Highlights
- Taylor Swift won’t be performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show in 2024, as she is focusing on her current tour and recording music.
- Other big-name artists have also turned down the Super Bowl Halftime show in past years.
- Despite not being paid directly, performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show can boost an artist’s streaming numbers and help them land endorsements, resulting in a decent payday.
Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl Halftime show won’t be happening in 2024, even though the NFL has tried to get the “Cruel Summer” singer to perform multiple times. Taylor Swift isn’t the only musician who has turned down the Super Bowl Halftime Show, though, with other big-name artists also saying no to the gig in previous years.
Taylor Swift was hotly anticipated to perform at the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show, but she is in “no rush,” to appear at the huge sporting event. Despite dating The Kansas City Chief’s tight end, Travis Kelce, Swift doesn’t feel like now is time to make her halftime show debut.
According to a source who spoke to the Daily Mail, “Taylor is busy with her current tour, she has zero time to prepare a Super Bowl show, she will do it eventually, but she is in no rush at all to do it in Vegas or do it in the next couple of years.”
The source continued to explain that Taylor, “knows she is at her peak in her career and each move from this point on is as important as the next. Working on her current tour and recording her old music and working on new music and living life are taking up the majority of her time.”
Just like Taylor Swift, some of the world’s biggest performers have declined to appear at the Super Bowl halftime show despite the huge boost to sales many Super Bowl performers gain.
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Why Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl Show Isn’t Happening For 2024
Taylor Swift reportedly turned down two opportunities to play the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023 and 2024.
A source close to the NFL admits that Swift has “been asked a handful of times,” and she’s “leaning towards doing it in a few years, especially if the Super Bowl is in Nashville.”
“The Super Bowl will be a nice thing to do someday, but it is not a defining moment for her right now,” the source added. “She knows she has all the time in the world.”
Swift remembers that Madonna was 53 when she appeared at the halftime show and frequently reminds her team that she still has time to appear at the event.
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Although the performance by Adam Levine and Maroon 5 was heavily criticized, the group was still able to turn a profit after their Super Bowl show.
The source added, “Taylor is well aware of how she wants her career to develop and will do things her way and her way only and will not rush into something she doesn’t want to do just to do it and that includes the Super Bowl.”
Although she won’t be appearing on stage, Taylor Swift is expected to appear in the crowd supporting her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. The Japanese embassy in the United States even published a statement confirming that Swift would be able to perform at the Tokyo Dome and still make it to Vegas to see Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play against the San Francisco 49ers.
Other Artists Have Turned Down A Super Bowl Halftime Show
Rihanna Rejected The Super Bowl Halftime Show In 2019
In an October 2019 cover story, Rihanna told Vogue that she rejected the halftime show due to her support for Colin Kaepernick. The NFL player and activist peacefully protested police brutality in 2016 by taking a knee during the national anthem.
“I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler,” the “Work” singer told Vogue. “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 September 2022, she confirmed she would be headlining the 2023 halftime show, changing her stance on the event. “There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes,” the singer told British Vogue. “But it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level.”
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Cardi B’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Never Happened
Cardi B shared Rihanna’s political stance and felt like she owed it to Kaepernick to turn down the halftime show. “I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there’s a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him,” the rapper explained.
Jay-Z Said No To NFL Taking Control Of His Performance
In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Jay-Z revealed that he turned down the chance to appear at the Super Bowl halftime show because the NFL wanted control over who he could bring out for the performance.
He was asked to perform “Run This Town” with Kanye West and Rihanna. “I said, ‘No, you get me.’ That is not how you go about it, telling someone that they’re going to do the halftime show contingent on who they bring,” he explained. “I said forget it. It was a principle thing.”
Outkast’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Almost Happeneed In 2004,
Outkast also turned down an invitation to perform at the event, missing out on the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show because they didn’t want to be controlled. Big Boi revealed in 2015 that he and Andre 3000 failed to agree on the setlist.
Pink Turned Down 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show Too
Pink sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 2018 and was reportedly offered the halftime show for 2019. However, in an interview with Billboard, the “So What” singer explained that she turned down the offer to play the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2019, in support of Colin Kaepernick. “I’d probably take a knee and get carried out,” Pink said.
Adele Rejected A Super Bowl Halftime Show Because She Didn’t Think She Was The Best Fit
Adele told a crowd at her 2016 LA concert that she turned down performing at the 2017 Super Bowl because “the show is not about music.” The English singer explained, “I can’t dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no.” A spokesman for the NFL released a statement saying they never “extended a formal offer to Adele or anyone else.”
How Much Musicians Get Paid For Super Bowl Performance
Performers do not earn money for their appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show. While the NFL does not pay a salary, it does cover expenses, including travel.
A representative for the NFL confirmed to The Independent that the football league “covers all costs associated with the show and does pay the halftime performers’ union scale.” According to a report by Forbes, the union scale is “a fraction of the six- and seven-figure sums” the artists would normally earn for a performance.
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Jennifer Lopez was stunned when the halftime show director banned a moment that was meant to empower females.
Production for the Super Bowl halftime show can cost up to $13 million, with artists bringing in props, stages, and pyrotechnics. In 2021, The Weeknd reportedly spent $7m of his own money to put on his halftime show. An NFL spokesman in 2023 explained that Apple Music, who sponsors the halftime show, was expected to pay for some of Rihanna’s halftime show.
Despite not being paid directly, Super Bowl halftime show performers usually earn a huge payday for their appearance. Even a lackluster and heavily criticized halftime performance can boost the streaming of the artist’s songs, earning them a decent payday and helping them land endorsements.
