On Sunday, San Juan awoke under an overcast sky, the air thick with humidity and heavy with anticipation. Across the city, everyone seemed to be talking about one thing: where to watch the Super Bowl. But no one was focused on the football game. Instead, Bad Bunny loomed large over his island.

In conversation, almost everyone on the island refers to the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio by his first name, underlining boricuas’ deep emotional ties to the local Soundcloud rapper turned global superstar. Hours before kickoff, with patriotic playlists blaring from their car windows, crowds wearing t-shirts printed with Bad Bunny iconography, started gathering near El Escambrón Beach for the official halftime viewing party. On their way toward the ticketed event, sisters Mirelis and Arelis Piñeiro Rojas stopped for coffee in a nearby park. When asked about their interest in the game, both women laughed.