'El Apagón' Meaning, Lyrics & English Translation: Bad Bunny's Song About Puerto Rico Power Outages Has Super Bowl Moment
Bad Bunny‘s “El Apagón” is one of the big standouts from his 2026 Super Bowl halftime show performance.
The bomba-influenced song has a message of love for Puerto Rico and preservation of its culture, a recurring theme in his music.
“El Apagón” translates as “the blackout” or “the power outage,” symbolizing the frequent power cuts in Puerto Rico and calling out government inaction. It was also visually represented in the Super Bowl halftime show as he climbed the electrical poles.
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It’s featured on his 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti.
It also came with a 22 minute music video, featuring reporting by independent journalist Bianca Graulau criticizing private power company LUMA Energy, Act 22 of 2012 (the Act to Promote the Relocation of Investors to Puerto Rico), as well as land and beach privatization.
Bad Bunny explained in an interview that he could have had other collaborators but chose his partner at the time, Gabriela Berlingeri, to sing the final chorus.
“I didn’t want to look for a famous artist. I wanted someone who would sing it out of love, because it’s a heartfelt message,” he told the NYT.
Watch the video for “El apagón”….
Read the English translation of “El apagón”…
Read the lyrics to “El apagón”…