Legendary music acts Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent had the world tune in to their awe-striking performances at the Sofi Stadium in California, making for the most talked about event of the weekend.
This was the first Superbowl in to years, the last being Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 raved-about performance. The 90s and 00s celebrated stars put on quite the show performing their biggest records.
The Superbowl is the world’s most viewed concert, so headliners have quite the work to put in keeping everyone entertained. Performance chops, stage gusto and an extensive catalog are just some of the prerequisites of being eligible to headline a halftime show. Over the years, a slew of mega musicians have slayed the Superbowl stage.
Beyonce (2013)
Slightly more than a year after giving birth to Blue Ivy, Queen Bey was enlisted to headline the 2013 halftime. At the time, the Love On Top singer was grappling with controversies and backlash around her pregnancy and career. Among them were also claims of lip-syncing the national anthem at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, and the considerably low sales of her 4 album – it is to date her lowest selling album by Beyonce’s standards. When it was time for Bey to take the stage in New Orleans, Louisiana, she put all the negativity at bay with an earth-shattering performance backed with electric choreography and a reunion with her superstar Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Suffice to say, not a critic said a word about Queen Bey after this.
Lady Gaga (2017)
Mother Monster landed a headlining gig at the 2017 Superbowl in Houston, Texas. Kickstarting her performance with a rendition of America The Beautiful on top of the stadium, Gaga would pull a Pink by jumping from the roof into the stadium while suspended on a rope harness. In typical Gaga fashion, she performed a medley of her biggest hits like Poker Face, Born This Way and Bad Romance to a loud stadium audience.
Katy Perry (2015)
Already at the peak of her career at this point in time, Katy Perry took the stage at the University of Phoenix stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. Perry is synonymous with over-the-top visuals and she took it to the stratosphere during her performance. She entered the stage on top of a giant tiger caricature singing Roar, which was followed by cameos from guests like Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz, the latter with whom she performed a rendition of her I Kissed A Girl hit. After cruising through smash hits like Teenage Dream and Dark Horse, she went flying across the stage on a harness while closing out the show with her performance of Firework.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira (2020)
Unbeknownst to anyone, this would be the last Superbowl before the global pandemic touched down. As if they knew that to be a fact, J.Lo and Shakira took their superstar magic to America’s Latino central, each with an unforgettable 7-minute performance, belting out their hits. They did not stop at that either; towards the end of their performances, J.Lo’s daughter Emme and a bunch of other kids joined her superstar mom and Shakira to perform Let’s Get Loud and Born In The USA.
Madonna (2012)
She was the first female headliner since Diana Ross in 1996. In 2012, a then 53-year-old Madonna agreed to headline the year’s Superbowl, after turning it down requests to perform in 1999 and 2001. It was well worth the wait. She took the crowd on a tripdown memory lane with performances of hits like Like a Prayer, Vogue and Express Yourself. Nicki Minaj was the night’s biggest cameo appearance too.
