On December 5, 2025, Spotify’s Wrapped statistics showed that Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist of the year with 19.8 billion streams. To put that into perspective, there are a little over 8 billion people in the world, and streams of Bad Bunny’s music more than double the global population. His popularity shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone reading this, and the title of being the most-streamed artist isn’t new to him, either; he has taken the top spot for the most-streamed artist in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The NFL, with ambitions set on global expansion, will play nine international games in 2026 after holding seven games internationally in 2025. Each year, the idea of expanding into international markets arises. The interest is there, and there is no doubt that it will one day happen. The game is too big, and the money will undoubtedly follow, as evidenced by the fact that the NFL either sold out or reached near capacity in all seven international games last year.
Those are the empirical facts. They cannot be argued. So, what do these things mean?
It means that the most popular game in the country pegged one of the most popular artists in the world to perform on the biggest stage in U.S. television. An artist who is an American citizen singing songs in his first language. A language spoken in this country by 42-million people, and yet it caused offense. People who didn’t even watch complained. They reacted this way because they believe America should speak English, and networks shouldn’t air anything in languages they don’t understand.
Music is and always has been an international medium. And artistry always endures. The famous “Moonlight Sonata” was written by a German who didn’t speak English. It has no lyrics, yet that piece of Beethoven’s music has moved millions across centuries and languages with no words at all. No one has a problem with their kids playing it at recitals, or it being a part of the soundtrack to their favorite films.
Not understanding the words to Bad Bunny songs is not a Bad Bunny problem; it just means people are hearing the music instead of listening to it. And they’re definitely not feeling it.
If you didn’t like that show last night, or didn’t even watch it, then you are forced to ask yourself this question. Did the show last night upset you?
If the answer is yes, that could be as innocuous as Bad Bunny’s music just not being your cup of tea. Pop music in general has a long history of upsetting society’s elders. If you’re angry because you don’t understand why his music resonates with young people all over the world, then you’re out of touch, and honestly, that’s fine. You don’t have to like it; it’s okay to admit that the world has passed you by and that you no longer recognize the sounds you hear on the radio. That’s a natural part of the tides changing. Society’s elders of the past said the Beatles were a fad and rock music wouldn’t even last. But this requires recognizing that you’re not angry with the artist; you’re angry because the culture has phased you out and decided that your taste is no longer relevant. We don’t get to own our culture. We all get brief moments in time when we get to be stewards of it before we get old and are forced to pass the baton to younger people and admit that we have to share the world with other people now.
That’s a legitimate frustration that I think we will all go through someday, and I understand that. If that’s how you feel, then that’s an easy out for you. Step aside. You’re not the real problem.
But, if you’re angry for any other reason besides that, then, well… that says more about you than it does about Bad Bunny. It’s better to be an out-of-touch square than it is to protest an artist and their music because they don’t look or sound like you. Beyond personal taste, you can’t credibly argue this stance is anything other than what it clearly appears to be. You know the real reason you’re upset, and I don’t have to say it out loud. I’m just going to let you sit in that skewed version of reality that you bought into, and your echo chamber of pundits convinced you of.
It doesn’t look like you.
It doesn’t sound like you.
It is a threat to you.
If you honestly believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you.
Last night, I saw a glimpse of what America really looks like at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, which is Spanish for Saint Clare, in case you didn’t know. At its best, this performance celebrates the different cultures and music that make us a melting pot. I saw a bunch of people having fun and dancing to music at a football game. At the end of it, on the jumbotron, there was a giant message, in English, that read “The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate Is Love.”
If you can’t get behind that, then what are your values?
That message was nowhere to be found at the alternative halftime show put on by Turning Point USA, a conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, which promotes Christian values. You would assume that an organization that prides itself on its Christianity would endorse that message of love over hate, but instead tried to compete against it, because they didn’t like the mouth it was coming out of.
Why?
I think by now we all know the answer to that question, and I’m not going to beat you over the head with it.
I don’t want to always listen to music that looks and sounds like me. I also don’t want to live in a country that always looks and sounds like me, either. I want to try new food, I want to hear new sounds, I want to watch films in different languages sometimes because it reminds me that I’m not the only fucking person that exists in this world, and it feels good to know that I can relate to someone across an ocean who doesn’t speak my language, but can still communicate universal truths to me.
Honesty and artistry can punch through any language barrier if you’re tolerant and open enough to give it a chance.
Every single musical movement this country has ever produced came from people who didn’t look or sound like me. Jazz and blues, which are the truly great musical innovations America birthed into the world, have inspired almost every genre of contemporary music we have heard over the last 150 years. It is a mixture of European musical traditions blended with African musical traditions that came from people who either immigrated here or were stolen from their homes and brought here against their will.
That is the truth. That’s a truth that is uncomfortable for some people to face because when a certain segment of America looks in the mirror, they’re expecting to see some macho, Anglo, white person staring back at them. But the reality is that reflection always looked and sounded more like Bad Bunny than Kid Rock.
The most American thing we have isn’t what we sound like, however. It isn’t even about what we look like. The most American thing we have is our ability to choose. What the majority of us decide collectively is what gets chosen. That’s democracy.
We didn’t hold an election to decide who performs at the halftime show. That would be ridiculous. We didn’t need to hold one. The early reports suggest that the halftime show was watched by 135 million people on NBC alone, compared to Turning Point’s which garnered a little over 6 million on YouTube as they went head to head with 19 million views total as of Monday morning.
Puerto Rico is part of the United States and its residents are American citizens. American citizen Bad Bunny has 19.8 billion streams. He is the most listened to artist in the world. The NFL is the biggest game in the United States.
Math doesn’t lie. The people have spoken, and they did it in Spanish. Bad Bunny isn’t going anywhere. Last night was a significant moment in not only Latin culture, but American culture because it reminded us on live television that even though we look and sound different, our desire for love over hate is what makes us the same.
Adios.
