How Super Bowl halftime show headliners are chosen and why they work for free
The highly anticipated annual Super Bowl. It’s the most popular American sporting event of the year, with tens (and sometimes hundreds) of millions of viewers tuning in to see which team comes out on top. Last night’s showdown between the Rams and Bengals was previously estimated to be the most watched Super Bowl ever, CNBC reports. For the winning team’s players, it means a magnification of glory as they’re crowned Super Bowl champs. For halftime performers, it’s a chance to perform in front of an audience that spans across the entire nation.
Despite the success of each performer’s respective careers, many are surprised to discover that the Pepsi-sponsored headliners and guest acts for each Super Bowl halftime show are not paid for their performances. Yes, that includes last night’s crew: Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent.
The selection process begins with a panel which includes officials such as the NFL’s director of entertainment, folks from the NFL’s production company, and the halftime show’s director and producer. After a long and detailed process, the shortlist is handed over to the Super Bowl’s hosting city for a final decision.
‘Celebration of the impact hip hop has today’
Halftime show performers are selected on account of several elements. Genre relevance and popularity are the two most important factors to consider when a shortlist for performers is being made, but choosing headliners is about more than just numbers — it’s about making a statement.
“Artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were at the forefront of the West Coast hip-hop revolution, ‘so to be able to bring them back to L.A., where it all began alongside Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar will prove to be an epic, unforgettable celebration of the impact hip hop has today…” Todd Kaplan, VP of Marketing for Pepsi, said in a statement.
Regardless of whether or not a statement is made, celebrities who headline the halftime show find revenue elsewhere as a direct result of their performance. In 2020, J-Lo and Shakira both saw a major spike in music streams after performing at Super Bowl LIV, with Shakira scoring a 203 percent increase in streaming and J-Lo, a 335 percent increase, according to Spotify. Last year, The Weeknd also saw a streaming spike after headlining the Super Bowl LV halftime show, with his song, “House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls,” experiencing the highest spike of all songs featured in his act. The kicker: the song wasn’t even performed during the show, but instead was only played during it.
Paid in ‘experience’
While exposure from the show’s offer of 15 minutes of (more) fame may lead to a fattening of wallets for headliners, the NFL and the Pepsi-sponsored halftime event have recently come under fire for how minimally halftime dancers are paid during preparation and execution of the show, some of them working for upwards of 72 hours without compensation.
When asked about the nearly 400 predominantly Black, “volunteer” dancers, Super Bowl halftime show choreographer, Fatima Robinson told the L.A. Times that dancing in the halftime show as a volunteer is an opportunity to gain experience in the entertainment industry.
“If a dancer is sitting around waiting for a job to happen, but you can be on the field for the Super Bowl, why would you not want to do this?” Robinson said. “The same way people volunteer for Coachella and the Olympics, to have the experience, to be in the place, to be in the event. Super Bowl has been doing it every year; this year has been no different.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 2:11 PM.
