Last year, a lot of NFL fans expected Taylor Swift to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. She seemed like the perfect choice after her romance with Travis Kelce was all fans would talk about. Instead, it was Usher who performed and stole the limelight. But perhaps she could perform for the upcoming Super Bowl LIX, right? Well, not really. Kendrick Lamar will perform at the 2025 Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show and he will be joined by a guest.

But, wait a minute! Is the NFL simply not interested in getting Swift on board? Now, that would be a completely wrong assumption to make. You see, the league has been approaching the pop star for years, but the ‘Cruel Summer’ singer has been declining. It was owing to her long-term partnership with Coca-Cola. The NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime sponsor was Coca-Cola’s rival, Pepsi. Though since 2022, Apple Music has taken over as a sponsor, they have still been unable to get her on board.

Regardless, on Thursday, Jan. 23, Kendrick Lamar revealed in a trailer that SZA will join him for the Super Bowl LIX performance. Yes, you read it right. The $12 million American R&B singer, songwriter, and music video director, SZA, will pair with Lamar for the occasion. They have collaborated before, like on that banger ‘All The Stars’ from Black Panther, and their chemistry is insane.

“You know, this field is a lot bigger than people think, so that’s a must,” he said in the trailer as another person came up behind him with a cooler full of what appeared to be Gatorade. “I’ve been thinking about a guest performer.”

Lamar’s deep lyrics and SZA’s smooth vocals? It’s a concert made in heaven. This halftime show is gonna be more than just music—it’ll have a vibe that everyone will be talking about for weeks. But, before SZA was finalized, there was a twist.

Rumors suggested that Swift might have been picked by the NFL. But no! Travis Kelce’s girlfriend declined. Apparently, in 2022, TMZ reported that Swift turned down the offer to focus on re-recording her first six albums (she has completed four of the six so far). So, the NFL reached out to Kendrick and SZA instead, and honestly, fans are quietly excited about it.

NFL announced that SZA will join Kendrick Lamar as a special guest for the Super Bowl halftime performance.

Oh, and for those thinking SZA and Taylor Swift were beefing, SZA cleared that up. No bad blood, just good vibes. She’s ready to roll with Kendrick, and everyone’s here for it.

Now, about that show’s production: The NFL doesn’t pay artists an appearance fee, but they cover all costs and pay performers union scale, which is over $1,000 a day. While artists make much more elsewhere, the league still spends a serious amount of cash on production. Just to put it in perspective, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 13-minute performance in 2020 cost around $1 million per minute. So yeah, with 3,000 plus crew members and all that high-tech gear, the halftime show is straight-up a massive flex.

An unforgettable Super Bowl halftime show awaits!

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance is about to be wild. After a year full of major headlines, including his ongoing feud with Drake, Kendrick is ready to showcase why rap is still a powerhouse genre. He’ll be bringing all his energy to the stage, making sure the world remembers who runs the rap game. Fans are already buzzing over what’s coming next.

Lamar’s collaboration with SZA comes as both of them are preparing to co-headline a series of U.S. stadium shows which has been titled as the Grand National Tour. It starts in April. As a part of the tour, they will perform in Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and several more places before ending it in Washington, D.C. on June 18.

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Performing at the Super Bowl will surely have a huge impact on their tour. For instance, past performers like Usher saw massive boosts in streaming after their shows. His Spotify streams increased by 550% in the United States following his performance.

In fact, ‘Caught Up’, which was Usher’s hit from 2005, was the first song on his halftime performance list, and went up by 2,000%. It was his largest percent gain.

It will be interesting to see how Lamar and SZA benefit from this performance. What do you think?