Usher, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, Publish Malone, Andra Day, Reba McEntire, Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Lil Jon, Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri, and will.i.am all carried out or had been on the similar celebration on a Sunday night time in Las Vegas. Tremendous Bowl LVIII was half soccer sport, half music competition. And over the previous couple of years, artists have discovered a approach to win simply as a lot because the groups that hoist the Lombardi Trophy do.
From Michael Jackson and Prince’s iconic halftime reveals to Whitney Houston’s legendary rendition of the nationwide anthem, the Tremendous Bowl has been one of many largest levels in music for many years. And that’s with out stepping into the 20th anniversary of nipplegate — which made Youtube a household name.
However earlier than we will discuss concerning the present panorama and its distinctive connection between music and the planet’s most well-known soccer sport, we have to return just a few years to look at the precise second when issues modified.
Enter Colin Kaepernick.
That’s proper, a 49ers quarterback, who was an precise game-changer, performs an enormous function on this. When No. 7 led San Francisco to the Tremendous Bowl in 2013 in New Orleans, Beyonce carried out through the halftime present — inflicting the lights to exit. Within the following years, we noticed acts like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Coldplay (with Bruno Mars and Beyonce), Girl Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, once more, take the stage. However then, one thing occurred in 2018, because the NFL couldn’t get anyone on the telephone as they ready for Tremendous Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
Why?
The dialog across the blackballing of Kaepernick and Eric Reid was at its peak, as the 2 filed a collusion case towards the league in 2018 — which was later settled. Artists took notice and stood in solidarity.
“I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people,” Rihanna told Vogue in 2019. “I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
In a scramble, the league was capable of finding a prepared participant in Maroon 5 — with particular company Massive Boi and Travis Scott. Nevertheless, the injury was already performed. The NFL was having a Tremendous Bowl in a Black metropolis that was the epicenter of the Black music that the world cherished and couldn’t get a Black artist to headline the halftime present due to what they’d performed to a Black participant (Kaepernick).
It bought so dangerous that the league canceled Maroon 5’s press conference because of the questions that had been going to be requested.
“As it is about music, the artists will let their show do the talking as they prepare to take the stage this Sunday,” the NFL said in a statement. “Starting with the Pepsi Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show announcement, we began a cross-platform rollout of behind-the-scenes footage and content from each of the halftime performers. Instead of hosting a press conference, this social and digital media rollout will continue through Sunday across our owned and operated media assets as well as through the platforms of the artists.”
So, what modified?
Enter Jay-Z.
In 2019, Beyonce’s husband infamously said: “I think we have moved past kneeling. I think it is time to go into an actionable item … I’m not minimizing [Kaepernick’s] part of it. That has to happen. That is a necessary part of the process. But now that we all know what’s going on, what are we going to do? How are we going to stop it?”
Two issues occurred that day. Jay-Z sat in a room subsequent to Roger Goodell taking footage like they had been finest buddies in an act that undercut the whole lot that Kaepernick was preventing towards. Secondly, it was assured that the Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present would by no means suck once more attributable to a deal that gave Jay-Z and Roc Nation management over deciding on the musical acts.
One step ahead, one step again — on the similar time.
Since then, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Dangerous Bunny, J Balvin, The Weeknd, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Rihanna have all carried out because the Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present caters to youthful and extra numerous audiences, relatively than being one thing that Center and Company America approve of.
In accordance with Joe Pompliano and his “Huddle Up” Substack, Justin Timberlake noticed a 534 p.c enhance in gross sales after performing, Travis Scott’s efficiency payment doubled, Lopez and Shakira gained greater than three million Instagram followers, and Rihanna turned the most-streamed artist on Earth for a time as searches for her Fenty Magnificence merchandise went up 833 p.c.
On Monday night time, we came upon that Super Bowl LVIII set a record with 123.4 million viewers, making it America’s most-watched telecast for the reason that Apollo 11 moon touchdown in 1969. And in accordance with FrontOfficeSports, Usher’s efficiency earned him an estimation of greater than $52 million.
Usher received the Tremendous Bowl as a lot as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce did. He launched a brand new album days earlier than his efficiency, as ticket gross sales for this upcoming tour are ongoing and solely growing in worth. On high of that, Beyonce was featured in a Tremendous Bowl advert that hinted at new music, as two new songs had been launched through the sport, together with the announcement of a brand new album being on the way in which. None of this stuff occurred on the Grammys, as that was final week’s information. That is all because of the Tremendous Bowl, which, to some, is now a live performance that includes a soccer sport.
