It was only a couple of months ago that the NFL was hoping to force a big name to pay to play the Super Bowl Halftime show. Luckily, it seems the league has managed to sign on a famous name without following through on those absurd monetary expectations. On Friday, news broke that Katy Perry will be playing the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIX.
Neither the NFL nor Katy Perry have spoken out to confirm the news; however, multiple outlets are reporting she will be the next star to take the big stage in 2015. The news follows Perry’s stint on ESPN’s College Game Day last weekend, where she wore a fuzzy pink jersey and spoke out about the players she thought were positively attractive. It was pretty weird. However, Deadline is noting that Perry made it a point to state she would never agree to pay the NFL for the honor of headlining the half time show, literally stating, “I’m not the kind of girl who would pay to play the Super Bowl.” Apparently, it was a bid that paid off for the “Fireworks” singer.
When the NFL initially began courting celebrities for Super Bowl XLIX, three names were at the forefront. Perry, Rihanna and Coldplay were all approached about the “pay to play” plan, and all three reportedly were not enthused about the NFL’s bid to take in more money. In the weeks following, a song by Rihanna was then pulled from CBS’ Thursday Night Football lineup, following the controversy related to Ray Rice's earlier aggravated assault charges. Rihanna was clearly unenthused by the turn of events, calling out CBS for connecting her own former problems with Chris Brown to the Ray Rice scandal. She then got the rights to her song revoked.
The whole thing was a mess, and I’m not in the least bit surprised Rihanna will not be performing during the February 2015 halftime show. I’m not sure what happened with Coldplay, but I will say that Perry is certainly the most youthful and middle of the road choice among the three original hopefuls. She has a nice voice and wacky, fun stage outfits, but she doesn’t go out of her way to be aggressively sexual like Rihanna and she isn’t nearly as old as the guys in Coldplay. I can’t tell you whether or not she will be one of the most memorable halftime shows the Super Bowl has ever put on, but she also shouldn't be a disaster.
NBC will be airing next year’s big game. Super Bowl XLIX will be played in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, February 1, 2015.
