This weekend millions around the world will tune in to watch one of the biggest stars in pop grace the most glittering occasion in American sports. Oh, and Usher will be there, too.
Pop’s most loquacious Lothario is kicking off his long-awaited comeback by performing at the Super Bowl – taking over the coveted 12-minute halftime spot previously headlined by Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, and Coldplay. Meanwhile, Beyoncé is rumoured to be starring in a multi-million dollar ad – historically, the “commercials” tend to cause as much of a stir as the game itself.
But while they will both hope to make a big splash at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, they will also be aware that another singer has thoroughly stolen their thunder. That is – of course – Taylor Swift, whose boyfriend Travis Kelce is lining out on Sunday for the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers.
Kelce will definitely be in Las Vegas, the tight end player having played a pivotal role in the team’s march to the final. But whether Swift will be present is up in the air. Swift may well be up in the air, too – she is performing in Tokyo the day before the Super Bowl, and while there are rumours she will then jet to the final by private plane, nothing is confirmed. She is overshadowing an event that she may not even attend.
But if she does make it to Vegas in time, viewers will know all about it. Amid rumours that she and Kelce were an item, she went to her first Chiefs game on 24 September – where she was seated in a VIP box next to the player’s mother, Donna. The cameras cut repeatedly to the pair, and a clip of them enjoying the game clocked up 4.3 million viewers on Twitter.
Since then, the world’s obsession with the couple has intensified (hardcore Swifties will meanwhile be relieved she is no longer dating the atrocious Matty Healy). Swift seems into it too. She even changed the lyrics to some of her songs to reflect her new, coupled-up status. Performing in Buenos Aires, she sang: “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me” – plunging social media into yet another meltdown about their romance.
Beyoncé could have a similar impact should rumours of her Super Bowl commercial proves true. The speculation was sparked by a teaser ad from US mobile network Verizon (sponsor of Bey’s Renaissance tour). In an 11-second clip actor/comedian Tony Hale stands behind an outdoor lemon stand. “She wants me to squeeze all these lemons by myself?” he says while pressing lemon juice. “This better work.”
Is this a reference to Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed 2016 Lemonade album – which features a recording of her grandmother, Hattie White, saying “I was served lemons but I made lemonade”? Yes, says the Bey-hive.
The trailer ends with a brief musical clip – so brief nobody can quite agree on the identity of the song. However, some Beyoncé fans believe it is an extract from her 2023 single, “My House”. Put two and two and you get Bey doing a Super Bowl ad.
Regardless of whether Beyoncé features, there can be little doubt but that the night will ultimately belong to Swift. She has become the biggest marketing boost in the history of the NFL, raising awareness of the sport among young women in particular.
A survey ahead of the 2024 Super Bowl found that interest in the game in the US is up 169 per cent on last year, according to analyst Zeta Global. Viewership for NFL games has spiked by seven per cent in the present season and is up by 8.1 per cent among 12-to-17-year-old girls, according to Nielsen. The expectation is that for the first time in history, the Super Bowl TV audience will be 50 per cent female – almost certainly down to the Swift effect. In the UK, Now TV says that 24 per cent of British people will tune in on Sunday night ahead of the 11.30pm kick-off.
“[Swift] is aspirational for most girls,” said Zeta Global chief executive David Steinberg. “They’re major fans of hers. And that’s translating to a massive halo effect.”
The final is also on course to be the most-watched in Super Bowl history – and it is fair to say a huge chunk of those tuning in will do so in the hope of catching a glimpse of Swift. The enthusiasm with which US networks have cut to Swift has become a running joke in the US – and served as a not-very-funny punchline during comedian Jo Koy’s crash-and-burn performance at the recent Golden Globes.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift… there’s just more to go to here.” This was followed by an immediate cut to Swift – who coldly drained her champagne glass. As she did so, you could feel Koy’s soul shrivel. It was the humour failure seen around the world.
Assuming she makes it back from Japan, expect Swift to be in a better mood at the Super Bowl. But there is almost zero chance of her joining Usher for his halftime gig (there is lots of wild speculation as to potential guest stars for the set). Swift is a control freak about her music and isn’t going to go straight from a long-haul dash across the Pacific to jumping on stage with a singer whose most famous lyrics include “Honey got a booty like pow, pow, pow”.
Usher will do his best to ignore the Swift effect. CBS, which is broadcasting the Super Bowl in the US, may have mixed emotions too. It sold off those coveted Super Bowl ad slots in November, long before the Chiefs had made the final.
Had it held on, the Swift factor could have allowed the network to charge even more than the $7m per 30 seconds it is extracting from brands such as Budweiser, M&Ms, and Dove, which is hoping to capitalise on the new female audience Swift is bringing in. Just like Usher, CBS will have to make the best of it – knowing that, whatever happens, and regardless of whether she’s there or not, the Super Bowl is already the Taylor Swift show.