{"id":2051519,"date":"2026-07-19T21:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051519"},"modified":"2026-07-19T21:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:37:54","slug":"how-similar-was-the-world-cup-halftime-show-to-the-super-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051519","title":{"rendered":"How Similar Was the World Cup Halftime Show to the Super Bowl?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tFIFA and football; the NFL and football. The two different sports that share a name now share another thing \u2013 a star-studded, hyped-up halftime show.<\/p>\n

\n\tHalftime shows have been part of the Super Bowl since 1967, its inaugural year, but 2026 marks the first major halftime show at the World Cup, which has been going on since 1930.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tColdplay’s ‘We Dance’ Closes 2026 World Cup Halftime Show With The Muppets, PS22 Chorus & More\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBTS Light Up 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show With Dynamic ‘Dynamite’ Performance\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe change certainly has a little something to do with the fact that the final FIFA World Cup showdown takes place in the United States this year (New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium, to be exact). And Lord knows that Americans love a halftime show. Each year, the Super Bowl Halftime Show is reliably the most-watched single broadcast in the U.S., outpacing the second-most-watched broadcast by millions.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo: was the FIFA World Cup Halftime Show on Sunday (July 19) basically the Super Bowl Halftime Show during a soccer game, or did it feel like a fresh, distinct event?<\/p>\n

\n\tThings certainly felt different from the start. Not to state the obvious, but the Super Bowl opens with three slow-building ballads: \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d part of the Super Bowl from the start; \u201cAmerica the Beautiful,\u201d sung annually since 2009 (though it was also performed in 1977, the sole year the National Anthem wasn\u2019t performed at a Super Bowl); and \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing,\u201d the Black National Anthem, sung at Super Bowls since 2021. These are emotionally impactful, vocally demanding songs that bring out ace singers, but not spectacle: people have their hands over their hearts during the National Anthem, they\u2019re not doing choreo.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe FIFA World Cup, however, opened with pure spectacle: A Busby Berkeley-esque musical number called \u201cChampions\u201d by streamer IShowSpeed that involved dancers and musicians traipsing around an on-field image of the Empire State Building, augmented by bird\u2019s-eye shots of a soccer ball stage. (Helpfully, the song made a point to let people know that \u201cthis is the World Cup\u201d no fewer than 27 times \u2013 just in case anyone was confused.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter that, Post Malone \u2013 decked out in his country duds but back to rapping \u2013 debuted a new song, \u201cChrome Heartbreaker,\u201d and brought out Swae Lee for their Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 \u201cSunflower.\u201d This \u201cclosing ceremony\u201d performance was less spectacle than you\u2019d get from a Super Bowl Halftime Show, yet more than you\u2019d see in a pregame Super Bowl performance. For any Americans tuning into a World Cup for the first time, it let them know the vibes would be different.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore than an hour later, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini teamed up to blend voices on \u201cDesire (Official FIFA Anthem)\u201d while flags from dozens of countries waved around them. It was an emotionally charged performance, akin to what you\u2019d get before an NFL kickoff, but it honestly felt more like something you\u2019d see during the Olympics \u2014 it felt international, not national. (Which makes sense given that it was, as IShowSpeed repeatedly reminded us, the World Cup.)<\/p>\n

\n\tJennifer Hudson\u2019s knockout rendition of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d however, felt very Super Bowl \u2013 clearly an olive branch to American viewers accustomed to years of hearing the U.S. National Anthem before each and every sports game. Even so, the fact that two additional national anthems were performed before the match \u2013 Spain\u2019s \u201cMarcha Real\u201d by a brass band (it has no lyrics) and Argentina\u2019s national anthem, sung by Maria Becerra \u2013 reminded everyone that even though the game was taking place in America, this was all about Spain and Argentina.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut what about the actual FIFA World Cup Halftime Show, featuring Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira and Burna Boy, the New York Philharmonic, the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Symphony Orchestra and The Muppets\u2019 Electric Mayhem? Two of the aforementioned artists have headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show before (Madonna in 2012, Shakira in 2020 alongside Jennifer Lopez) while Chris Martin, the World Cup Halftime Show curator, headlined the 2016 halftime show as part of Coldplay. After an hour of soccer, was that 11-minute performance a taste of the familiar dropped into a new context?<\/p>\n

\n\tTaken on their own, individual performances certainly had shades of Super Bowl: Madonna\u2019s madcap musical medley (\u201cMusic,\u201d \u201cDisco Inferno\u201d and \u201cDanceteria\u201d) on a dune buggy; Shakira\u2019s hip-swiveling version of \u201cDai Dai\u201d with Burna Boy on the field; and BTS\u2019 pyro-laden performance of \u201cDynamite\u201d all could have existed in the context of a Super Bowl. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. After all, there\u2019s a reason people keep tuning into the Super Bowl Halftime Show year after year \u2013 it\u2019s entertaining! And those artists absolutely understood the assignment.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut for every moment that felt Super Bowl-esque, there was another one occupying a much different space from modern halftime shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tClassical music maestro Gustavo Dudamel, wearing a pinstriped suit with his name and number on the back, joined the Muppets\u2019 Electric Mayhem and the New York Philharmonic to sound the battle cry of \u201cSeven Nation Army.\u201d Watching Animal pound out the White Stripes\u2019 primal percussion while professional violin players grunted and pulled their instruments back and forth like rowers (perhaps they\u2019d all just come from a screening of The Odyssey<\/em>) was an unexpected delight, occupying that sublime space between brilliant and silly (brilly, if you will). It was the kind of absurd cross-pollination Super Bowl audiences were used to during halftime shows of the 20th century, back when Ella Fitzgerald and Carol Channing shared a bill (1972) or James Brown joined the Blues Brothers (1997).<\/p>\n

\n\tSimilarly, how about Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard hitting the field to bring out Justin Bieber? It\u2019s hard to imagine a modern Super Bowl halftime taking a breather for a chill comedic interlude \u2014 one that worked because it didn\u2019t try too hard. (Yes, Kendrick Lamar did have Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam in 2025, but Sam and Sudeikis give very different energy, to say the least.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Bieber, if the NFL got one of the world\u2019s biggest pop stars, it\u2019s difficult to imagine them letting him do a somber acoustic performance of \u201cEverything Hallelujah\u201d while casually strolling around the field, then walk off without singing a hint of any of his Billboard<\/em> chart smashes. JB\u2019s quiet moment helped give the World Cup halftime a flavor of its own too.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs with the Dudamel-and-Muppets opener, the finale felt more 20th century Super Bowl than 21st century Super Bowl. Staten Island\u2019s PS22 Chorus, Emmanuel Kelly, Coldplay and the Muppets debuted a brand-new Coldplay song, \u201cWe Dance,\u201d written specifically for the occasion. It was all about love, peace, bright colors and global togetherness. Puppets and children providing a big, mushy finale is entirely conceivable for a halftime show from the \u201880s \u2013 less so these days. And that\u2019s refreshing.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not saying the NFL needs to turn back the clock to the low-stakes, schlocky halftime shows of 50 years ago. Most of us would rather watch Bad Bunny than \u201cElvis Presto,\u201d the magic trick-pulling Elvis impersonator who performed at the 1989 Super Bowl. But it\u2019s fun to watch a halftime show and have no clue what could possibly happen next. Muppets and the New York Philharmonic rocking out? There\u2019s something inviting about a spectacle that isn\u2019t afraid to get silly.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, the TL;DR final verdict: The FIFA World Cup Halftime Show felt markedly different from modern Super Bowl Halftime Shows \u2013 but a lot like an amalgamation of Super Bowls over the decades. And if there\u2019s one lesson for the Super Bowl after watching this, it\u2019s simple: more Muppets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/world-cup-halftime-show-super-bowl-1236297614\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2286794371-e1784496975981.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard FIFA and football; the NFL and football. The two different sports that share a name now share another thing \u2013 a star-studded, hyped-up halftime show. Halftime shows have been part of the Super Bowl since 1967, its inaugural year, but 2026 marks the first major halftime show at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2051519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}