With so many stars sharing the stage, it’s going to be hard to please everyone.
With some Super Bowl halftime performances, the issue is a lack of appeal. Here’s looking at you, Maroon 5. With others, it’s a generational gap. What’s up, The Who? Other times, though, the team behind the scenes nail the selection. I hope Katy Perry and that shark are doing well. With the coming show set for Super Bowl LVI, the main problem that seems to be percolating is how, exactly, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar will all have enough time to go through a hit or two. The performances generally run about 12-15 minutes, so that gives each artist two and a half to three minutes to run through hits, collaborations, and unexpected surprises. It’s going to take creativity to build a balanced, nuanced set, but here’s how they might do it. In 2021, The Weeknd managed to squeeze in nine songs during his allotted time, and relied on cinematic tricks and off-stage pre-recorded shoots to turn his performance into a cinematic statement on the After Hours era. He was the first artist since Lady Gaga in 2017 to perform without any guests or surprise acts, which was mildly surprising considering his star power when compared to some of his predecessors. For 2022, it’s not likely any guests will be used for songs by the featured artists, as there’s simply not enough time to give anyone else the mic, unless that person is a hologram of 2Pac ( though a 50 Cent rumor is bubbling). Speaking of, the best way for the set to end would be for Snoop, Dre, Kendrick, and 3-D Shakur to drop “California Love,” perhaps the greatest ode to the state ever recorded to tape, and one that would honor football returning to football, both with the Super Bowl and the home team Rams making the big game. The most intriguing question outside of how they’re going to pull this thing off is what song the quintet will begin with. The show is Dr. Dre’s. All artists are affiliated with him, he’s the godfather of the group and the artist who made the initial announcement. But, is there a better Super Bowl pump-up song than Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”? It seems like the perfect way to fire up a crowd, though it does leave Em alone to begin the performance.
