Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
You can call me a curmudgeon for saying that rock and pop music today are dreadful compared to that of their years of apogee (yes, my teenage years!), but you’d have to call Rick Beato a curmudgeon as well. And he knows a ton about music, being a musician himself, a producer, a music analyst, and a teacher. So he surely has more musical cred than I. Nevertheless, we generally share opinions about music, in particular the view modern rock and pop is tedious, repetitive, and boring. And I’ll argue strenuously that it’s not just because I like the music of my youth, and other generations like the music of their youth. Nope, metrics like musical complexity, the frequency of autotuning, and so on support the decline of rock and pop.
In the ten-minute video below, Beato compares the Beatles with Taylor Swift, and you can guess who comes off worse. (The “kids” may disagree, but they also are largely ignorant of the Beatles.) I have to say that I’ve listened to a fair amount of Taylor Swift, trying arduously to find out what it is about her music that’s made her the world’s biggest pop sensation. It can’t be her tunes, which are unmemorable, so perhaps it’s her lyrics about the bad guys she’s been involved with—something that surely resonates with her (mostly) female fans.
In this video Beato reacts to a 2024 NYT article (archived here) that discussed whether Taylor Swift is bigger now than the Beatles were in the past. That article concludes that both were huge and, if you use the right metrics, Swift can be seen as even bigger than the Beatles:
The length of Swift’s career has allowed her into the Beatles’ vaunted ballpark by giving her the chance to evolve her sound, grow her loyal audience and take full advantage of technological advances.
Yet as wild as it is for the Beatles to have accomplished so much in so little time, Swift’s longevity might be considered equally impressive in pop music, which often overvalues the new and — especially among female artists — the young.
Swift is of course still active, so we can’t measure something that I consider important: will their music be listened to twenty years hence? And how will it be regarded several decades after Swift or the Beatles stopped making music? We’ll have to wait, of course, for the answers to those questions, and I’ll be underground.
However, in this video, Beato details his experiences with Swift, having attended a number of her concerts and having a deep acquaintance with her music, as he has with the Beatles. But Beato is concentrating on quality, not sales or chart position. He notes that many of Taylor Swift’s melodies were written by a large number of people who change over time, compared to only three for the Beatles (Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison). And it shows in the lame melodies (Beato likes Swift’s lyrics better than “her” tunes.) Further, Swift’s instrumentation itself was largely produced and performed \ by people other than Swift—something that, says Beato, is simply “how pop music is made” these days.
Although one would think that the Beatles don’t need to be extolled by Beato, since he’s done it so many times before, but he does mention great melodies of Beatles songs like “Lady Madonna,” or “I am the Walrus.” (I could mention a gazillion more.) In contrast to Swift, he argues, the Beatles did not repeat ideas, and “they came up with all those ideas themselves.” He winds up calling Swift a “content creator”, who picks the brains of other people when she wants to change her music.
Beato asks for comments on his opinion, and I welcome yours below. But I doubt I’ll change my opinion that rock and pop music peaked several decades ago, and has gone downhill ever since. Swift’s immense popularity only proves that.
I have never heard a Taylor Swift song that comes close to the quality of this Beatles classic, and it isn’t all that complex compared to their later work. George Martin’s interpolation at 1:42, however, is a piece of genius:
The song was recorded on 18 October 1965, and it was complete except for the instrumental bridge. At that time, Lennon had not decided what instrument to use, but he subsequently asked George Martin to play a piano solo, suggesting “something Baroque-sounding”. Martin wrote a Bach-influenced piece that he found he could not play at the song’s tempo. On 22 October, the solo was recorded with the tape running at half speed, so when played back at normal pace the piano was twice as fast and an octave higher, solving the performance challenge and also giving the solo a unique timbre, reminiscent of a harpsichord.
Reader Thomas from Marginal REVOLUTION sent me the linked article piece, which shows a video of the 1957 doo-wop hit “Little Darlin'” by the Diamonds. If you’re my age, you’ll remember it. I always thought it was a serious song, and apparently so did most Americans, but the first comment says this:
From what I recall, the Diamonds were a conventional vocal group who recorded “Little Darlin'” at the end of a session as a kind of joke song – a parody of the Ink Spots and Mills Brothers. Fortunately for them, the studio musicians joined in with perfectly irresistible beat and the song became a rock and roll hit. Early rock and roll was born as parody as much as anything else, like Elvis’s Jokey rendition of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” turning out to be the founding document of rockabilly.
Really? And then they present the video, which, unlike any music video I know from that era, shows the group clowning around. Have a look at the video for a hit song (more cowbell!). But yes, this is the original song. which went to #2 on the Billboard charts.
To get to the bottom of this, I sent to AI, in particular Grok. Sure enough, the bot pronounced it a parody after scanning what’s published about it.
“Was “Little Darlin'” by the Diamonds a parody song?”
Yes, “Little Darlin'” by The Diamonds (1957) is widely regarded as a stylistic parody/satire of the doo-wop genre—not a lyrical parody like a Weird Al track (the words and melody are the same), but a deliberately exaggerated, campy cover that poked fun at the over-the-top clichés of the style.Here’s the story, straight from music historians:
The song was written by 16-year-old Maurice Williams and first recorded in January 1957 by his group The Gladiolas (on the Excello label). Their version was a straight, heartfelt R&B/doo-wop track with a Latin-tinged rhythm, falsetto, spoken bridge, and percussion. It charted modestly (#11 R&B, minor pop crossover).
The Diamonds (a Canadian quartet) rushed out their cover just a month later on Mercury Records. It was reportedly a last-minute, end-of-session lark—they had about 15 minutes left, no drummer, so they improvised with castanets. Lead singer Dave Somerville and the group leaned hard into the nonsense syllables (“ai-ya-yi-yai-yai-ya,” “wella-wella,” etc.), hamming it up with theatrical flair. They even performed it in an over-the-top way on TV (like The Steve Allen Show).
AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that the vocal phrases “verge on self-parody… which may be why The Diamonds’ version is superior.” Radio historian John Gilliland (on the Pop Chronicles series) explicitly stated that their recording “was in fact a parody of the genre.” Other sources describe it as a “joke song,” “satire of doo-wop,” or “intended as a satire” with “campy vocal delivery.”Despite (or because of) the tongue-in-cheek approach, it became a monster hit: #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks (behind only Elvis’s “All Shook Up”), the biggest version by far, and now the definitive classic. The original Gladiolas take is respected by R&B fans but far less known.It’s a classic example of a white cover version (common in the 1950s) that amplified the style for mainstream appeal—here with humor that stuck. Later, Elvis Presley covered the Diamonds’ arrangement on his final album Moody Blue, and Joan Baez even recorded an actual lyrical parody.
From Wikipedia, we learn that the hit version was actually a re-recording of a song recorded just a month earlier by a black group, the Gladiolas, one of whose members wrote the song. There’s also a brief not about the parody aspect:
It was written by a 16-year-old Maurice Williams with both melody and doo-wop accompaniment strongly emphasizing a calypso rhythm. First recorded in January 1957 by Williams’ group the Gladiolas, it was quickly released as a single on Excello Records, a small swamp blues label owned by Nashville record man Earnie Young, who was responsible for creating the song’s Latin feel, naming the group and ensuring Williams would retain the song’s publishing.
The recording, inspired by a book Williams was writing, and originally called “Little Darlin’/ The Beginning,” is noted for its trademark doo-wop falsetto by Fred Mangum and its spoken bridge by Williams (“My Darlin’ I need you …”). The Gladiolas were from Lancaster, South Carolina, where they had been together since high school.
The Diamonds‘ successful cover version followed a month later. The Diamonds were a Canadian pop group that evolved into a doo-wop group. The Diamonds’ version reached number two in sales for eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 3 song for 1957. In Canada, the song was No. 11 on the premiere CHUM Chart, May 27, 1957.
The Diamonds’ version is generally considered superior. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine argues that the Diamonds “Little Darlin'” is an unusual example of a cover being better than the original:
[T]he Diamonds’ take remained the bigger hit, and over the years, the better-known version. Normally, this would have been an outrage, but there’s a reason why the Diamonds’ version has sustained its popularity over the years: it’s a better, fiercer recording. Both versions are good, even if they’re a little silly, because it’s a good doo wop song, giving each member of the quartet a lot to do. At times, the vocal phrases verge on self-parody — the “ai-ya-yi-yai-yai-ya”‘s or the “wella-wella”‘s — which may be why The Diamonds’ version is superior.
On the Pop Chronicles, host John Gilliland claimed that their version was in fact a parody of the genre. Nonetheless, “Little Darlin'” (primarily the Diamonds’ version, but to some extent the Gladiolas’ version) remains an all-time rock ‘n roll R&B classic.
Here’s the original version by The Gladiolas, and sure enough, it’s pretty much like the parody (or cover), including the talking interlude. It was not a hit. Is this cultural appropriation?
I’ve said several times that the best rock/pop song I know of is “A Day in the Life,” the last track on the Beatles’ 1967 “Sgt. Pepper” album. As usual, its composition is credited to “Lennon/McCartney”, but in this case the lyrics and melody are mainly from Lennon. But McCartney and also Harrison and Ringo contributed, with important additions by producer George Martin. (I’ve put the released version at the bottom.)
The video below by David Hartley, called “The world’s greatest song that simply shouldn’t exist”, was put up only a month ago. It shows how the song was inspired and constructed, and includes verbal quotes from the Beatles (and George Martin), early takes of the song, and snippets of the final song itself.
Why shouldn’t it exist? You can see how a lot of accidents, both sung and played, found themselves into the song, with sporadic suggestions from Martin and the boys, and yet the song worked together not just as a whole, but as an “organic whole,” looking as if it were planned.
Far from it! At that time there were only four tracks available to mix for the final version, and a lot of manipulation was needed. The ending was particularly problematic, and how George Martin helped finish it, using half of a full orchestra at Ringo’s suggestion, is fantastic. (Martin actually wrote all the orchestral parts that sound like random noise.) Likewise for the final extended chord, which began as a sung note but wound up, at Paul’s suggestion, with a long instrumental chord played on three pianos and a harmonium.
If you like the song, this analysis is fascinating.
There’s also a breakdown of the song by Rick Beato, which you can see here (unlike wasn’t allowed to play snippets of the song). Beato calls it “the best Beatles song.” He’s right, which means it’s the best rock song ever.
I’ve put below a screenshot from Hartley’s video apparently showing an early take of the song, with Paul on Hammond Organ, John on piano, Ringo on congas, and George on guitar:
Here’s the final released version (official video):
It’s Saturday, a day of posting persiflage, and so I proffer another section of my life of “Coyne’s Best songs.” Remember, I’m limited to judging what I’ve heard, and here are what I consider to be. . .
The Best Country Crossover Songs
El Paso Marty Robbins
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry Hank Williams
End of the World Skeeter Davis
Crazy Patsy Cline (written by Willie Nelson)
We’ll Sing in the Sunshine Gail Garnett
Stand By Your Man Tammy Wynette
Wichita Lineman Glenn Campbell
Gentle on My Mind Glenn Campbell
Galveston Glenn Campbell
Behind Closed Doors Charlie Rich
Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town) Kenny Rogers & the First Edition
Right Time of the Night Jennifer Warnes
I Will Always Love You Dolly Parton
Here You Come Again Dolly Parton
Send Me Down to Tucson Mel Tillis
I Need You LeAnn Rimes
Amy Pure Prairie League
Snowbird Anne Murray
Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie Ford
Now not all these songs were recorded to be “country songs,” but all of them are at least countrified—that is, in the stuyle of country music. And I love all of them. Some are now very obscure (e.g., “Send me Down to Tucson,” “Snowbird”, and of course who remembers “Sixteen Tons,” once hugely popular), but all are great music. I’ll put a few up for your listening pleasure. You are invited to note your own country crossover songs in the comments:
You’ll notice that there are three songs featuring Glenn Campbell on the list, and “Galveston” is the least popular of the three, but it’s the one that most moves me (all are wonderful). Campbell, originally a session musician in the famous “Wrecking Crew“, was a world-class guitarist, you’ll see below from his fantastic solo that starts slowly with the melody at 4:27 and then goes off into space. (For another example of his virtuosity, see the section of “Gentle on My Mind” performed live here). “Galveston” was written by Jimmy Webb and released by Campbell in 2003 after it flopped with Don Ho.
The YouTube notes:
From 2002, Glen Campbell & Steve Wariner perform “Galveston”, introduced by Brad Paisley, with video intro that includes comments by Merle Haggard, Keith Urban, Melissa Etheridge, Toby Keith, Radney
Foster, Tracy Byrd, Robert K. Oermann, and Tom Roland.
The performance starts at 2:32, but don’t miss the introductory interviews.
Oh, hell, I’ll put his “Gentle on My Mind” performance below. How many country stars can you recognize?
The inimitable Dolly Parton (“It takes a lot of money to make me look this cheap”), singing one of her more recent hits, “Here You Come Again“, written by the famous duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and released in 1977.
Another early one from Dolly, written by her and released in 1973. It was her fond farewell to Porter Wagoner, who was her mentor but was also overbearing (they were not romantically involved). A bit from Wikipedia:
Country music singer-songwriter Dolly Parton wrote the song in 1973 for her one-time partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, from whom she was separating professionally after a seven-year partnership. She recorded it in RCA Studio B in Nashville on June 12, 1973.
Author Curtis W. Ellison stated that the song “speaks about the breakup of a relationship between a man and a woman that does not descend into unremitting domestic turmoil, but instead envisions parting with respect – because of the initiative of the woman”. The country love track is set in a time signature of common time with a tempo of 66 beats per minute. (Larghetto/Adagio) Although Parton found much success with the song, many people are unaware of its origin; during an interview, Parton’s manager Danny Nozel said that “one thing we found out from American Idol is that most people don’t know that Dolly Parton wrote [the track]”. During an interview on The Bobby Bones Show, Dolly Parton revealed that she wrote her signature song “Jolene” on the same day that she wrote “I Will Always Love You.” Parton clarified later, “I don’t really know if they were written in the same night.”
LeAnn Rimes may still be around, but she doesn’t have a high profile. Released in 2000, “I Need You” (there’s another country song with the same title) may have been the apogee of Rimes’s career, and it’s a great song. Here it is performed live on the Jay Leno Show in 2000. It may be classified as a “pop ballad,” but I’m putting it in the country crossover category become Rimes was a country singer before this came out.
“We’ll Sing in the Sunshine,” recorded by Gale Garnett in 1964, was a hit on both country-music and pop charts. Who remembers this one? It’s very bittersweet, about a woman who tells her man that they’ll have their day in the sun, but it will last only a year. This is clearly a lip-synch of the original version.
And Skeeter Davis (real name Mary Frances Penick, with a nickname that means “mosquito” in slang) singing “The End of the World” (1962). It’s another lip-synched song, but no less great for it. (Her hair is definitely country here.) She died of breast cancer at 72, performing right up to the end.
Finally, Charlie Rich singing “Behind Closed Doors” (1973), with a theme similar to “Send me Down to Tucson,” but with the latter involving two different women.
I’ve neglected songs by greats like Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, but you can check them out for yourself. Remember that Cline’s big hit “Crazy” (1961) was written by Willie Nelson, who’s still with us.
Well, I might as well reveal part of my very long list of “best music”. This time I’ll post my choice of the best “songs about aging or dying” for Baby Boomers. These aren’t necessarily all good (I’m not a fan of Mellencamp, for instance), but they’re all notable. And yes, I realize that “Long May You Run” is really about Neil Young’s car (a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse he called Mortimer Hearseburg), but it’s still appropriate. Further, some of the songs are about lost love, but all refer to the sadness of passing time.
Father and Son Cat Stevens
Touch of Gray The Grateful Dead
When I’m Sixty-Four The Beatles
Boys of Summer Don Henley
Cherry Bomb John Mellencamp
Long May You Run Stills-Young Band
All Summer Long The Beach Boys
Caroline No The Beach Boys
Nick of Time Bonnie Raitt
When We Was Fab George Harrison
All those Years Ago George Harrison
Rockin’ Chair The Band
Taxi Harry Chapin
Cat’s in the Cradle Harry Chapin
Old Friends (Bookends) Simon and Garfunkel
Don’t Fear the Reaper Blue Öyster Cult
Wasted on the Way Crosby Stills & Nash
I welcome readers’ suggestions, and I’ll put up five of the songs that I think are particularly good and underappreciated:
“Boys of Summer” (1984). For some reason this song absolutely brings back my own teenage years, and quite vividly:
“All Those Years Ago” (1981). Nobody seems to remember this song by George Harrison, but it’s not only great, but a moving tribute to his late fellow Beatle, John Lennon. It’s clear that despite their tiffs, Harrison really loved Lennon.
“Taxi” by Harry Chapin (1972). I’m sure this song is long forgotten, but it’s among the very best ones on the list. The “soprano” part is sung by “Big John” Wallace, Chapin’s bassist; everybody thought that the original record used a female voice. You can end the song at 7:31; it just repeats with the lyrics shown.
“Nick of Time” by Bonnie Raitt (1989). I love this song; the tune is excellent, with a good hook, and the words are wonderful:
Yep, here I go again pointing out the decline in the quality of rock and pop music. But this time I’m joined by the music maven Rick Beato, who has always had the same opinion. In this video he compares music from 1984 vs. 2026, juxtaposing the Grammy nominees for Song of the Year from both years. Save for one song, he finds the 2026 nominees lame, so there’s no contest. Music, he argues implictly, has gone downhill in the past four decades.
I’ll list the nominees and make some comments below. The winner for both years is is at the top. My own comments are flush left.
Had I voted, there would be no hesitation in my dubbing “Billie Jean” as Song of the Year, but all of these songs, as Beato agrees, are good and memorable. They will last, and will still be popular years from now (they’re still listened to 42 years later!).
Beato finds “Wildflower” the best for this year; it is, he says, a “great song”. (This is Eilish’s tenth Grammy.) While I don’t think it’s great, it is very good, and miles above all the other nominees. And it won. I’ll put it below. He simply dismisses the other seven songs, though a few have some merit, like being “well produced.”
The reasons Beato finds this year’s songs worse are that they are in general lame, derivative, often include many songwriters (too many writers spoil the song), and sometimes include sampling from older songs.
In contrast, only one of the 1984 songs has more than one writer, and all include the singer as a composer. (Note that one is by Bad Bunny, and Beato can’t understand the words!) Beato’s takeaway is that nobody will remember songs written by so many people, and nobody will remember these latest songs more than three years from now.
Beato:
Here is “Wildflower,” live with Billie Eilish (the official release is here, and the lyrics are here). The only accompaniments are a guitar, bass, two sets of drums, and three backup singers.
UPDATE: I couldn’t make out the lyrics, but Grok gave what he sang (h/t Luana), so it isn’t nearly as obscene as the entire lyrics linked here. But there are still obscene bits, not to mention suggestive ones. I suggest you use Google translate on this Spanish: “Si te lo meto no me llame'” And “if I put it in”? What does that mean?
So consider this a partial retraction. However, it’s still a pretty dirty song and there is also the crotch-grabbing and mock copulation.
[Parte II: Yo Perreo Sola + Safaera][Refrán: Nesi & Bad Bunny] Ante’ tú me pichaba’ (Tú me pichaba’) Ahora yo picheo (Mmm, nah) Antes tú no quería’ (No quería’) Ahora yo no quiero (Mmm, no) Ante’ tú me pichaba’ (-chaba’) ¡Las mujeres en el mundo entero! Ahora yo picheo Antes tú no quería’ Ahora yo no quiero ¡Perreando sin miedo!English Translation: Before, you ignored me (You ignored me) Now I ignore you (Mmm, nah) Before, you didn’t want to (Didn’t want to) Now I don’t want to (Mmm, no) Before, you ignored me (-ignored) Women all over the world! Now I ignore you Before, you didn’t want to Now I don’t want to Twerking without fear![Coro: Nesi & Bad Bunny, Ambos] No, tranqui, yo perreo sola (Mmm, ey) Ey, ey, ey, mueve, mueve, mueve Yo perreo sola (Perreo sola) Okey, ey, eyEnglish Translation: No, chill, I twerk alone (Mmm, ey) Ey, ey, ey, move, move, move I twerk alone (Twerk alone) Okay, ey, ey[Verso: Bad Bunny] Mi bi anda fuga’o y yo quiero que tú me lo esconda’ Agárralo como bonga Se mete una que la pone cachonda, ey Brinca en los Audi, no en los Honda, ey Si te lo meto no me llame’ Que esto no es pa’ que me ame’ Si tu novio no te— Pa’ eso que no—, ey, eyEnglish Translation: My thing is on the run and I want you to hide it for me Grab it like a bonga She takes one that makes her horny, ey She jumps in the Audis, not in the Hondas, ey If I put it in you, don’t call me ‘Cause this isn’t for you to love me If your boyfriend doesn’t— For that he doesn’t—, ey, ey[Puente: Bad Bunny] En el perreo no se quita Fuma y se pone bella, ey Me llama si me necesita, ey Pero por ahora está solita Ella perrea—English Translation: In the twerking she doesn’t stop She smokes and gets beautiful, ey She calls me if she needs me, ey But for now she’s alone She twerks—The medley transitioned into the next song after this bridge, cutting off before delving into additional explicit verses from the full studio version of “Safaera” (such as references to more graphic sexual acts or substances). This kept the performance energetic but toned down for the event.
I didn’t plan to watch the Superbowl or its halftime show, and I didn’t. But when I heard that Bad Bunny was the headliner of the halftime show, and reading that this was repeatedly described as “historic”, I figured his ethnicity was what made it “historic”, though I didn’t know his ethnic background. Looking him up, I saw that he’s a Puerto Rican rapper, producer, and singer, and occasionally a professional wrestler. Wikipedia describes him as being “widely credited with helping Spanish-language rap reach mainstream global popularity and is considered one of the greatest Latino rappers of all time.” The article below says
So I figured, okay, he’s the first Hispanic to perform at halftime after 59 previous Superbowls. But that seemed weird; surely there were others before him. Sure enough, Grok told me this:
Several Hispanic or Latino artists have performed at the Super Bowl halftime show prior to Bad Bunny’s appearance in 2020. Here’s a list of them, including the years they performed and brief notes on their heritage:
Gloria Estefan (Cuban-American): Performed in 1992 (Super Bowl XXVI, with Miami Sound Machine), 1995 (Super Bowl XXIX, with Miami Sound Machine), and 1999 (Super Bowl XXXIII).
Arturo Sandoval (Cuban): Performed in 1995 (Super Bowl XXIX).
Christina Aguilera (Ecuadorian descent): Performed in 2000 (Super Bowl XXXIV).
Enrique Iglesias (Spanish): Performed in 2000 (Super Bowl XXXIV).
Taboo (Jaime Luis Gomez of The Black Eyed Peas) (Mexican descent): Performed in 2011 (Super Bowl XLV).
Bruno Mars (Puerto Rican descent): Performed in 2014 (Super Bowl XLVIII) and 2016 (Super Bowl 50).
Gustavo Dudamel (Venezuelan): Conducted the orchestra in 2016 (Super Bowl 50).
So I didn’t know what was “historic” about Bad Bunny’s appearance, but I supposed that it was because he sang in Spanish. Well, that’s one thing, but probably the most salient reason for all the excitement and praise was that the show occurred at an opportune moment: a time when liberal Americans, in the face of ICE’s assaults, can show their colors by being pro-immigrant (though Bad Bunny is, like all Puerto Ricans, an American citizen by birth). As the article by David Volodzko in The Radicalist below begins (WARNING: graphic, sexual, and obscene language!):
The Apple Music Super Bowl LX halftime show opened in a sugar cane field with Bad Bunny singing in Spanish about girls sucking his dick, featuring guest appearances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, some rapping about fucking girls with big tits in his car with his erect penis, then the dancers waved the flags of various Latin American countries with a sign that read, “Together, we are America,” and Bunny listed the countries of the Americas. At least it was entertaining. The political message was about as subtle as anything else Bad Bunny writes. We are all American. All Latinos are American. All the illegal immigrants coming to America from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras are American. Love defeats hate. Oppose ICE. Or something like that. The guy’s not exactly a philosopher.
As TODAY says, “Bad Bunny celebrated the history, culture and pride of Puerto Rico with his historic Super Bowl 2026 halftime show.” (The link also gives all the songs he sampled in the show.) Also, note that Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Cardi B, and Karol G. made cameo appearances in the show.
Here: take 13 minutes and watch for yourself, and note that, as a few readers said yesterday, he grabs his crotch quite a bit. Watch it by clicking on the “Watch on YouTube below” icon or here.
Click to read.
The point of the article, besides Bad Bunny’s obscenity, is that “Americans” refer to people in the U.S., not generally Latinos. Well, that doesn’t bother me. But Volodzko points out not only that this was not at all the first Spanish artist headlining the Superbow, and that the show was overly woke (again, I couldn’t care less). The part I’m pointing out here is not only humorous but hypocritical: the nature of the show, with Bad Bunny grabbing his crotch and singing Spanish lyrics so obscene that I have to put them below the fold, would not be tolerated if the show was in English. Even Bad Bunny wouldn’t even get away with it if the lyrics were in English.
Remember when Justin Timberlake (accidentally) tore off Janet Jackson’s nipple cover at the Superbowl halftime show, exposing her nipple? That caused a huge scandal, which was called Nipplegate and has its own article on Wikipedia. Football is one of our national sports, and Americans want a good, clean halftime show. I have to say that Bad Bunny’s show was lively and enjoyable, but think again when you read the lyrics below.
Finally, Volodzko avers that trying to mainstream Hispanic culture is unnecessary as it’s already here:
You see, Bad Bunny’s halftime performance signals the mainstreaming of Latin culture in America at a time when Latinos make up 20% of the population. The problem is, this abrasive performance was also totally unnecessary. It comes off like a celebration of Latino diversity, as if America has finally reached a moment when Latinos can be themselves. We’re here — deal with it. Except Latinos don’t need any mainstreaming. Shakira and J. Lo already did the halftime. Despacito was the No. 1 song in the United States and everybody loved it. Coco is one of the biggest Disney movies of all time. Chipotle is everywhere. Americans love Latin culture. Bad Bunny is declaring victory in a war that no longer exists. That’s because the subtext here is Trump, ICE, and immigration. And I’m sorry, but if that’s the conversation we’re having, then we are not all Americans.
I love Latin america. I have lived in many parts, including Puerto Rico. I am married to a Latina and we have a Latina daughter. I speak Spanish, I cook Latin food, and I dance salsa. Latin culture is a permanent part of my everyday life. Saying that we are not all Americans is not in any way disrespectful to Latinos. It’s just a fact.
Again, this isn’t a big deal to me. But the part below is—not that I’m a prude, but that Bad Bunny’s lyrics wouldn’t be tolerated except by people who don’t understand Spanish. If he sang them in English, it would be a scandal worse than Nipplegate.
Writing for The Chicago Tribune, Christopher Borrelli described it as “close to art” and “a cultural moment, a paradigm shift.” Time characterized the show as “a fierce act of resistance” and “a sharp cultural and history lesson.” I could go on, but I’ll spare you. What I won’t spare you, however, are his lyrics. Yes, I’m exactly the kind of white-privileged male that Fienberg is taking about. One who looks things up. Here are some selected lyrics from the song “Safaera,” which Bad Bunny sang during the show:
GO BELOW THE FOLD TO SEE THESE LYRICS IN ENGLISH, which you can see in Spanish here, I had them checked by a friend of mine of Puerto Rican descent, and she said they were “adequate enough”. She was also said they were “disgusting.”
They are about as graphically obscene as yu can get. Would they appear in a halftime show in English? Of course not. They didn’t fly among many Hispanics, either. Here’s a contrast between assessments of Bad Bunny’s sbow by the Washington Post versus UHN Plus, a very popular Spanish-language online newspaper originating in Miami.
REPORT: Washington Post calls BAD BUNNY’S performance “wholesome” and full of “traditional family values” PROVING once again it is less trustworthy than a transgender priest. pic.twitter.com/MDnHxiSDoz
I asked Luana, who speaks Spanish as well as her native Portuguese, to translate the UHN bit in the tweet on the right, and it says this: “Critique of the halftime show: images that generate embarrassment and reproach on the part of the public.”
There you go. In the photo, of course, Bad Bunny is feigning copulation with a woman. I can’t see this as exactly a “wholesome” depiction of Hispanic culture. (It isn’t of course: it’s seen through the misogynistic lens of Bad Bunny.)
Anyway, if you don’t mind sexually graphic lyrics, go below the fold and read what Bad Bunny, who was very bad, sang during the show. Here’s the penultimate paragraph from Volodzko:
You can decide whether you think the Super Bowl should be family-friendly or whether that ship has sailed. But I don’t think the English equivalent of this song would be allowed. So then what’s going on here? That’s the part that bothers me most about this latest flashpoint in our culture wars. I couldn’t care less whether Bad Bunny performed. I don’t watch the Super Bowl. But it’s the attempt to bullshit me, to gaslight me, to get away with something as if I wouldn’t notice, that rubs the wrong way. For example, to sing about girls sucking you off in front of millions of Americans and then pretend that people are objecting simply because they don’t like the sound of Spanish. Oh, because xenophobia is the problem, is it? Or as if Americans have a serious anti-Latino issue that needs addressing.
Rumors that BB was fined $10 million for crotch-grabbing and obscenity are false, though he was guilty of both!
Click “continue reading” to see the lyrics in English:
From what I recall, the Diamonds were a conventional vocal group who recorded “Little Darlin'” at the end of a session as a kind of joke song – a parody of the Ink Spots and Mills Brothers. Fortunately for them, the studio musicians joined in with perfectly irresistible beat and the song became a rock and roll hit. Early rock and roll was born as parody as much as anything else, like Elvis’s Jokey rendition of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” turning out to be the founding document of rockabilly.