Entertainment
Bad Bunny says 2026 Super Bowl halftime show will “be a huge party”
Bad Bunny says he’s approaching his highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance with a mix of excitement, gratitude and perspective.
“To be honest, I don’t know how I’m feeling. There’s a lot. I’m still in the middle of my tour. I was just at the Grammys last week. All of that,” he said in English on Thursday at a press event hosted by Apple Music. He walked out to his 2017 single “Chambea.”
“I’m excited, but at the same time, I feel more excited about the people than even me — my family, my friends, the people who have always believed in me,” he said. “This moment, the culture — that’s what makes these shows special.”
Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most-streamed artists on the planet. He will take the Super Bowl stage just one week after he won album of the year at the 2026 Grammys for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” It’s the first time an all Spanish-language album has taken home the top prize.
During the conference, Bad Bunny joked that fans didn’t need to learn Spanish to enjoy his set — but they should be prepared to dance, a reference to his “Saturday Night Live” monologue from last October.
Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden hosted the conversation with Bad Bunny. Thursday’s event began with conversations with pregame performers at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
This year, a long line formed well before the doors opened, with credentialed media — including a noticeable presence of Spanish-language and Latin American outlets — packing the conference room nearly an hour before the news conference began.
It marked a stark contrast to Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 news conference, when the room didn’t fill up until roughly 15 minutes before the event.
Despite the heightened interest, Bad Bunny offered few specifics about what viewers will see Sunday.
Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP
“It’s going to be a huge party,” he said. “What people can expect from me … I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really don’t, I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”
For the artist, the journey to the Super Bowl was never driven by recognition or awards. He said “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” became his most meaningful project because it was rooted in reconnecting with his identity, history and culture but not chasing milestones.
“I wasn’t looking for album of the year. I wasn’t looking to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show,” he said. “I was just trying to connect with my roots, connect with my people, connect with myself.”
That mindset, he said, ultimately opened the door to something larger: bringing a deeply personal expression of culture to one of the world’s biggest stages.
“You always have to be proud of who you are and where you’re from,” he said. “But don’t let that limit where you can go.”
Bad Bunny is no stranger to the Super Bowl stage. He previously appeared during the halftime show at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 alongside Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. But he said his focus has remained unchanged.
“My biggest pleasure is just to create, have fun doing it and connect with the people,” he said. “That’s what I’m always looking for every time I’m in the studio.”
When asked if he will have surprise guests, he said “That’s something I’m not going to tell you.”
Then he said he will actually have a lot of guests watching — his friends, family, “the Latino community,” and people around the world who love his music.
At the end of the interview, Bad Bunny took questions from a few student journalists, including one who asked him to name an early supporter. “My mom,” the singer replied.
“Before everything, she believed in me as a person, as a human. She believed in me, in my decisions, in my opinions,” he continued. “I think that’s what got me here, you know? Not because she believed that I was a great artist but that she believed that I am a great person.”
The Super Bowl will be held Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Seattle Seahawks facing off against the New England Patriots.
The Super Bowl pregame show will open with several standout performers in Northern California: Charlie Puth will hit the stage to sing the national anthem, Brandi Carlile will take on “America the Beautiful” and Coco Jones will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“I want them to feel inspired. I want everybody to know that music is such an amazing thing,” Puth said of his performance.
“This is pretty much the top of the top,” added Jones. “This is the bee’s knees. … It’s hard to compete. Maybe my wedding will be up there.”
The national anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” will be performed by deaf performing artist Fred Beam in American Sign Language. Julian Ortiz will sign “America the Beautiful.”
Before the game, Green Day will play a set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Super Bowl. The band, which has its roots in the Bay Area, plans to “Get loud!” according to lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong.
In a historic first, the halftime show will include a multilingual signing program featuring Puerto Rican Sign Language, led by interpreter Celimar Rivera Cosme. She was also the interpreter for Bad Bunny’s landmark residency in Puerto Rico last year that drew more than half a million fans.
All signed performances for the pregame and halftime shows will be presented in collaboration with Alexis Kashar of LOVE SIGN and Howard Rosenblum of Deaf Equality.
Zayn Malik is celebrating 10 years of his debut solo album Mind of Mine with a heartfelt message.
Earlier this week, the former One Direction star took to his Instagram Stories to post a short video of himself sharing the milestone with his supporters.
Clad in a black leather jacket the Dusk Till Dawn hitmaker expressed his gratitude for all the love all this time.
“Zayn here,” he began in the brief clip. “It’s been exactly 10 years since the release of Mind of Mind, so I thought I’d just do a little video just to say thank you so much for all the support.”
“Love you guys,” the Die For Me singer continued. “It means the world.”
He wrapped up the personal video message, joking, “hopefully I don’t look too old,” flashed a bright smile and waved at his admirers.
For the unversed, Zayn, now 32, released Mind of Mine, his debut solo studio album on March 25, 2016.
It came out exactly one year after his departure from the boy band, consisting of Liam Payne (late), Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
The lead single, Pillowtalk, debuted at number one in both the UK and US, making Zayn the first British male artist to achieve this with a debut single.
He dropped Like I Would as the second official single, which leaned more toward an uptempo, dance-pop sound.
A collaboration, titled Wrong, with American singer Kehlani served as the final single from the album.
Moreover, a notable track is Intermission: Flower, a Sufi devotional sung in Urdu, reflecting Zayn’s British-Pakistani heritage.
Antonio Banderas has spoken candidly about the ethnic stereotyping he faced when he first arrived in Hollywood, recalling being told bluntly that his Hispanic background limited him to villainous roles, and explaining why breaking out of that box still means so much to him.
“They said, you are here, like the blacks and the Hispanics, to play the bad guys,” the Oscar-nominated actor told The Times.
The irony of what came next is something he clearly savours.
“The problem was a few years later I had a mask, hat, sword and cape and the bad guy was Captain Love, who was blond and had blue eyes.”
That role was, of course, Zorro, the gutsy hero Banderas played in The Mask of Zorro in 1998 and The Legend of Zorro in 2005.
But it was a cat, not a swordsman, that he considers the most culturally significant step forward.
Puss in Boots, the character he first voiced in Shrek 2 in 2004, reached an audience that nothing else could quite match.
“Even more important is Puss in Boots, because it’s for young kids. They see a cat that has a Spanish, even an Andalusian accent and he’s a good guy.”
He has now voiced the character across five films, including the critically lauded Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in 2022, which earned an Oscar nomination.
However, the 65-year-old confirmed last year that he has not yet been approached for Shrek 5, due in cinemas on 30 June 2027.
“I’m not so far, and I’m not being called for that,” he told Parade.
“Puss in Boots did very well. Number two got a nomination for the Oscar, and the movie behaved beautifully at the box office. But I am totally satisfied with the five Puss in Boots that I did. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future. Maybe they [will] call me tomorrow.”
- Govt to pay OMCs Rs95.59 on petrol, Rs203.88 on diesel under PDC.
- PM blocks petrol, diesel hikes, bears Rs56bn to protect consumers
- Highlights diplomacy, says Pakistan leading talks with Iran, Gulf.
KARACHI: The federal government has increased the price of kerosene oil by Rs4.66 per litre, bringing it to Rs433.40 per litre, effective from March 28, according to a notification issued by the Petroleum Division.
Petrol and diesel prices, however, remain unchanged at Rs321.17 and Rs335.86 per litre, respectively, despite significant increases in the global oil market.
The Petroleum Division said petrol and diesel prices were held steady to shield consumers from international price shocks.
The government will pay oil marketing companies Rs95.59 per litre on petrol and Rs203.88 per litre on diesel under the Petroleum Development Cess (PDC), as per the notification.
This latest adjustment follows a March 21 revision, when kerosene prices had surged to Rs 428.74 per litre, marking a sharp increase earlier in the month.
The repeated revisions reflect ongoing pressure on domestic fuel pricing amid volatile global markets and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Consumers and businesses continue to feel the ripple effects of rising fuel costs, making this latest hike in kerosene closely watched across the country.
Meanwhile, a few hours before the March 28 announcement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the nation on the fuel crisis.
PM Shehbaz revealed that he had rejected a summary to raise petrol by Rs95 per litre and diesel by Rs203 per litre, keeping the prices of both fuels unchanged for now, despite global surges.
“The government will bear the additional cost, estimated at Rs56 billion, to protect consumers,” the premier said during the televised address.
He also highlighted Pakistan’s diplomatic role in the Middle East, including ongoing talks with Iran and Gulf countries, with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar leading the negotiations.
Shehbaz vociferously credited CDF Field Marshal Asim Munir and stressed Pakistan’s active diplomacy day and night to promote peace.
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