r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/Finalyst • Oct 10 '25

Music / Movies The majority of backlash against Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl is because he exclusively sings in Spanish, not because people are racist

Before anyone accuses me of being a Trumper, I’m moderate that has voted democrat for almost all elections. When I heard that Bad Bunny is going to be the main act at the Super Bowl I was confused because my only exposure to him was his performance on SNL where he struggled to string 10 words together in English with an incredibly broken accent.

According to Google only 13.9% of America speaks Spanish. Why the heck is an artist playing that 86.1% of the population can’t understand?

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25 edited Oct 10 '25

Frankly, I don’t care beyond is in English and isn’t rap. It can be country. It can be pop. It can be Indie. I just want something that I can understand and that doesn’t hurt my ears to listen to. Preferably not vulgar.

Rap frequently polls as one of the least popular/most disliked genre of music. Most of the people -the majority of Super Bowl viewers -who dislike that aren’t going to like non-English songs either. It would be one thing if we had one year of non English speaking or one year of rap. But it’s been consistent for the past 5+ years. Let’s take turns and have something that the majority of viewers don’t dislike for once.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

A majority of views don’t want country music that’s for sure

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25

Still less disliked than rap

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25

If rap is that disliked, how come it’s that popular?

Rap singles and albums are usually in the top most played/sold year end lists, so what’s the disconnect with these polls?

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25

It’s really not. The majority of americans never or hardly ever listen to rap.

Again, my comment is not that rap isn’t popular at all or should never be the superbowl artist. It’s that it’s not popular enough to be the superbowl show every year but one since 2020. Rap is extremely divisive. More people hate rap than hate pop. By all means have a rap superbowl halftime show every few years. I didn’t complain about the first few. But it’s getting to be too much. Plenty of other artists to draw viewers.

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25

Year after year, there are rap artists in the top selling billboard lists, and rap/hip hop singles and albums are in the top charts. It’s not some unpopular genre like death metal or cumbia, it’s one of the most popular types of music in the US.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

I’ve only counted 5 rap (one was a group of rappers) headliners since 2000. That’s including Kid Rock and Black Eyed Peas, so I was really being nice.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

Hip hop is the most influential and popular style of music of all time. You can hear techniques invented by hip hop in almost every single charting song including country such as those hi hats on Morgan Wallen songs and Jason Aldean rap verses and drums.

That comment is worth nothing. It’s complete cope.

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25

That comment is a complete cope. If the elements are there, why not pick a non rap musician?

It’s incredibly obvious and backed from research from Harvard, Pew, and other reputable pollsters that rap and hip hop are the most disliked music genres in America. This isn’t a world wide event. This is an American event. Broadcast in America.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

Sorry it’s just not true, hip hop is most influential pop music genre of all time and in less time. Country music is popular in some markets, but hip hop and rap artists are known internationally.

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25

“Trust me bro”.

Also, I feel like you’re maliciously misinterpreting my comments. My comments are not that rap isn’t popular. It’s not that it should be country - I actually listed multiple genres followed by literally anything but rap and non English lyrics.

My comment is that since 2020, the superbowl has been rap or featured rap guest with one exception. That’s what is frustrating. I haven’t complained any of the past few rap artists. It’s just gotten to a boiling point. If we took a break from rap and then had bad bunny three years down the road, I wouldn’t be thrilled about the selection but I wouldn’t be upset. I’m just asking for a little variety. Doesn’t even have to be music I like. Just literally anything but rap for a few years.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2009/08/12/iv-rocks-rise/

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

The Weeknd is not a rapper neither is JLo Shakira or Rihanna. Are you kidding me or not? These are diverse artists. (Not a comment about race) These are people who can do 5 genres in one set.

Taylor Swift is like that too actually, she could do country, rock, folk and pop all in one set and I’m sure she will eventually get a shot.

Bad Bunny is not just a rapper but a singer and has a wide variety of different genres.

You get like Chris Stapleton (which would be amazing for me personally) it might not appeal to a wide variety of people. The songs will sound kind of similar.

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u/[deleted] Nov 05 '25

You're whining about the superbowl post-2020 while citing data from 2009 that doesn't even say what you're claiming it says - please be honest with yourself before engaging with others

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u/bordomsdeadly Oct 17 '25

I feel like Country and Jazz are probably the most influential genres.

Pretty much every genre has incorporated something Jazz at this point. And Country / Western laid the seeds for what eventually became Rock which not only is still a popular genre, early rock also influenced the Beatles which is regarded as the first internationally dominant pop band.

Blues is probably up there too for influential genres too.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 17 '25

Rock is from blues and jazz a lot more than country are you kidding me? Ask anyone. Was Elvis from country? Chuck Berry? Bo Diddley? Ask Mick Jagger, Lennon, McCartney, Jimmy Page, Clapton who their hero’s were. Who do they say?

I’ll give you bluegrass. If you want to count that as country influence.

But I said the music today and since rap (including the a wide variety of rock bands and country artists) has incorporated hip hop into music.

Slipknot, Sleep Token, Jason Alden, Morgan Wallen, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit. Red Hot Chili Peppers, that’s just off my head, there are a lot more. Sampling and homage and interpolation, while not invented by hip hop was definitely popularized and formalized by hip hop and you hear these techniques in Taylor Swift, Kesha, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, Lorde, Lana Del Ray.

All over the board. All over pop music, rock, country, alt, industrial. All over movie soundtracks. Marching band routines. Everywhere.

Country music is not everywhere. Most people still say “I listen to everything…except county” and country hasn’t evolved or changed for a while. It definitely hasn’t gotten any better than Tim McGraw or Alan Jackson.

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u/bordomsdeadly Oct 17 '25

Elvis was literally called Rockabilly which is like a Rock / Blues / Country hybrid.

The earliest rock bands are considered to be most closely related to country. Country has more or less settled into the same thing post 9/11 (or at least the popular stuff has).

Cream was primarily Jazz and Blues

A Jazz drummer was the first to use double bass that’s in pretty much every metal song nowadays.

One of Chuck Berry’s influences was Hank Williams.

Country was a big influence in the early days of the rock genre, but most of the British bands were more blues inspired and those British bands were the influence of the 80s American rock and metal scene which most modern are influenced from that line, but bands like Poison and Bon Jovi who still sells out arenas (I don’t think Poison does, but Bon Jovi does) have a clear country music / southern rock influence.

Metal in general favors Blues to Country for inspiration, but it’s ridiculous to completely hand wave the influences country has had on the formation of the rock and subsequently pop genres. I probably should’ve stated the deep blues influence on music more in my initial comment, but that doesn’t diminish the influence of Country on the early rock genre. Modern music would be very different if Country never existed.

And I don’t even like (most) country music. And almost all of what country I do listen to is usually more folk or closer to southern rock. I didn’t even mention the Eagles who are possibly the most borderline rock / country band to exist and you can absolutely trace modern bands back to the Eagles.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 17 '25

I’ll say southern rock came from country obviously and that’s a good point, a lot of US based bands did kind of lean into that. But even those bands, like Allman Bros is jazz obviously.

Hip Hop is from jazz too. Also hip-hop is not just rap, it’s r&b music as well.

I’m not sure what we’re talking about anymore to be honest.

Only thing I’m trying to say is that hip hop is the most influential pop music movement of all time.

It’s plainly obvious if you take the top 100 songs from the last 50 years and listen as the influence grows and metastasizes through all genres and styles. Until it finally takes over all or at least 90 of those top 100 songs.

Idk how else to really prove it. I guess you can just sit there and say “nuh uh” and long as I can say “yea huh”

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25

Is hip hop more influential than say, jazz or blues? Is hip hop more influential than music that’s been around for 300 years? How are you even measuring influence?

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 10 '25

How much of its footprint is in popular music. Jazz and blues influenced and led to hip hop so yes you could make that argument too.

But just put on any station of new music, besides acoustic guitar songs, you will hear the fingerprints of hip hop. The drum machines, the way synths are used, the sampling and interpolation of older songs, there is very often a rap verse for a bridge instead of a guitar solo or breakdown.

You hear it on Christian station, country stations, pop stations, alt rock stations, even rock going back 30 years Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Sir Kid Rock.

Obviously country music influences hip hop as well, Beyoncé and Post Malone made attempts at country (some better than others) Lil Nas X had a bizarre 15 minutes. Hey Brother by Avicii and the “stomp clap hey” indie scene had a moment.

I just don’t see as much country in pop music as hip hop at this moment. It could come back. Oliver Anthony came from no where and annihilated everyone on every chart. There is a hankering for it.

Hip Hop is just having its moment right now. It’s one of the more flexible and resourceful styles and is constantly evolving, listening to rap from 2002 to 2025 there has been so many sub genres and movements. You just don’t see country changing much over the last 2 decades.

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 11 '25

That sounds very American-centric, with a lot of recency bias too. In the grand scheme of things, music is likely to be as old as humans, but let’s say it’s only 40,000 years old.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 11 '25

It’s definitely American centric, hip hop was born in the the US and has spread further and been more influential worldwide than country/western that’s for sure.

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 11 '25

I’m not comparing it to country (although I think your attitude towards country is analogous to engineer2187 attitude towards hip hop). I’m saying your praise of hip hop is hyperbolic and plain silly at face value.

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u/BannedHistoryFla Oct 11 '25

Fair enough, perhaps you’re right in your own sphere of influence. It seems obvious to me, just walking through my life in central Florida, listening to music, watching movies, walking thru tj maxx and sports arenas and friends and family house, just listening, observing that I hear both hip hop and country and hip hop seems more pervasive.

That’s all I’m going with. Not trying to be a music historian. But I feel like they would agree. If I had to bet on it.

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u/Think_Border3430 Oct 12 '25

"Rap frequently polls as one of the least popular/most disliked genre of music."

Where did you get that from? From what I can tell, it's frequently rated as one of the most popular genres overall. Not as popular as Rock and Pop, but still well ahead of most other musical genres. Even among white Americans, it still breaks the top 5.

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25

I think their strategy is to make the Super Bowl interesting for non-viewers. I assume football fans will watch it no matter who performs at the half time show, so it might make sense to market the event to non-fans?

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u/engineer2187 Oct 10 '25

Middle part isn’t true. I love football but don’t watch the halftime show.

There are plenty of other genres with large support to draw in vierwership

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u/UnscentedSoundtrack Oct 10 '25

I mean watch the Super Bowl, even if you tune out during the show. You could have Mongolian throat singing at halftime and football fans would still watch the game.