Bad Bunny just brought Puerto Rican pride and Latino solidarity to the Super Bowl LX in a historic halftime performance, but he didn’t do it alone. The Grammy winner (his real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) worked with production designer Julio Himede and creative and show director Harriet Cuddeford to bring the magic of his Puerto Rico residency and Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour to the mainland United States for one night only.
“I might never have this opportunity again, to celebrate our Latin cultures through my work in such a large-scale production,” Himede tells AD. The Salvadorian-Australian designer is the founder of Yellow Studio, the design firm Cuddeford recruited to bring plantain and sugarcane fields, the bodegas of New York City, and more to life onstage for Benito’s big show. “[Benito] wanted everything to be really real, and to bring the culture, the flavors, the colors, not only of Puerto Rico, but of the Latin world.”
Here’s exactly what went into Benito’s Super Bowl Halftime Show stage, from the iconic pink casita to the venue for a real wedding ceremony serenaded by Lady Gaga.
Recreating La Casita
Cuddeford’s work on the halftime show began in October 2025. In addition to Yellow Studio, she brought in Mónica Monserrate, the Puerto Rican designer who led production on the residency’s mountain stage, as an art director. The team lent their talents to Benito’s vision, which combined elements of the residency and tour with aspects reflecting the larger Puerto Rican and Latino diasporas. The creative direction they recieved, explains Cuddeford, was to continue the world Bad Bunny has created during this phase of his career, which has been focused on paying homage to his home island. “He and his team have done a beautiful job of creating an incredibly rich, textured world around Debí Tirar Más Fotos. We checked everything with [Monserrate] and really took the time, the care, the love to learn from Benito and his people about who they are,” she says.
That world included a recreation of la casita, the celebrity-stacked house that’s become nearly synonymous with Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Selecting the right shade of pink for its facade required a painstaking attention to detail. “We spent a lot of time looking at the color of the casita so it would look great on camera,” Himede says. “The residency and his tour are not necessarily designed for the camera. We had a television show to do, and a live show, as well, so we adjusted the colors.”
A San Juan-Inspired Wedding
Your eyes didn’t deceive you: A real wedding took place during Lady Gaga’s performance in the halftime show. To create the ceremony’s stage, Cuddeford and Himede drew inspiration from a trip to San Juan, where they met with Benito and explored La Rogativa, a historic plaza known for hosting wedding parties. “The architecture that inspired it, it’s such a beautiful place,” says Cuddeford.
Like all aspects of the set, the details meant everything. “There were so many little moments there,” Himede says. “Obviously, the band that he’s touring with, Los Sobrinos, Lady Gaga, the little boy sleeping on the chairs, the couple actually getting married. For a lot of people who have been to San Juan, and for Puerto Ricans, they will recognize where this comes from.”
A Nod to Nuyoricans
Benito’s “Nuevayol” reflects the importance of New York City in Puerto Rican history, and Cuddeford and Himede worked tirelessly to bring that aspect of the Big Apple to Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco. Cuddeford recalls badgering her New York-based team members with requests to go take photos of street signs and bodegas, in order to recreate them accurately.
Puerto Rican New York came to life with bodega storefronts and a piragua (shaved ice) cart that Himede says almost featured cups with the names of every girlfriend Bad Bunny mentions in the song “Tití Me Preguntó.” The cherry on top? A recreation of Brooklyn’s legendary Puerto Rican Social Club, better known as “Toñita’s” after its 85-year-old owner. Toñita herself made a cameo behind its makeshift bar.
The People’s Super Bowl
According to Cuddeford and Himede, Bad Bunny wanted the show to unify not only Puerto Ricans, but Latinos of all backgrounds. “In one of the press conferences, he said that this Super Bowl is not for him,” says Himede. “It’s for everybody. I think that came across really clearly in what we presented.”
Cuddeford had two goals for her work on this project. “One of them was that Benito felt happy, that he got to say everything,” she says. “Two was that the Latino community felt seen, loved, and represented.”
Benito ended the show by proclaiming “God bless America” and listing countries and territories across the American continents. As their flags billowed across the intricate, football field-sized stage, the performance drew to a close, and an entire production team made history.
