Taylor Swift Says No
Did you know the NFL does not pay the halftime show performers?
That’s one of those facts everybody learns at some point and files away under “ridiculous nonsense” and doesn’t think too hard about it. But it’s true. Beyonce? Kendrick? Rihanna? All of those 90’s rappers from the Millenial Core halftime several seasons ago? Not paid. At the highest levels of both sport and stardom, they still use the “for exposure” bullshit that artists have to deal with at every level of their career.
Obviously, none of these celebrities would take the deal if they got nothing out of it, and the NFL is paying for stuff, just not directly paying the artist. The NFL covers the production cost of the show itself (which I imagine is pretty significant) and they cover the travel/room and board for the artist as well (which is probably much cheaper, even for these celebrities). The point literally is exposure. The artists basically get to create the most elaborate show they want to make, perform for just 15 minutes, and reap the benefits of the exposure. Increased sales and streams, and presumably merch. It’s not that bad a deal. It is the main reason the exposure deal even works as a negotiation tactic. If you get the right eyeballs, it will help you. For celebrities of this caliber on this size of stage, 15 minutes of work that you didn’t have to cover the costs for is not a bad deal. For most.
For some, that isn’t enough. Taylor Swift reportedly turned the NFL down for this season’s Super Bowl. I’m not surprised at all. She is one of the few superstars in the world who has more leverage than the NFL does. Taylor Swift does not need the NFL. The NFL needs Taylor Swift. Look at the attention she brought the league just because she decided to date the meathead tight end. Millions of girl eyeballs (age demographic 13-45) suddenly watching football games and buying football merch because their supreme god thought the Lesser Kelce was hot. Taylor doesn’t need the money. Honestly few of these other artists do either (Bad Bunny is certainly not hurting for dough) but Taylor REALLY doesn’t need the exposure. Taylor could record an album of herself ripping a juicy taco bell fart and a not unsubstantial amount of people would defend it as meaningful art.
Honestly, thinking about it, I would too. That would be art. Taylor, if you are listening, make a fart album. I’ll convert to a Swiftie.
The NFL had to be against setting the precedence of paying artists rather than being willing to pay Taylor Swift. If the Chiefs don’t end up in the Super Bowl again, that’s millions in lost viewership. Any expense Swift wants would be worth it except for planting the seed for future artists that they can expect the same.
They saw that once Mahomes got paid, Kyler and the like immediately ask for a bigger contract despite not being on that level. Can’t pay Swift unless you want to pay T-Pain the same amount next year.
Dave, are you just testing if we actually read the captions all the way to the end? Because I think I just learned something about you I never needed to know
You know he was slightly tempted to pick the Jags this coming week on purpose to show Trevor Lawrence getting Dutch Oven’d by her.
Dave is totally buying his wife Taco Bell tonight.
Feat. Von Miller
Kendrick had no problem in not getting a cent for his halftime show performance if it meant calling out Drake on a global level.
And my god that message was heard loud and clear. And the NFL had the chance this year to do the funniest thing and invite Drake to come on and clap back.
I mean, Bad Bunny doesn’t *need* the NFL either. He’s been at the top of the spotify most streamed list more times than Swift has in recent years, and is still #3.
You are correct, that the exposure has a huge impact. I think that the media exposure of Taylor Swift has just reached the saturation point where there’s no point for her. There are probably 4 or 5 artists that are nearly at or are at her level of fame and success (Bad Bunny is one!) but her media exposure is about 10x or even 100x of literally everyone else.
This is interesting to me. Acknowledging the obvious fact that I,a middle-aged white guy from rural America, am not the targeted demographic for Bad Bunny; I did not know he was this big. I am familiar with his name from pop culture osmosis but could not for the life of me have named anything he has ever produced artistically. At least with Kendrick I was familiar with humble and his work with Black Panther plus the Drake beef.
To be clear, I am not against Bad bunny performing whatsoever and am actually curious to see how the show goes. mostly because it seems like he performs 100% Spanish from a recent google search, a search I had to make to learn who he actually was. I’m just surprised to hear how big of a name he actually is. Thanks for enlightening me.
To be transparent, I only learned that by googling his name 😀
As a less old white guy, who nonetheless has tastes in music very opposite from what is the mainstream right now, I didn’t know anything about him. I also only knew one Rihanna song, so like, I’m the wrong guy to judge haha.
It also depends if they have other stuff to shill. Rihanna didn’t need the money, but used it as an ad for her beauty brand. Smart move by her to take advantage of it. If the NFL were paying her they would certainly not have allowed that.
One of the things I keep reading in response to the Bad Bunny announcement is people being surprised at how big he actually is, which I find extremely interesting and kind of contradictory. If he truly was this massive, why are so many people just learning about him now? Myself included in this, I knew shit about BB and never knowingly listened to him before this week.
I think BB is huge within certain communities of people (youth, spanish speaking communities, etc) but not actually well known outside of that, and that’s why he took the gig. This is probably a big chance for him to break out and expose himself to new audiences he probably has less influence with.
Taylor Swift is not in need of informing this demographic, everyone who watches the Super Bowl knows who Taylor Swift is. I don’t think comparing her to BB using something as simple as a single spotify metric works, because a single spotify metric doesn’t 1/1 translate to pop culture influence.
Yeah, the spotify metric I guess was just to make the point that they are in the same stratosphere of -number of fans-. But she’s just much more known due to media influences.
BB indeed is more for specific demographics. According to my Dominican friend, that demographic is “he makes music for hoes”.
I knew of Bad Bunny through Wrestling crossovers. I could not name a single one of his songs, and in the UK, he’s barely mentioned. This halftime show will raise his profile immeasurably.
Fart song would be her “Revolution 9”.
Michael Jackson didn’t even get paid in 1993! But the NFL and Frito-Lay did donate 100K to his Heal The World Foundation and gave them commercial time.
That bottom left panel looks so cursed.
Taylor Swift is such a big deal that if the Superbowl halftime show was Taylor Swift, it stops being a football game and turns into a Taylor Swift concert.
Swifties are used to paying exorbitant amounts to see her perform. They would snatch up all the Superbowl tickets. Imagine the crowd thinning out after halftime. What a look that would be for the rest of the world to see.
I think the NFL dodged a bullet if Taylor said no to them.
This is a great point honestly that I haven’t thought of.
In other fart related news, looks like the Browns hydra is growing a new head.
Dave exposing his fetishes here by wanting to listen to Swifts farts, lol
I don’t know a single Bad Bunny song, but I saw his match at Wrestlemania and his Shrek sketch on SNL and I am psyched to see his halftime show.
Usually we get performers past their prime or at least the tail end of it, because that’s why the exposure works for everyone.
Lamar had a message to send. I think performing appeals to Bad Bunny, because he’s a global artist and wants to make a statement we might need subtitles to understand.
No kidding Puerto Ricans are on a whole other level when speaking Spanish. It’s like Tejano DJs had a baby with futbol commentators.
Thank god she said no. I did not need that. I saw a rumor that it would be Metallica but sadly it wasn’t.