Calling all music teachers – show your students the Super Bowl Half Time show. Okay maybe more of a secondary thing, I will leave that judgment call to you! But show your students! Before sharing it with your students, it might be worth listening, researching and considering the messages in his music.
The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the largest global entertainment platforms, watched by hundreds of millions of people. It happens every year (in the middle of the night for me), but I love watching it the next day. I don’t know anything about American Football, but I do know that the performance this year is significant, exciting and relevant to the music classroom. In fact I do know something about American Football – music is at the heart of it!
This year Bad Bunny performed after just winning the Grammy last week – and wow, what a performance. The Grammy awards also showcased British artist Olivia Dean – music matters to our nation!
Who is Bad Bunny?
Bad Bunny is a musician/artist from Puerto Rico. He is a rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and actor. He is now famous for turning Spanish urban music into a globally popular genre. My suggestion is that you have a listen to his recent album, but also watch the half-time show and see what you think.
Born in 1994 in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is changing the landscape for music. Hie recent Grammy award was the first Best album award to go to an album entirely in Spanish.
Fusion in music
His music fuses a range of different styles that are all relevant to GCSE & A-Level Music. Both Edexcel GCSE & A-Level cover Fusion in music – and I am sure other exam boards do too. So here are some of the styles included in this Super Bowl Half-time show:
- Reggaeton
- Latin trap
- Latin pop
- Hip-hop and other Caribbean or alternative influences
Not only does his music use a range of styles, but it also incorporates a wide range of instruments. The Super Bowl performance had everything from traditional percussion associated with Samba to strings and brass associated with the western tradition & jazz. It was inspiring to see the musicians, singers and dancers all coming together in this wonderful musical showcase.
Super Bowl Half-time show 2026
I think it is about time we watched it and then you can see what I am talking about. We can then look at ways in which this might be useful/inspiring for the music classroom.
What can we learn?
There are so many obvious musical teaching points from a performance like this. Not only can students aim to identify styles, but they can see fusion in action. Combining instrumental forces from different cultures and traditions provides a powerful fusion in music. This, alongside the use of rhythm, harmony and lyrics.
Wider Listening is a crucial part of any music curriculum and I would suggest that Bad Bunny could be compared to any set works that aim to teach students to understand fusion. For Edexcel GCSE Music, Afro Celt Sound System provide one of the fusion set works. The music of Bad Bunny could be used to create a compare and contrast “long answer” style question.
If you are considering a question then maybe ask students to compare and contrast the use of instruments in a song like “Release” by Afro Celt Sound System, or maybe “Roll the Woodpile Down” by Bellowhead. There is also a great link to musical theatre if you listen to the music from “In the Heights” by Lin Manuel Miranda.
Social & Political themes
This performance also touched on a number of key social & political issues – something that music does better than anything. Bad Bunny uses music to reflect identity and heritage, and students could consider how this is apparent in the performance. They could also consider other artists to consider how they do something similar in their music.
Students could also consider how language affects the rhythm of the music, and compare this to other languages. They could listen to music in French, German and Italian and compare this to Spanish and Portuguese (Samba Em Preludio)
The extensive use of Puerto Rican imagery, traditional housing, and neighbourhood references not only made it rewarding to watch, but also educational. The musical styles are all clearly rooted in Caribbean and Latin traditions, and this was brought to life by the amazing set. It could be that he was pushing back against historic marginalisation of Latin culture in mainstream Western media. But the show clearly highlights colonial history and Puerto Rico’s complicated political relationship with the USA.
The Music industry
My feeling is that having watched this, students might like to discuss the music industry as a whole. The halftime show is estimated to have cost around $10 million and views by over 100 million people. These figures can spark a great discussion about the money around music and also the global influence that one artist and one performance can have. Students need to be aware that music is a big deal and that is why we want them to study it in school.
But we also want them to consider everything that goes alongside the music – the lights, set, costumes, production, sound engineering. There are some wonderful links to music technology, dance and performance in general. We teach the VCERT in Music Technology in Windsor and I know that there are lessons to be learnt for students with regards all the people that go in to making a performance like this a success.
Super Bowl Music
I am always looking for new music. Not only do I enjoy discovery, but it always helps to enhance my teaching. The more we discover, the more we have to share with our students. and sharing it is importance, because, well that is teaching isn’t it. When we share the music we hear, we help to open up the ears of our students. We also give them permission to share their findings with us and the rest of the class.
It inspiring to see such a powerful music performance right at the centre of a major sporting event. Music and sport so often combine and I think this is a really powerful message for our students.
I hope you enjoy this performance and that it gives you some ideas and inspiration for your teaching. Check out his recent Grammy award winning album and let your students enjoy learning more about fusion in music.
And when you have watched this halftime show, check out some from previous years!