Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show - Storytelling At Its Finest #MusicMonday

A master class in crafting a story, musically and visually …

Source: Apple

Normally on the day after the Super Bowl I write about the advertising and normally I pick the best in show … the best advertisement of the night. But the truth is that the best in show yesterday wasn’t any of the ads, it was the Halftime Show by Bad Bunny.

It actually wasn’t even really a Halftime Show at all. It was other worldly. I knew it would be, yet it still surpassed my huge expectations.

Like many others, I predicted that Bad Bunny's show would be a cultural watershed moment. Oh but it was so much more.

It's been reported that the show featured a cast of over 400 performers (that may have just been for the sugar cane), 13 songs, and complicated sets depicting various scenes in Puerto Rican life: sugar cane fields, una casita, una marqueta, food stands, and multiple electric poles highlighting the difficulties of Puerto Rico's electric grid. All of this for a record-breaking viewing audience estimated at over 135 million people. For context, Kendrick Lamar's performance last year at 133.5 million people beat Michael Jackson's 1993 record of 133.4 million people.

It was 13 minutes of pure joy, with a dose of Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin to make it even more special.

But what made it so amazing wasn't just the elaborate staging or the infectious music or even his incredible voice. It was the storytelling. I don't think we've ever seen a Super Bowl Halftime Show unfold an entire story like this. A story that wrapped us in a cultural blanket, warming us with layers and layers of emotional chapters, like a beautifully written book. En Espanol.

With la casita, the home, at the center of it all because in Puerto Rican culture the home is the center of life.

I was watching all of this at a bar filled with people singing along to every one of those 13 songs. It was magic. And while I do know Spanish, it was hard for me to keep up with the pace of the lyrics. But it didn't matter one bit because I could still follow every moment of the story and I relished every nuance.

I've been hunting for details ever since. Each time I watch it on YouTube, I catch something new. Like the flor de maga brooch on Lady Gaga's dress which is the official flower of Puerto Rico. Each detail builds toward the full story.

We even witnessed a real wedding, Puerto Rico style, with a couple beginning their life together as they cut their wedding cake.

Bad Bunny didn't put on a concert or a performance. He took us on a journey through the art of storytelling. A very personal story that he wanted to tell on the global stage. From his five-year-old self in that sweet moment handing that little boy his Grammy award that he had just won last week.

So yes, it was a cultural watershed moment. The closing line on all the jumbo-trons?!?

“Love is more powerful than hate.”

Thank you, Benito. #64, a tribute to your late tio who played football.

What's your experience? JIM