Being Heard Isn’t the Same as Being Understood

Suzi’s Secrets #35: Super Bowl halftime performance communication

Visibility does not guarantee understanding.

I’ve been thinking about last week’s Super Bowl halftime. The performance stayed with me, not because I disliked it, but because I found myself dwelling on it long after it ended. I loved the message, once I learned what was being conveyed. The unity. The themes. The cultural pride. The political undertones. The commentary. The references woven into the staging.

But I had to look it up. And that’s what unsettled me.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau, about 78% of Americans speak only English at home, while roughly 13% speak Spanish at home. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the country — but it is not fluently understood by the majority of a Super Bowl audience.

Which raises a complicated question.

If you are speaking to one of the largest television audiences in the country, and most of that audience does not understand your language, what does that mean for the message?

I am not questioning the right to speak in one’s own language. Nor am I dismissing the importance of cultural expression. There is power in refusing translation. There is power in centering community.

But there is also power in being understood.

Without understanding the lyrics, much of what I saw relied entirely on imagery. Some moments were clear; the child detained by ICE, the wedding, flashes of symbolism. Other elements felt murkier. To someone outside the language and the layered context, the visual narrative became fragmented. And in the absence of clarity, interpretation fills the gap.

That’s the risk.

Because when symbolism isn’t accessible, audiences default to what they can see. And what many viewers likely saw were women often scantily clad, dancing in ways that, without context, can easily be reduced to spectacle rather than statement.

I consider myself thoughtful. Curious. Willing to research. And still, my first experience of the

performance was confusion, not clarity.

That doesn’t make the art invalid. But it does raise the question of effectiveness.

There is a difference between being heard and being understood. Between making a statement and making a connection. Between visibility and impact.

In a cultural moment where so many people feel unheard, where political tensions are high and communities are divided, clarity matters. Not because art must be simplified, but because intention deserves to land.

The performance may have deeply resonated with millions. It may have powerfully centered the communities it was meant to center. Both can be true. But for the majority audience watching that night, understanding required homework. And that tension between cultural expression and broad communication, is worth examining.

Because if the goal is impact, then connection matters. And connection requires more than being seen.

It requires being understood.