'The music speaks for itself': How Bad Bunny and Kneecap are reclaiming native languages

Singing in English, despite your native tongue, was once a requirement for global fame. Now, artists like Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK, and our own Kneecap are proving that's no longer the case, writes Kate Demolder 

Bad Bunny performing during the Apple Music halftime show at Super Bowl LX at Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, California. Picture: Kindell Buchanan/PA 

When Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, first arrived on the Super Bowl stage, wearing a silver trenchcoat and a matching do-rag, the year was 2020, and he was appearing as a special guest of Shakira, one of the halftime show’s two headliners. 

“Viva la raza!” he exclaimed at the time, echoing the rally cry of Texas-born professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero, before leaving the stage with neither fanfare nor heated political debate. Fast forward six years, he stood as both the halftime headliner and, arguably, the event’s main attraction, with some 130m viewers tuning in to watch the Puerto Rican star perform entirely in Spanish on America’s biggest Sunday, as ICE agents stood guard.