By Finley Magga
On Jan. 31, 1993 the 27th Super Bowl halftime show started and Michael Jackson emerged from the stage. He then put on a halftime performance that would change the course of the Super Bowl halftime shows forever.
Just the year before in 1992, the average viewership for the halftime show sat at 79.6 million estimated viewers. Then in 1993, it spiked to 133.4 million in the United States and 1.3 billion worldwide.
The NFL (National Football League) used Michael Jackson as a method to get more attraction and viewership for the halftime, and it worked beyond belief. The halftime show has been an important part of American history ever since.
The last five years have been nothing short of amazing with performances from Usher, Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, The Weeknd, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
“(My favorite) has to be the one with Snoop Dogg where Dr. Dre made a surprise appearance,” claims freshman Ethan Willoughby.
And Ethan isnt the only one. A schoolwide poll was held where students and teachers were asked about their favorite performance from the past five years. Over half of the 65 responses voted for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, coming in with 56.7%.
Ethan grew up with West Coast rappers with names like Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, N.W.A, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. And he also was exposed to some East Coast rappers like 50 Cent and Notorious B.I.G. alongside P. Diddy.
“I learned them through my mom,” he said. “But I didn’t care for them as much until the Fortnite live event last November. Except for Ice Spice, I was not feeling her.“
Ethan is a football player himself and watches the Super Bowl with his family every year. Ethan says he watches it more for football, but still stays to see halftime. While he listens to older rap music, Ethan prefers country and rock.
He would like to see one of his favorite rock bands perform at the halftime show.
“I really like ACDC and just imagine out of nowhere, it’s just like dark, and before you could think you could hear the guitar for Thunderstruck,” Ethan said.
Leyton Martin is a sophomore who is a gifted actor and singer. He has done countless shows at Muncie Civic Theatre in downtown Muncie and goes to choir competitions like ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association).
Leyton prefers more poppy and upbeat music, so it was no surprise when The Weeknd was his favorite performance.
“I’d say The Weeknd correlates to my music taste,” he said. “I’m pretty well rounded when it comes to music. The only things I don’t like are country and maybe a little bit of rock. So The Weeknd I’d say falls in the lines pretty well of what I like.”
While stages are usually more open and interactive with the audience, this stage had more components that The Weeknd interacted with and also had blinding lights.
“It was really flashy and I feel like it had a stage kind of build, you know what I’m saying? Like you could go into these sections and they had cameras recording and going into these different rooms and whatnot.” Leyton said about The Weeknd’s performance.
Certified lover boy Josiah Hotmire is a big fan of Kendrick Lamar and enjoyed the 2022 halftime show where Kendrick performed along with rappers like Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.
“Pretty big fan, pretty massive. Kendrick was my number one on Spotify Wrapped last year,” Josiah said.
This year Kendrick gets to perform during the halftime show. He even announced his special guest being artist SZA. But fans have speculated online that there might be someone else.
In the video where he announced SZA, you can see marching in the background. This led some fans to believe it could be Tyler, The Creator. Tyler’s release of the album Chromakopia has a very heavy marching tone and high school band vibes. So there could be a possibility we could see Tyler, The Creator. But Josiah thinks otherwise.
“This is a pretty far stretch, but he does have songs with Taylor Swift and she’s going to be at the Super Bowl,” Josiah says. “So I can see Bad Blood start playing.”
That schoolwide poll asked how you think Kendrick will do during the halftime show.
Mrs. Mindy Crawmer, a certified clinical medical assistant teacher, stated, “Not good. No one will ever compare to Prince.”
This performance took place on Feb. 4, 2007.
The halftime show will only grow and feature different artists coming every year for more viewership. Wil you be one of those viewers these next few years?
