Bruno Mars rumored to headline SuperBowl 50
By Colin Guiliani, Staff Writer//
The best part of Super Bowl 48? The halftime show. Bruno Mars had the responsibility of headlining, and in his 12 minute set, he put on a performance rivaling some of the great halftime shows of the past. With one performance, Bruno Mars went from just another face in the pop music world to, quite possibly, the biggest male artist in the world. According to Forbes Magazine, the average ticket price for the Moonshine Jungle Tour (the tour that Bruno Mars was on at the time) was $150. On Feb. 3, 2014, the day after the Super Bowl, the average ticket price shot up to $500.
Almost every review praised Bruno Mars for his performance, which bucked the trend of most of the halftime shows in the past. From the song choices to the minute-long opening on the drums transitioning into “Locked Out of Heaven” to the James Brown-esque dance moves during “Runaway Baby” to the military-inspired ending of “Just The Way You Are”, everything about that halftime show worked. Nineteen months later, the NFL wants him back. No official announcement has been made by either the NFL, Bruno Mars, or any representatives about this coming into fruition. According to Entertainment Weekly, the NFL asked Bruno Mars to headline and curate the Super Bowl 50 halftime show on Feb. 7, 2016, at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, California. This news was then reported by other major news outlets such as Billboard Magazine and The Huffington Post, among others.
People have performed at the show twice (Justin Timberlake performed as a member of *NSYNC and later performed as a solo artist), but nobody has ever headlined it twice. This would be an unprecedented move by the NFL, especially because this would be the second show in three years at which Bruno Mars would be performing. If it does happen, what would it look like? Why does the league want him back? How would the halftime show play out?
Why would the league want him back, especially so soon? Firstly, it has to do a lot with his performance at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show. The coordinator of the halftime show called booking Bruno Mars “the biggest achievement of her life,” as she is apparently a huge Bruno Mars fan. The performance got near-acclaim across the board; the only complaint about the show from media outlets had nothing to do with Bruno Mars, but rather, with the odd and out-of-nowhere appearance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As someone who has been to two Bruno Mars concerts, he’s as good as they get right now. His performances are 90 minutes of non-stop energy. He’s got great dance moves, he can sing and hit notes that not many male singers in the pop world can hit, and his backing band (The Hooligans) brings that same level of energy.
The old saying is “strike while the iron is hot.” Right now, it’s hard to find too many artists bigger than Bruno Mars. Ed Sheeran is a good vocalist, but I’m not entirely sure that one man can command an audience of 110 million people with no backing band or flashy production whatsoever. The Weeknd could be a possibility a few years down the road, but the group doesn’t have enough songs right now. I doubt that Drake, Eminem or Kanye West or any rappers would ever get the halftime show as their headlining act (simply because it would alienate too many people, and the amount of censorship would have to be through the roof). Of course, the biggest name in the pop world right now is Taylor Swift, but that’s not happening until the Super Bowl’s contract runs out with Pepsi (once that happens, Taylor is a lock to get the halftime show). Because of that restriction and the lack of a field out there right now,, and even though it seems weird that Bruno Mars would do the show twice in three years and like this is way too early, it makes sense why the rumor has some merit to it.
However, the key word is that he’s being asked to perform and curate the halftime show, meaning that while Bruno Mars would headline the show, it would likely be a collaboration with a bunch of different artists where Bruno Mars is only performing his material for half of the show. Who he would collaborate with is a bit of a mystery.
On the surface, the decision to allow Bruno Mars to possibly perform and headline his second halftime show in three years seems confusing. However, when it’s broken down, the move it makes sense. When you take Taylor Swift out of the equation, the field of available pop artists (not counting throwback artists) is very limited. The first performance was so critically acclaimed that it makes sense to bring him back a second time. The halftime show might have a familiar artist this year, but the show itself will be anything but familiar if he does it again. Life on Mars for another halftime show is something that I can definitely get behind.