Jay-Z to Headline the Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show at SoFi
Seven Lights
The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced on Monday night that Jay-Z will headline the halftime show at Super Bowl LXI on February 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The rapper has spent years producing the halftime spectacle through his company; now, at 56, he will perform in it himself.
“From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”
Roc Nation has partnered with the NFL since 2019 to advise on and help produce the league’s entertainment presentations, including the halftime show, which began under the arrangement with Shakira and Jennifer Lopez at Super Bowl LIV in 2020. At the time, Jay-Z said he had told Commissioner Roger Goodell: “If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now.”
Goodell said on Monday that the league had wanted Jay-Z to perform for years. “When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request: that Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited for fans around the world to experience the artistry, creativity and cultural impact he will bring to the Super Bowl stage.”
The announcement came a week after reports first emerged that Jay-Z was the choice, amid speculation that a selection was unlikely given his lack of recent hits. His last solo album, 4:44, was released in 2017, and his most recent album was a 2018 collaboration with his wife Beyoncé as the Carters. Born Shawn Carter, he has won 25 Grammy Awards from 89 nominations, the second-most nominations in the ceremony’s history behind Beyoncé. His catalogue includes Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and The Black Album.
The venue is familiar ground: Jay-Z closed his Jay-Z 30 concert tour at SoFi over the weekend, after dates in New York and London marking three decades since his debut. The halftime performance is expected to draw on that catalogue before an audience that the NFL counts among the largest broadcast audiences of the year.