It seems like when it comes to the halftime show, everyone has an opinion. And a bad one at that. It’s as if people forget that the halftime show is viewed by two-thirds of the country and not just meant to appease their current hip taste at the moment.
Following their performance this past Sunday, Maroon 5 has been catching a ton of heat. But honestly, I can’t understand why. They were fine. Just fine. It wasn’t the greatest thing i’ve ever seen. But it was fine.
Anybody that is making fun of how generic and lame Maroon 5 is does not understand how few acts can fulfill the Super Bowl performance requirements: being widely known, having a large catalogue of recognizable songs, and appealing to all demos. Again, this needs to appeal to the MAJORITY of the country, not just the 10 dudes who frequent that chic Brooklyn bar with you.
And guess what? They tried to add in Travis Scott, a cool young artist that is currently extremely popping, and it sucked shit. He’s got one song that’s recognizable to the masses. He can’t pull off a stadium-worthy performance. The cool factor wasn’t enough to carry him and it just didn’t appeal to the majority of people. Maroon 5 may be white toast but if Travis Scott headlined the event then it would have been unwatchable.
So let me ask again, if not Maroon 5 or someone like Imagine Dragons, who also isn’t cool but fulfills all of the above requirements, then who genius? In recent years, there have been a few recent successful acts such as Bruno Mars and Beyonce. These performances were met with huge praise. But then the Super Bowl brought them back a few times in consecutive years and people lost their shit.
So let me get this straight. There are a limited number of acts that can do this job. But some are considered too uncool and the rest cannot be repeated for a full decade. So who then? Tell me who should be performing next year??
Every year when the performer is announced everyone shakes their head at the lack of creativity. It’s time we just accept that the Super Bowl halftime show is for families. It’s not cool. It’s just a break in the action. So would you just shut up for two seconds while Bruno plays “Uptown Funk” again?
