Bad Bunny, Belonging & the Psychology of Being Seen at Super Bowl

Something happened at the Super Bowl LX halftime show on February 8, 2026 that was bigger than a performance.

Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, took the world’s most watched stage and turned it into something profound: a sweeping, intentional celebration of Puerto Rican culture, history, and identity. Sugar cane fields. Traditional pava hats. Nods to the island’s political reality and endangered native species. Every detail carried meaning.

For millions of people watching, particularly those from Latino communities, this wasn’t just entertainment. It was recognition. It was the experience of seeing yourself, your culture, your heritage, reflected back on one of the largest stages in the world.

And that experience, being truly seen, matters more than we might realise.

What it means to be seen

The need to be seen, recognised, and understood is one of the most fundamental human needs. Psychologists have long understood that being witnessed by others is central to how we develop a sense of self, form secure relationships, and experience belonging.

When we talk about being “seen” in a psychological sense, we mean more than being noticed. We mean having our identity, our experience, and our humanity genuinely recognised and valued, not edited, minimised, or required to fit someone else’s framework.

For people from marginalised or minoritised communities, this experience of genuine recognition is often partial or absent. You might be visible in some spaces but not others. Your culture might be appreciated aesthetically (through food, music, or fashion) while the people and communities it comes from remain marginalised. You might be welcomed when you assimilate but feel invisible when you’re fully yourself.

This is why moments like Bad Bunny’s halftime show land so powerfully for so many people. They offer something that can be surprisingly rare: unapologetic, celebratory visibility.

The mental health significance of cultural belonging

Belonging (feeling genuinely included, accepted, and valued as part of a community) is strongly linked to mental health and wellbeing. Research consistently shows that a sense of belonging protects against depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and supports resilience, self-esteem, and overall quality of life.

Cultural belonging is a particular dimension of this. When you feel connected to your cultural identity, when your heritage, language, values, and traditions are affirmed rather than stigmatised, it provides a kind of psychological grounding. A sense of knowing who you are and where you come from.

For people from diaspora communities, navigating between cultures can be both enriching and exhausting. You might speak one language at home and another in public.. You might hold cultural values that exist in tension with the dominant culture around you. You might feel pressure to minimise parts of yourself in certain spaces to fit in or be taken seriously.

This navigation takes real psychological energy. And the absence of cultural recognition in mainstream spaces can quietly reinforce the sense that your culture is less valuable, less worthy of celebration.

What happens when culture goes mainstream

When cultural identity is celebrated on a mainstream stage, something shifts. Representation reshapes internal narratives about who gets to take up space.

For members of that community, it can feel like relief, pride, and validation all at once. The implicit message that your culture needs to stay in the background is contradicted. You see that your music, your stories, your heritage can stand at the centre.

Ricky Martin captured something of this when he described feeling overwhelmed by emotion after performing alongside Bad Bunny: a tsunami of feelings he said would take hours to process. That response wasn’t just about the music. It was about what the moment represented.

For younger people especially, seeing cultural figures celebrated rather than marginalised can be formative. It shapes beliefs about what’s possible, about whether your identity is an asset or a liability, about whether you need to choose between your cultural self and success in the broader world.

In therapy, we often see how early and ongoing experiences of cultural visibility (or invisibility) shape a person’s relationship with their own identity. People who grew up seeing their culture consistently marginalised may have internalised beliefs about their worth that aren’t always easy to recognise or challenge.

When belonging feels out of reach

Not everyone who watched Bad Bunny’s halftime show felt the warmth of recognition. For some, it might have highlighted a painful absence: the experience of rarely or never seeing your own culture, community, or identity reflected with care and celebration.

This absence has real psychological weight. Chronic experiences of cultural invisibility or marginalisation can contribute to:

1. Internalised beliefs about being “less than” or out of place
2. Anxiety in spaces where you feel culturally unseen
3. Grief about aspects of cultural identity lost through assimilation or migration
4. Difficulty knowing how to hold dual or multiple cultural identities
5. Exhaustion from code-switching or managing how you present yourself in different contexts

These experiences are worth bringing into therapy. In therapy, exploring cultural identity, the ways it’s been affirmed or marginalised, and how it shapes your sense of self and belonging can be genuinely transformative.

Connecting to your own cultural identity

What does your cultural identity mean to you?

Cultural identity isn’t always straightforward. You might feel deeply connected to your heritage, or you might feel ambivalent, disconnected, or unsure how to claim it. You might hold multiple cultural identities that sometimes feel in tension. All of these are valid experiences worth exploring.

Where do you feel culturally at home?

Think about the spaces, communities, or relationships where you feel most like yourself, where your identity is welcomed rather than edited. How often do you have access to those spaces? What would it mean to seek them out more intentionally?

How has cultural visibility (or invisibility) shaped you?

Consider whether early experiences of cultural recognition or marginalisation have influenced how you see yourself, what you believe is possible for you, or how comfortable you feel taking up space.

What aspects of your cultural identity do you want to nurture?

Cultural connection doesn’t always happen automatically, particularly across generations or in diaspora communities. It can require intentional effort: learning language, engaging with cultural traditions, connecting with community, or simply naming and honouring where you come from.

The role of affirming therapy

For people navigating complex relationships with cultural identity, including experiences of marginalisation, diaspora, intergenerational trauma, or the exhaustion of code-switching, culturally affirming therapy can offer a space to explore these experiences with depth and care.

Affirming therapy recognises that cultural identity is central to who we are, not a side issue or complication. It creates space to bring your whole self into the room, to explore how cultural experiences have shaped you, and to work toward a more integrated, grounded sense of identity.

The bottom line

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show was a reminder of something that psychology has long known: being seen, truly seen, in your full cultural identity, matters deeply to human wellbeing.

The need for cultural belonging isn’t superficial. It’s connected to how we understand ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we navigate the world with a sense of groundedness and worth.

Whether you felt celebrated, moved, curious, or something more complicated watching that performance, the questions it raises are worth sitting with. Where do you feel most seen? Where do you feel most yourself? And what would it mean to have more of that in your life?

If you’d like to explore questions of cultural identity, belonging, and what it means to feel truly seen, our team at Seed Psychology is here. We offer in-person sessions in Brunswick East and online appointments throughout Victoria.

Book an appointment or call 03 9388 8113.

Key questions answered

Why does cultural visibility matter for mental health?

Cultural belonging (feeling genuinely included and valued as part of a community) is strongly linked to mental health. When your cultural identity is affirmed rather than marginalised, it provides psychological grounding and a sense of knowing who you are. Research consistently shows belonging protects against depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and supports resilience and self-esteem.

What does it mean to feel “seen” psychologically?

Being seen means more than being noticed. It means having your identity, experience, and humanity genuinely recognised and valued, without being required to edit, minimise, or fit someone else’s framework. It’s a fundamental human need connected to how we develop a sense of self, form secure relationships, and experience belonging.

Why do moments of cultural representation feel so emotionally powerful?

For people from marginalised communities, genuine cultural visibility can be rare. When it happens on a mainstream stage, it contradicts the implicit message that your culture belongs in the background. It validates that your heritage, language, and identity can stand at the centre, which carries real emotional and psychological weight, particularly for younger people forming their sense of identity.

What is the psychological impact of cultural invisibility?

Chronic cultural invisibility or marginalisation can contribute to internalised beliefs about being “less than,” anxiety in spaces where you feel unseen, grief about cultural identity lost through assimilation, difficulty holding dual cultural identities, and exhaustion from code-switching. These experiences are worth exploring in therapy.

How can I strengthen my connection to my cultural identity?

Cultural connection can require intentional effort, particularly across generations or in diaspora communities. This might mean learning or maintaining language, engaging with cultural traditions, connecting with community, seeking spaces where your identity is welcomed, or simply naming and honouring where you come from. Therapy can also support exploration of cultural identity and belonging.

What is culturally affirming therapy?

Culturally affirming therapy recognises that cultural identity is central to who we are, not a side issue. It creates space to bring your whole self into sessions, explore how cultural experiences have shaped you, and work toward a more integrated sense of identity. It’s particularly valuable for people navigating diaspora, intergenerational trauma, cultural marginalisation, or the exhaustion of code-switching.

Can therapy help with experiences of cultural marginalisation?

Yes. Therapy can help you process experiences of cultural invisibility or marginalisation, explore how these have shaped your beliefs about yourself and your worth, develop strategies for navigating spaces where you feel culturally unseen, and build a more grounded, integrated relationship with your cultural identity.

What if I feel disconnected from my own cultural identity?

Feeling disconnected from cultural identity is common, particularly for people raised between cultures, in diaspora communities, or for those whose cultural expression was suppressed. This disconnection is worth exploring with curiosity rather than judgment. Therapy can offer a supported space to understand that disconnection and find ways to reconnect with aspects of identity that feel meaningful.