Written by Justina Bonilla

This year’s Super Bowl was notable for many firsts. For the first time in Super Bowl history, all halftime headliners and national anthem singer, where Latinas.

Kicking off this groundbreaking Super Bowl was Demi Lovato profoundly and beautifully singing the national anthem. Taking it to the next level, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (J.Lo)’s electrifying Super Bowl halftime performance highlighted the best of Latino culture and talent, with the musical support of Bad Bunny and J Balvin. The performance also included the music debut of J.Lo and singer Marc Anthony’s daughter Emme Muñiz.

Since 1967, only three Latinas have sung the National Anthem for the Super Bowl. Mariah Carey was the first Latina National Anthem performer in 1992. Followed by Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato. However, the first Latina singer to perform as a featured talent for a Super Bowl was Vikki Carr, during the opening ceremonies in 1977. Due to the national anthem not being sung that year, Carr instead sang America the Beautiful. She paved the way for future featured Latina and Latino Super Bowl performers.

Throughout Super Bowl halftime show history, only 14 Latino performers have been headliners or noted featured talent, within 8 halftime performances.

The first solo Latino musical headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show was Latina music legend Gloria Estefan in 1992. It would take another 24 years, before another Latino, Bruno Mars, would be the first solo male Latino musical headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show in 2016. Other Latinos halftime performers include Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Fergie with The Black Eyed Peas.

While both Shakira and J.Lo each brought their own flavor and sparkle to their performances, each made strong statements. Shakira’s performance emphasized Latino multiculturalism, while J.Lo’s performance was political.

Shakira: Diversity Within the Latino Community

When many people think of Latino culture in America, they tend to think of Mexican culture, due to Mexicans being the largest of the U.S. population at 66% with the 2nd largest group, Puerto Rican coming in at a distant 9.5%  of the population.  However, Latino culture is extremely diverse stretching over a multitude of countries and territories, especially in the Americas and the Caribbean. Its heavily and continually impacted by immigration, multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious influences.

Shakira who is from Colombia, identifies as a half-Colombian and half-Lebanese Latina. During her performance she belly danced and used the Zaghrouta (a high-pitch tongue call to express strong emotions, partially joy). She also used African based rhythms and dancing in her performances.

Arabs and Africans have lived in Latin America for centuries, as a result of the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the 15^th century. Their influences are deep-rooted in Latino culture, including music. Arab rhythms can be heard in flamenco, while African rhythms can be heard in Rumba and Conga. Shakira’s entire performance challenges how singular Latino culture is perceived in America, proving its vast diversity.         

Jennifer Lopez: Latino Orientated Political Issues

J-Lo opened her performance with a bang, with her signature dancing style and singing her biggest hits. Her performance was peppered with strong political statements about current immigration policy, Latino American Identity and Puerto Rico.

As her daughter Emme made her singing debut on television, she and other children were first seen round glowing cages, along with red lights behind the stage mincing the look of a chain-link fence. These images artistically symbolize the inhumane immigration policy of child imprisonment and separation from parents. Tragically, these separations have led to severe psychological trauma in the children taken from their families. Adding insult to injury, many of these children will end up in foster care and never be reunited with their families, due to the incompetence of ICE’s organizational and documentation abilities.

All of the children on stage, were wearing white (a color associated with innocence), with bedazed American flags on their tops. J.Lo joined Emma on stage singing the chorus of Bruce Springsteen’s hit, Born in the U.S.A., emphasizing the fact that U.S. Latinos are Americans, for the most part. While many of us have strong ties to immigration (i.e. immigrant parents or grandparents), according to PEW research, since 2000, the majority of Latino population growth in America is by birth rate. The majority of Latino immigrants in America are documented, with the percentage of undocumented Latinos decreasing.

Unfortunately, Latinos are still heavily stereotyped as embodying the negative aspects of immigration, including crimes committed by undocumented “criminal aliens”, exploiting social welfare, and unwillingness to assimilate. These twisted ideas have been exacerbated and used as a political weapon in this heated political climate. This has led to increased harassment against Latinos, such as Latinos with legal status being arrested and illegally held in ICE facilities, including Puerto Ricans.

To emphasis that Puerto Rico is an American territory and that all Puerto Ricans are American citizens, J.Lo wore a reversible cape, with the Puerto Rican flag on the inside and the American flag on the outside. The message here is that Puerto Rico is an American territory, thus a part of America. This also brought awareness that Puerto Rico still needs aid from the devastation of recent natural disasters and political unrest.

Overall:

As a Latina I’m proud that these women used their platform to elevate the Latino image through their incredible talent and hard work. My hope is this halftime performance will be the beginning of more inclusive entertainment, highlighting the beauty and strength of Latinos and our culture.  

Latino Headliners and featured talent for The Super Bowl halftime show:

1992: Gloria Estefan (headliner)

1995: Arturo Sandoval (guest appearance)

           Miami sound Machine (guest appearance)

1999: Gloria Estefan (co-headliner)

2000: Edward James Olmos (narrator)

           Christina Aguilera (co-headliner act)

           Enrique Iglesias (co-headliner act)

2011: The Black Eyed Peas (Fergie co-headliner)

2014: Bruno Mars (headliner)

2016: Bruno Mars (guest appearance)

           Gustavo Dudamel (guest appearance)

2020: Jennifer Lopez

Shakira

Bad Bunny

J Balvin

Emme Muñiz

Latino talent who performed the National Anthem for the Super Bowl:

2002: Mariah Carey

2011: Christina Aguilera

2020: Demi Lovato 

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The world is still reeling from the news of the shocking and devastating deaths of Laker Icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, the six family friends and pilot, from the tragic Sunday morning helicopter crash. Millions of Latino fans in America and abroad regard Kobe’s untimely death as the loss of a beloved member of the Latino community. And profoundly heartbroken over the loss of one of our princesses, GiGi.  

Over the years, the Latino community has deeply admired non-Latino icons such as Bryant, President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, Comedian Richard Pryor and Music Legend Prince. However, Kobe’s impact was deeper. Most notably because Kobe respected his Latino fans throughout his career, and once commented that it was the Latino fans that first embraced him when he moved to L.A.

Kobe took time to learn about the culture, learned Spanish and gave to charity, work he did with his Mexican-American wife, Vanessa. Yet, his greatest legacy, was being a loving family man to his wife and four “mejicana” daughters as he once called them.

Among Kobe’s collaborations on commercials and short films with well-known Latino celebrities in sports and film, a few stand out. The result was the embodiment of Kobe’s pop-culture impact which now, will live on as a testament to his persona. Each captures a different aspect of him, from the power of the man and his silly side.

Nike SB Commercial 2009: Paul Rodriguez Jr.

Paul Rodriguez Jr., son of Latino comedic pioneer Paul Rodriguez, known as P-Rod, a street skateboarder, actor, rapper, and recording artist. Rodriguez has won a total of eight medals at the X Games. Kobe does a brief cameo in Rodriguez’s extended Nike commercial, which focuses on Paul Jr. skating around iconic images of Los Angeles.

In the behind the scene footage, Kobe is seen expressing his amazement of Paul Jr.’s skills stating, “Yo, that’s nuts”. When Paul Jr. is later interviewed about his experience of working with Kobe, he wanted to do his best for an athlete he admired.

The Black Mamba Nike 2011 Commercial: Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo

For this unique project, Kobe collaborated with director Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez co-wrote and directed this six-minute short film about Kobe’s Black Mamba persona. Which also included appearances by Danny Trejo, Bruce Willis, and Kanye West as a part of the cast.

The most memorable part of this short, is the ending. Robert says to Kobe, “Black Mamba doesn’t end. Heroes come and go”. While Kobe smiles and replies, “But, legends are forever”.

In this LA Times interview, Kobe and Robert describe how this project came to be. With Kobe emphasizing he was a fan of Robert’s work for a very long time and felt that he was the only person who could direct it.

The full trailer is available online. But, WARNING The ending of this trailer, might cause distress. A helicopter is shown exploding and on fire. Which is a result of Kobe, who survives unscathed, throwing a bomb at the villains’ escape helicopter, causing it to explode.

Guitar Hero World Tour 2008 commercial: Alex Rodriguez

This short commercial, spoofs the iconic Risky Business scene where Tom Cruise dances at home along to the classic song, Old Time Rock and Roll, with four major athletes. Alex Rodriguez, Tony Hawk, Michael Phelps and Kobe are dancing, being silly and having fun in this one of many of Guitar Hero reimaginings of this iconic scene. Alex would refer to Kobe as a close friend, whom he highly respected and admired.

Kobe is seen as many things, including a trailblazer, pioneer, hero, icon, the greatest Laker of all time, greatest basketball player of all time and “The King of Los Angeles”. But, we will always see him as a part of La Raza.

All the helicopter occupants:

Kobe Bryant

Gianna ‘GiGi’ Bryant

John Altobelli

Keri Altobelli

Alyssa Altobelli

Sarah Chester

Payton Chester

Christina Mauser

Ara Zobayan

Latin Heat extends our deepest condolences, thoughts, prayers, and love to those who lost their lives or loved ones.

Rest in Peace King Kobe, Princess Gianna, and to the beloved friends who also lost their lives.

WE LOVE YOU

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In a historic night of Soccer, Telemundo’s coverage on June 19th is ranked as the #1 broadcast network in primetime regardless of language! The network was also #1 in both broadcast and cable among men 18-49 and men 18-34 in primetime.

Argentina vs. Paraguay is the most-watched Copa America match to date on Telemundo, delivering a Total Audience Delivery average of 2.1 million viewers.

Telemundo Deportes’ Copa America also powered Telemundo to rank as the #1 Spanish-language broadcast network in primetime among adults 18-49 and total viewers, according to Nielsen.

Telemundo’s Copa America averaged of 2.1 million viewers and the match peaked at 2.5 million TV-only viewers from 10-10:30 p.m. ET.

Telemundo Digital also posted strong results. Argentina-Paraguay is the most steamed Copa America match on Telemundo digital platforms with Argentina matches driving 31% of total tournament streams thus far. Copa America on Telemundo was the #1 most social Spanish-language sports event on Twitter on June 19th.

Source: Nielsen, L+SD, prime rank based on 8-11p strict daypart. TAD based on match window duration. Adobe Analytics, 06/19/19.

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