“If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
That’s how Bad Bunny jokingly closed his Saturday Night Live monologue in October, after delivering a moving message in Spanish that, for millions of Spanish speakers in the United States, needed no translation. Earlier, he called his upcoming Super Bowl performance “an achievement for all of us” in English, then switched to Spanish to thank “all the Latinos and Latinas … who have worked to open doors.”
Hearing Bad Bunny name our contributions — our huella — as something no one can erase, I felt a wave of pride. After 14 years living in this country, watching my native language honored there felt like recognition. Like belonging.
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That choice is especially meaningful given the country’s linguistic reality. Spanish is the most widely spoken non-English language in U.S. households, and more than 1 in 5 Americans age 5 and older regularly speak a language other than English. Yet, singing in languages other than English is still often seen as unworthy of mainstream U.S. stages. The backlash to Bad Bunny’s selection exposes lingering discomfort among some politicians, commentators and media outlets toward non-English music performances.
But why does it matter that Bad Bunny chooses to sing exclusively in his native language?
Music is often called a universal language, but when words are sung, language carries identity, memory and culture. To remove language from a song is to erase part of what makes it human. As a music educator and researcher, I study how children and immigrant families — particularly from Latin America — engage with music in their native language, and I have seen how transformative it can be when students are invited to bring their cultures into the music classroom.
Singing in a familiar language increases participation and reshapes how students see themselves. In a recent study with INTEMPO, a music school in Stamford, Conn., serving primarily Latin American immigrant families, students described the joy and pride they felt when exploring music from across Latin America. Parents shared how those performances brought back memories of their own childhoods and strengthened their children’s sense of identity.
In these moments, singing in one’s native language goes beyond an artistic choice. It builds belonging and celebrates heritage. This is why Bad Bunny’s insistence on Spanish is more than a capricho or a stylistic choice; it’s an act of cultural affirmation. While Spanish artist Rosalía moves across many languages, Bad Bunny proves that anchoring firmly in one’s identity can also lead to the world’s largest stages. His music, unapologetically Puerto Rican and proudly delivered in Spanish, invites listeners not just to hear another language, but to embody it.
Beyond aesthetics, making space for multiple languages — on the Super Bowl stage and in our music classrooms — strengthens identity, deepens learning and builds a more inclusive society.
Perhaps Bad Bunny is onto something. Maybe it is time for the U.S to start learning Spanish — or at least to listen more closely to the languages that already live here. Because every child, every artist, every community deserves the right to sing in the language of their heart and be heard in America’s shared soundscape.
Adriana Diaz-Donoso is director of music education and music assistant professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She wrote this piece for Bay Area News Group.
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