Bad Bunny recalls being 'broke', working at a grocery store, ahead of Super Bowl LX halftime show: "Proud of where I come from"

Bad Bunny is headlining the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show on Sunday, Feb. 8, during Super Bowl LX, airing on NBC and Peacock. That alone makes him the center of one of the biggest nights in American sports. For NFL fans, the halftime stage is more than a break between quarters. It is a cultural moment that lives long after the final whistle. This year, the conversation around the show is less about surprise guests or wild visuals and more about intent. Bad Bunny is not chasing spectacle. He is chasing connection. With just 30 minutes to perform in front of a global audience, he is thinking about how the show should feel when it is over, not just how it looks in the moment. In an interview with Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans, Bad Bunny sounded calm about the pressure. “I just want to be there,” Bad Bunny said when asked how he’s feeling in the final days before the show. “I’m just ready to do it. I want to feel it. I want people to watch it and enjoy it.”The biggest challenge has been narrowing down the music. With a packed catalog and a strict time limit, every decision carries weight. “That was tough,” he admitted. “Even for my shows on tour, it’s hard to pick 30 or 40 songs. So imagine for 30 minutes. It was very hard. The selection process was very intense.”Rather than building the set around only his biggest hits, he built it around a theme. “I had a vision about the story, the mood, and the feelings that I want to put on that show,” he explained. “I want people to feel happiness and joy. I want to make people dance. I want to make them feel proud and think that everything is possible.”Ten years ago, the road to the Super Bowl stage looked unlikely. “That’s true. I was working in a grocery store, making beats at the same time,” he said. “Broke, with a lot of dreams and goals. And now I’m still dreaming. I’m still enjoying this. I’m still doing this with the same passion and the same love as the first day, before I got popular or successful.”When he finally received confirmation that he would headline, he kept it to himself. “Nobody,” he said when asked who he called first. “Not even my mom and dad. I always keep everything secret until I know it’s official.”Fresh off three wins at the 2026 Grammy Awards, he also reflected on a quick exchange with Lady Gaga. “She said, ‘I love you,’” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘I love you too.’ I always get very emotional when I see her. I admire her a lot.”As the lights go up on Feb. 8, he wants one message to land. “That I’m an honest artist. That I’m myself. That I don’t act to be anything that I’m not,” he said. “That I’m proud of who I am and where I come from. The music is universal. You can connect heart to heart with a song, even without lyrics.” He added, “I’m just a normal guy that makes music.”