizens — conservatives labelled him as a non-American and un-American. He was public enemy number one. Historically, Bad Bunny has been outspoken about his issues with ICE and the United States government, garnering this label, but it was his status as a Puerto Rican that really riled up conservatives in the States. It didn’t matter that the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, stood by this choice. It mattered that Bad Bunny wasn’t “American.”
The Bigger Musical Picture
As children, citizens of the United States are told that it’s a melting pot of cultures. That’s why there wasn’t an official language — until Trump changed it, that’s why there isn’t an official religion, and that’s why Ellis Island is taught so prominently in school. There would be no America without immigrants, including those forcefully taken. The music is no different from the country.
American music has always been a blend of the different cultures within the country. Black Americans are credited with creating most of the musical genres in America, instrumentals inspired by Latin countries are constantly used in beats, and traditional instruments in Asia are used in American bands. In its history, musicians have used their music to be vocal about civil rights issues in America. Billie Holliday’s “Strange Fruit,” Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and Calle 13’s “Querido FBI” are all considered political statements by the artist. There has never been a moment where music — and art, as a whole — has not been used politically.
Political songs have been some of the most iconic pieces of music in history. NWA’s “F*** The Police” is still used to critique over-policing of Black neighborhoods and police brutality. Americans everywhere continue to rock out to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A” over 40 years after its release.
What’s Happened to Free Speech?
In the United States, free speech was the first right to be given. It’s supposed to be protected and cherished by the American People. If artists aren’t allowed to speak their truth in their art, where is the free speech that America loves so dearly? Critiques of the United States government should not be censored on stage because it may hurt the officials’ feelings. Music should be able to stand proud and call attention to real issues hurting the country.
The hyper-critical view of musicians and their use of political messaging in their music is a direct result of an aversion to meaningful media. Music has been commercialized so heavily that music that is political is considered unnecessary. Additionally, racism blankets this view of political music. Oftentimes, political music is created by artists of color. When those same artists use their voice to speak out against injustices, they’re told to just perform and keep raking in cash, further suppressing voices of oppressed groups.
When are artists — especially artists of color — allowed to speak up? Is it only when it serves the interest of the current United States government? Or is it only when it’s public opinion?