The Super Bowl LIV will feature Latin artists Jennifer Lopez and Shakira during the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in Miami next February.
The news was just announced on Thursday via social media. Both artists captioned their posts “get ready” and “this is happening” before the announcement became official.
Going to set the world on ??? @shakira #PepsiHalftime #SuperBowlLIV @pepsi pic.twitter.com/c7oXQM0vjq
— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) September 26, 2019
As TMZ points out, it makes sense that the league chose two female co-headlining performers since the Super Bowl date is February 2, 2020 – a.k.a 2/02/20.
In recent weeks, J.Lo noted that she wouldn’t mind performing at the gig – actually, she’d love it.
“It;s something that we’ve talked about for many years, and you know, it would be nice,” she said at the time. “I can’t say I wouldn’t love it.”
The dual outing likely is due to Roc Nation’s partnership with the NFL. Earlier this year, Jay-Z announced that his company would work alongside the NFL as its “live music entertainment strategist” to help bring more artists to the league’s events. The partnership is a win-win, since the NFL needs some help fixing its image; last year, the Super Bowl Halftime Show became a gig no artist wanted to accept. While dozens of artists were asked to perform as guests, including Cardi B and Rhianna, they declined, showing support for Colin Kaeperknick, who was essentially blacklisted from the league for kneeling during the National Anthem.
Even though Maroon 5 accepted the gig – and performed alongside hip-hop stars Big Boi and Travis Scott – the group received harsh criticism and a petition asked them to boycott the show or at least, show support to the Black Lives Matter movement. In the end, Maroon 5 performed anyway, without paying any tribute to the movement or Kaepernick. It’ll be interesting to see how the public reacts to this new pairing and if Jay-Z had anything to do with it.
