The National Football League (NFL) announced late on November 23 — after rumours swirled for weeks — that pop star Katy Perry will headline the Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show on February 1.
Perry, 30, has dominated the Billboard charts since releasing her debut in 2008, including nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her sophomore effort, 2010’s multiplatinum Teenage Dream, matched the record Michael Jackson set with Bad for most songs from a single album to hit No. 1 with five.
Perry released Prism, another platinum effort, last year. It includes the No. 1 smashes Roar and Dark Horse.
The Super Bowl, which will air on NBC, decides the National Football League’s champions, a media extravaganza that is America’s most-watched TV event.
The Grammy-nominated star’s upcoming performance at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona is the fourth consecutive halftime show to display the NFL’s push to include younger acts on its large stage: Bruno Mars had a show-stopping set at this year’s Super Bowl at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey; Beyonce electrified in 2013 in New Orleans; and there was Madonna, with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., and the Black Eyed Peas in 2012 and 2011, respectively.
Other halftime performers in the last decade have included the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and The Who.
The girl-power singer will also be performing at the culmination of a season where critics have assailed the NFL for its response to domestic violence cases involving women; its initial handling of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice’s assault on his then-fiance with just a two-game suspension caused a national outrage, and led the league to toughen its penalties for such crimes. It later suspended Rice indefinitely.
Perry is on her Prismatic World Tour. Her other hits include I Kissed a Girl, California Gurls, Firework and Wide Awake.
