It's Better If We Learn to Dance
Music is one of the few arenas of public discourse that remains undisturbed by political censorship. Over the past year, we’ve seen late night hosts fired and suspended, historical monuments removed, streaming platforms called “overwhelmingly woke,” and once well-regarded journalism pulling stories critical of the federal government out of fear of retaliation. The sanitization is creeping across the American media and arts landscape as corporate overlords lay down their arms to the executive branch in the name of protecting short term shareholder value.
When the NFL announced Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime show performer in September, outcry was an understood cost of doing business. Hearing a foreign language and an incomprehension of sovereignty is enough to ignite a political backlash, but it’s nothing new to Bad Bunny. The people who don’t listen to his music took offense at his decision to replace an American tour with a residency in Puerto Rico. He built it, people came, and in turn helped to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into an economy that is largely unrepresented, unsupported, and ignored by its federal government. As Bad Bunny said while looking directly into all of our eyes on Sunday: “It’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself. You should believe in yourself too. You’re worth more than you think.”
Let’s be real: anything that is politicized today is rarely about politics. It’s never actually about gas stoves or light beer. Driving a wedge within a seemingly innocuous issue, including who’s performing music at a football game, is a tactic to create division within a body of people and distract them from the actions of the people in power. Whether you’re mad at the issue or the reaction to it, you’re still mad, and as you argue online and boycott whatever you feel empowered to boycott, the invisible hand is finding ways to become richer and more powerful.
Enough whining has bent the wills of corporations and parents alike, and yet the organizers and advertisers involved in the Super Bowl didn’t falter in advance of one of the biggest global live performances. Evidently, it’s easy to have a backbone when it’s propped up by stacks of cash.
And Benito knew this. That’s why a week before his big performance, on a night where he won three Grammy’s, including one for Album of the Year, he started his first acceptance speech of the night by saying something that would force the world’s most powerful man to put down his McDouble and rage tap his greasy hands on Truth Social.
A week later, Bad Bunny’s performance drew more viewers than the game itself. Millions of people danced in their living rooms, along with a hundred people dressed as grass and Pedro Pascal and Toñita, the owner of one of the few remaining Puerto Rican social clubs in NYC.
“People don’t even have to learn Spanish. It’s better if they learn to dance.”
Bad Bunny stepped onto the biggest stage with a portion of the country already hating him before he could even sing “Ey, Tití me preguntó.” And for the next 12 minutes he beamed joy and passion as he celebrated where he was from and brought us all together through a universal language: music.
As he marched off the field with the 700 performers who joined him, the video board at Levi’s Stadium read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
The Starting 5: FDT Edition
Album of the Month: It Could Be Worse by Samm Henshaw
Samm Henshaw is yet another English singer who makes you wonder how the hell they’re English when you hear their voice. He stepped into the studio to record this album the day after a break up, and the pain and processing lives throughout the soul album, but his incredible vocals and the production from Josh Grant have you uncontrollably bopping and swaying. When asked by Rated R&B what this album title means to him, Henshaw said, “Optimism. Faith. It also represents patience in the process, not rushing to get to the end of something. Go through what you need to experience so you can come to a well-rounded conclusion.
Featured Tracks
May you find love this weekend. And if this playlist results in rounding any bases, you’re welcome.
Peace, love and positivity.