Green Day and Bad Bunny are two well-known musical artists who are loved by millions, and many were looking forward to seeing their performances during the Super Bowl this past Sunday (2/8/26). Despite the backlash that some people (including our own president) expressed, these two artists were still brave enough to take the stage and perform for the people.
Pre-Game: Green Day
Green Day is a rock band whose main vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong has expressed political themes such as system corruption through his lyrics. They begun their performance with a nostalgic hit “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”, followed by one of their most political songs “Holiday.” Next came “American Idiot” where Armstrong had recently changed the second verse from “I’m not part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not part of a MAGA agenda,” expressing his stance on the current political climate. The band also performed “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
The Green Day performance as a whole was a hit, not only being a good throwback to some of their most popular songs but also bringing forth the flaws in our government. As politics in the U.S. have changed over time, the band has continued to criticize the current Trump administration while on their Saviors tour leading all the way up to the Super Bowl, and if we consider the many events that have been occurring during Trump’s run in office, I believe Green Day is very brave by constantly speaking up through their music.
Half-Time: Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny, a highly popular Puerto Rican artist, has moved the hearts of many through his music and has continued to do exactly that during his performance at the Super Bowl by representing his culture as well as promoting the slogan “the only thing more powerful than hate is love”. His performance opened with the song “Tití Me Preguntó” and closed off with an emotional top hit of his, “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” where he said “God Bless America” and proceeded to name nations of Central, North, and South America as dancers waved around the flags of those nations, representing inclusion and unity. The performance featured two guest performances as well, including a salsa-inspired “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” with Ricky Martin.
Bad Bunny’s performance was a high success, reaching about 142.3 million viewers along with his music streams boosting up by 175 percent. Even through all the backlash and threats regarding ICE, he still took the stage to spread the message of love.
The Alternative Show
While Bad Bunny performed at the Super Bowl, Turning Point USA hosted their own “All-American Half-Time Show” on a different channel that people switched to during Bad Bunny’s performance which headlined Kid Rock alongside other country artists such as Brantley Gilbert and Lee Brice. While there was quite a big handful of people who had decided to watch the TPUSA half-time show instead of the actual NFL half-time show with Bad Bunny, the TPUSA show barely made the numbers, only getting around 5-6.1 million live viewers, which is only about 4.29 percent of Bad Bunny’s live viewers (142.3 million) for his show. While TPUSA had a more strictly white audience and a “patriotic” country theme to their show, Bad Bunny had a more inclusive and diverse show, truly including all Americans more than TPUSA’s “All-American” show did.
