Mountain Range Shares Their Thoughts on Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show.

By Cooper M. and Austin R.

This year's Super Bowl halftime show performed by Puerto Rican musical star Bad Bunny brought a lot of controversy and mixed opinions around the world. This is what Mountain Range students and teachers had to say about it. 

In a recent survey with a random sample of 150 Mountain Range students and teachers these were the results. 

Out of all the responses 83% of people actually watched the Super Bowl halftime show with 17% of the responses not watching the performance. “I was playing video games during that time and really didn't care about watching it,” Senior Owen F. stated about what he was doing during the performance. Owen was among a lot of people who said they were playing video games instead of watching.  

In the survey 61 (40.6%) of the respondents did not understand Spanish, 47 (31.3%) of people could speak and understand Spanish, and 42 (28%) respondents could somewhat understand but weren't fluent in it. This is crucial because of how well known all of Bad Bunny's songs are in Spanish. 

“I don’t think it was a bad choice considering his popularity, even if some people weren’t a fan of him. I don’t understand Spanish but I don’t think his music sounds bad, I just don’t understand the lyrics,” Senior Jonas T stated.  Senior Braelynn D. thought the music was “not inclusive for everyone with his songs only in Spanish.”

Every respondent who watched the halftime show gave a score out of ten on what they thought of it. The average score of the respondents who watched it at MRHS was 7.16. 

A lot of people commented on the fact that Bad Bunny was doing this to show culture and put on a message to the whole world about love over hate. Also a lot of the respondents loved the vibe of the performance and loved the story telling: “The performance meant a lot to people all over the world with his final message ‘The only thing stronger than hate is love’. With everything going on in the world right now it's good to see someone take a stand who can get their voice heard,” one MRHS sophomore stated. 

English teacher Sara Williams stated “My husband described it perfectly: It was like a party I was welcome to attend, but it wasn't really for me.  I loved the theatrical elements, the dancing, and the music, but there were so many allusions to the culture that I missed but resonated with others and likely made them feel seen and important -- at a time when they are being told by so many that they are unwelcome and unimportant.  I was entertained and informed, and the message of ‘Together we are America’ was needed right now.”

Some other respondents thought Bad Bunny was doing too much. “I felt like he tried too much on a message than an actual performance,” claimed Senior Matt E.

There were people who did not enjoy the performance and thought it was a bad look for a halftime show. With 25% of people thinking that they made the wrong choice with picking Bad Bunny to perform and 75% of respondents thinking Bad Bunny was the correct choice. 

“I honestly do not understand why there was any controversy over the performance or the choice of performer. I think seeing/experiencing other cultures (especially ones within our own country) is critical to peace and collaboration in the world,” Science teacher Jake Germanoski said about the controversy with choosing a performer.  

Bad Bunny has really started to make a name for himself in recent years. He has won six Grammys awards including his biggest one that he achieved this year where his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS won album of the year. That album made history with the first Spanish language project to win the award. Now with his Super Bowl performance in the history books it will always be one of his biggest achievements.