14 DAY TRIAL // Good news, football fans! The artist that is going to play at next year's Super Bowl Halftime Show has finally been announced after months of debating and negotiating. It turns out that the honor will fall on Katy Perry in 2015.
Billboard confirms that Perry will be singing on the big day, and it quotes industry insiders that give the performance as a done deal, whereas most other news outlets claim that this is just a rumor.
Perry was on the shortlist of artists floating around in August
Perry's name has been floating around in connection to the Super Bowl Halftime performance ever since August, after she was shortlisted along with some other acts such as Rihanna and Coldplay.
Selecting one act has been tricky this year as reports have emerged that the NFL was trying to persuade artists to pay for the privilege of being allowed to perform, but not many singers liked the terms of the deal and many scoffed at the idea that they had to pull money out of their own pocket instead of earning them.
The NFL motivated its “pay to play” policy with the fact that last year's broadcast recorded 111.5 million viewers, which is a formidable number by any count. The Football League also pointed out that all artists who performed in the past saw a major increase in sales, as well as a boost in touring demands and appearances.
However, while recently appearing on ESPN's College Game Day last weekend, Katy dismissed the idea by saying, “I'm not the kind of girl who would pay to play,” indicating that she didn't need the publicity nor the boost in sales.
The NFL hopes to win public approval with Perry's performance
That being said, the NFL is keen to land Katy Perry because, as opposed to other artists on their shortlist, her repertoire contains mostly family-friendly tracks and steers away from any major controversy, something which plagued the NFL in past halftime shows.
So, Katy is seen as a wholesome artist, a suitable contender for the next Super Bowl, in a time when the League is struggling to gain some of its reputation back as a series of scandals of domestic violence have left it red-faced.
The league has been accused of double standards and of overlooking serious offenses from its players such as spousal and child abuse, racism and violent behavior, for the sake of keeping players regarded as assets in the game.
The cases of player Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson in particular garnered a lot of attention from the media and from fans not long ago, and the NFL is still trying to recover from the serious image blow it received at the time. Katy might be able to sway some favorable public opinion, and the NFL might suspend their “pay to play” policy this year in order to land her as a performer.