Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay
By Maria Caires
Coachella, the iconic annual music and arts festival held in California, was hosted from the 10th of April to the 19th and this year was one of the most high-effort years, with performances from Headliners Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter.
And in a first, it featured the first ever Latino headliner, Karol G – full name Carolina Giraldo Navarro – who is a Colombian singer and songwriter famous for her urban and reggaeton sounds, which have won her a Grammy, eight Latin Grammy Awards and five Billboard Music Awards.
Music critics and others say this representation was made possible thanks to Latino singer Bad Bunny, whose halftime show at the Super Bowl opened more doors for other Hispanic singers to be more recognised in a more mainstream way.
Karol G drew an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 in-person crowd during the first weekend of the two-week festival. “Her set triggered a massive streaming boom, with her catalog generating 40.5 million on-demand US streams during April 10–16, a 34% increase,” Rolling Stone magazine said.
Thank you, Bad Bunny
Karol G was a featured guest at the Super Bowl’s Halftime Show, headlining Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, which became the most watched Halftime Show in the history of the Super Bowl.
Bad Bunny – real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio – is a 31-year-old who was the world’s most-played artist in 2025 according to Spotify. He made history by becoming the first musician to perform entirely in Spanish at a Super Bowl, normally the most-watched event on US TV.
According to NBC and CBS, the Sunday show drew over 135.4 million viewers, even surpassing Kendrick Lamar’s show, which had also broken the record with 133.5 million views.
Apple Music had announced that the Puerto Rican artist would headline the show four months in advance. This caused a lot of controversy surrounding the artist. Many went to the internet to express their opinions, and the sentiment was still shared even after the performance.
Sophie, a 20-year-old student from Islington, said: “A year ago , when I saw him on Spotify’s top 10 artists, I thought ‘Who is this?’”. She continued by saying “This is not my thing.”
Although there has been some backlash involving the singer, there has been many more supporting him after his performance. Sabrina, a woman from Pakistan, said “I thought it was beautiful. It was a testament to how f****d up the world is, but also we reached a point where artists from marginalised communities are now represented in these big events.”
The BBC was equally ecstatic. “For the first time ever, Bad Bunny had made it into the UK’s top 10 album chart”, it said. This is after he headlined the Super Bowl Half-Time Show and also won a Grammy, only a week apart.
Luisa, a 20-year-old from Brazil, said: “The part where he said the names of all the countries in South America, with all the flags, was really powerful, especially with everything that’s happening in the US.”
“I think it’s important to consider that people that are born in other parts of the American continent, are still citizens, and they have to be recognised and respected as such.”
Opinions on Bad Bunny have been mixed, but it is clear that his impact didn’t just happen in the American continent, but has also had a huge impact on people in the UK. Even if they aren’t fans of the artist, they were still in support of his message.
Infographic by Maria Caires
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