<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 Once upon a time, the Super Bowl<\/a> halftime show belonged to marching bands and pageantry. But these days, it belongs to global pop stars, cinematic production and moments that ripple beyond the stadium.<\/p>\n Over the years, the league\u2019s brief intermission has transformed into one of entertainment\u2019s biggest stages, hosting era-defining performances from Prince in the rain to Rihanna\u2019s<\/a> record-setting return, Usher\u2019s<\/a> tightly choreographed showcase and Kendrick Lamar\u2019s<\/a> layered, visually driven storytelling. <\/p>\n What began as intermission filler has evolved into a global spectacle, rivaling the NFL’s championship game itself for attention from more than 100 million viewers worldwide.<\/p>\n That evolution continues this year as Bad Bunny<\/a> prepares to take the halftime stage,<\/a> placing Latin culture and Spanish-language music<\/a> at the center of America\u2019s most-watched television event. <\/p>\n \u201cThe halftime performance has come a long way,\u201d said Dan Marino,<\/a> the Hall of Fame quarterback who played 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins and competed in the 1985 Super Bowl. As an NFL analyst, Marino\u2019s had a front-row seat to several halftime shows.<\/p>\n \u201cNot a lot of people really watched it,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut now, people love to watch the halftime show.\u201d<\/p>\n That shift did not happen overnight. For decades, the halftime show reflected the NFL\u2019s family-friendly image, built around marching bands, drill teams and patriotic spectacle. As the Super Bowl grew into an unofficial national holiday \u2014 and a global broadcast event \u2014 the league began rethinking the power of those 12 to 15 minutes, gradually turning the break into a cultural platform capable of launching careers, shaping narratives and, at times, sparking national conversation.<\/p>\n Last year, Lamar used the halftime stage as a narrative space, weaving choreography, costuming and staging to explore themes of identity, power and perception. The performance stayed within league parameters while still drawing broad interpretation and debate over its imagery and tone.<\/p>\n Lamar’s show became the most-watched halftime performance on record, drawing roughly 133.5 million viewers, surpassing Usher\u2019s 2024 performance, which reached about 129.3 million. That number from Lamar’s set is about six million more than Fox’s broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the live element is pretty exciting for people because it\u2019s a massive production and there\u2019s so many moving pieces,\u201d said actor Scarlett Johansson<\/a>, who doesn\u2019t consider herself a football enthusiast. But she\u2019s intrigued by the unpredictability of the halftime show like Justin Timberlake<\/a> and Janet Jackson\u2019s<\/a> infamous \u201cwardrobe malfunction,\u201d Lady Gaga dropping from a stadium roof and Rihanna\u2019s pregnancy reveal<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou kind of watch with nervous excitement,\u201d Johansson said. \u201cYou know at any moment something could maybe go wrong. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so fun to watch it because you\u2019ve got all this anticipation. The production is so huge and so many people have come together to create this one moment. It\u2019s kind of awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Kris Jenner<\/a> agrees, calling the halftime show a \u201cgiant surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe production level and how quickly they put it together as they\u2019re breaking into commercial and come back with this fabulous, epic show,\u201d said Jenner, the matriarch of \u201cThe Kardashians\u201d reality television show. \u201cThrough all the years and technology, it gets better and better. It\u2019s so exciting to watch and see what they come up with next and who is going to perform. It\u2019s such a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Usher said his appearance<\/a> with the Black Eyed Peas during the 2011 Super Bowl taught him not to \u201ctake the moments for granted because you only get 13 of them.\u201d <\/p>\n His show in 2024 was vastly different from the NFL\u2019s first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967, which featured marching bands from the University of Arizona and Grambling State University, a historically Black college, along with hundreds of flying pigeons, thousands of balloons and two soaring men wearing jetpacks.<\/p>\n After the inaugural Super Bowl, the NFL kept bringing back other marching bands, drill teams, signed Chubby Checker and Up with People, an organization that stage positive thinking through dance and song performances. However, none of those acts were considered huge draws.<\/p>\n But as the Super Bowl\u2019s popularity soared and game day emerged as an unofficial holiday in the U.S., the NFL wanted the halftime show to grow in the same capacity. The league tapped New Kids on the Block and Gloria Estefan<\/a> the first two years of the \u201990s. Then it saw a huge breakthrough when Michael Jackson<\/a> headlined the 1993 show at the Rose Bowl in Southern California, where the King of Pop notoriously moonwalked across the stage and performed hits including \u201cBillie Jean,\u201d \u201cBlack or White\u201d and \u201cHeal the World.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson\u2019s stellar performance opened the door for other stars like the Rolling Stones<\/a>, Diana Ross, Jennifer Lopez<\/a> and Shakira<\/a> who are eager to perform.<\/p>\n The NFL handles production costs and expenses for performers \u2014 who don\u2019t get paid \u2014 but the exposure to hundreds of millions of people worldwide is considered priceless.<\/p>\n Some notable examples include U2\u2019s remembrance of the 9\/11 victims; Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s unapologetic Blackness and political activism<\/a> through her Black power anthem \u201cFormation\u201d; and the first show to feature hip-hop artists led by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n Snoop praised NFL commissioner Roger Goodell<\/a> and Jay-Z<\/a> for pushing the halftime show forward. The league worked with Roc Nation to help its Inspire Change initiative<\/a>, created by the NFL after an agreement with a coalition of players who demonstrated during the national anthem to protest social and racial injustice in this country.<\/p>\n \u201cShout out to Jay-Z for changing the climate. Roger Goodell for giving him an opportunity,\u201d Dogg said. \u201cThis is music. The music that dictates the world is what\u2019s performing at halftime now. They\u2019re starting to understand that it\u2019s about what those players want to hear, what those fans want to hear, and what\u2019s universally effective. <\/p>\n Snoop added: \u201cIt has no color on it now. Pop used to have a color on it. Now pop is popular. So, the most popular music is the music that we make. It makes sense to put those people on there that make that music.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n This story first moved in January 2024 and has been updated ahead of the 2026 Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.clickorlando.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOS ANGELES \u2013 Once upon a time, the Super Bowl halftime show belonged to marching bands and pageantry. But these days, it belongs to global pop stars, cinematic production and moments that ripple beyond the stadium. Over the years, the league\u2019s brief intermission has transformed into one of entertainment\u2019s biggest stages, hosting era-defining performances from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2263826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[30802,83367,340627,432514,309192,372908,21741,346225,344870,22265,37703,24160,304696,21846,24581,362205,305526,307517,22646,21848,30188,354481],"class_list":["post-2263825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-bad-bunny","tag-beyonce-knowles","tag-chubby-checker","tag-dan-marino","tag-diana-ross","tag-dr-dre","tag-entertainment","tag-gloria-estefan","tag-jay-z","tag-jennifer-lopez","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-kris-jenner","tag-michael-jackson","tag-prince","tag-rihanna","tag-roger-goodell","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-shakira","tag-snoop-dogg","tag-sports","tag-u-s-news","tag-usher"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/How-the-Super-Bowl-halftime-show-evolved-from-pageantry-to.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2263827,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263825\/revisions\/2263827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2263826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}