On Sunday, Eminem and Mary J. Blige will take the stage at SoFi Stadium with Southern California's own Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar. Even for those who aren't diehard football fans, the Super Bowl halftime show has become an American favorite, sometimes drawing in more viewers than the game itself.
In 2020, 103 million viewers tuned in to see Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's performance, while 102 million stuck around for the game.
In an interview for "LA Times Today," pop music critic Mikael Wood joined host Lisa McRee to talk about the evolution of the halftime show.
The halftime show dates back to the first Super Bowl in 1967. It looked very different from the show we know today.
"We tend to think now of this halftime show as a platform for the world's biggest pop stars, but back then, and for a long time, the halftime show was a showcase for university marching bands. [In 1967] the University of Arizona marching band did their thing. They played little bits of "The Sound of Music," and the idea was a kind of visit to the four musical corners of the United States. It's a big contrast from these days," Wood said.
There was a turning point, though, in 1993 at the Rose Bowl with the iconic Michael Jackson performance. Wood explained how that performance came to be and how it played out.
"In 1992, 'In Living Color,' the sketch comedy show famously did a halftime presentation that lured viewers by the millions away from the game that year. So, the next year the NFL was like, 'We got to come up with something to get people to stay with us.' Michael Jackson was obviously greatest pop stars to ever do it. He pops out onto stage and then he just stands there for 60 seconds, 70 seconds, kind of soaking in the adulation. You kind of feel it's like a real pop idolatry moment, definitely a different kind of a show. [It was] kind of an iconic MJ performance in his career," Wood said.
After 9/11, the tone of a lot of sports performances changed. The 2002 Super Bowl was no different. U2 performed the halftime show that year.
"Here's a band with a long history of rousing rock anthems. The moment people will probably remember is at the end of the band's performance. U2 was doing "Where the Streets Have No Name." And U2 is from Ireland, but Bono opens his jacket and he's got an American flag stitched inside of his jacket, which was obviously a big symbol," Wood explained.
In 2004, while Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were performing, Jackson experienced a major wardrobe malfunction. That moment cost Jackson dearly in reputation and career opportunities.
"Was it a planned event? Was it a wardrobe malfunction, as the phrase became ingrained into our memory? Who knows? The fact of the matter is after that happened, Janet Jackson kind of became persona non grata in the industry. She said she was disinvited to the Grammys, which happened shortly after the Super Bowl that year. She definitely bore the brunt of the kind of moral panic that ensued, whereas Justin Timberlake went on to greater success and indeed was invited back to play the Super Bowl not too long ago," Wood said.
Extravagance has mixed with political messages on the halftime stage in more recent Super Bowl performances.
"A Super Bowl Halftime Show is one of the remaining big tent moments where you're going to have an audience and tens of millions, maybe a hundred million people. So, when pop stars want to come say something, that's the place to do it. Beyonce came out and was wearing Black Panther garb, which inspired a lot of talk. In 2020, JLo and Shakira performed. JLo sang Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA,' and she revealed a Puerto Rican flag. It's a statement moment and it's a chance to say something to your audience," he explained.
Wood also shared insight into how this year's halftime show could play out with so many stars on one stage.
"It's going to be interesting to see how they fit in all these hits between these five acts. You've got literally dozens of era-defining hits. I was talking to some people that are responsible for the show and they said you could play a couple of seconds of each song and not get them all in. So, it's going to be interesting to see how they do that," Wood said.
Super Bowl LVI kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
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