Did you know the NFL Super Bowl is this Sunday? Did you know Katy Perry is performing for the Pepsi Halftime Show?
By now, you probably have not only knowledge of both, but have been bombarded by commercials, promotions, interviews, and are so caught up on the scandals and speculations that you never want to hear the phrases “deflated balls” or “surprise guest” ever again. Regardless if you’re a New England Patriots or Seattle Seahawks fan, or if you don’t even like football, you’re going to be celebrating America’s holiest of holidays, Super Bowl Sunday. If not, you’re un-American.
Thankfully for those of you less football-inclined, the NFL has peppered their program with the highest of quality commercials and throws the most elaborate, high-profile performance of the year during the game’s halftime. This year’s performer to knock the socks off 100 million audience members? Katy Perry.
“Who’s that?” none of you ask. Currently the most followed person on Twitter, pop star Perry will be joining the ranks of Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Justin Timberlake, and Madonna, to name a few of the halftime show’s most prominent performers.
Will Perry join the list of performers who’ve stirred up controversy? Probably not, as she explains that she has run through costumes to prevent wardrobe malfunctions, has rehearsed her performance over 30 times, and remains in close contact with the NFL for their stamp of approval. So although there likely won’t be any nip slips in her 12.5 minutes, there will be things far more important: dollar signs.
Although Perry refused to pay the NFL to play the halftime show, the multibillion dollar organization can predict to gross impressive numbers from its expected record-breaking audience number. For the first time, the Super Bowl will be streamed on computers, tablets, and smartphones in addition to TV, allowing as many people as possible to indulge in consumerism.
As the Pepsi Halftime Show performer, Perry has been involved in far more promotion than any other previous musician, talking in interviews and press conferences, posting on her Twitter, acting in ads with various themed outfits, and giving away one of her featured guests.
Katy Perry is no stranger to non-music business ventures, with her own perfume line, flavor of PopChips, eyeliner line with Eyelure, jewelry collection at Claire’s, a partnership with Covergirl, and her movie, Katy Perry: Part of Me. A candid, bubbly, chatty woman, Perry has no problem expressing her involvements and the Halftime Show is the Mecca of all of them. “I feel like I’ve out dreamt my dream,” she’s said.
Perry is using the opportunity to make some cash of her own, too. She will be selling branded merchandise on YouTube, Twitter, and connected devices during her live performance, creating the first “shopping enabled” Super Bowl show.
New media technology and a savvy, omnipresent superstar are exactly what the NFL need to remain high in the black and out of scrutiny, especially after the past year of scandals the organization has faced.
Personally, Perry is rooting for the Seahawks to win, but overall she wants to prove she can bring a damn good halftime show. “I want to bring the humor, I want to bring the color, I want to bring the sass and I want to bring the incredible joy.”
Pop Music Divas 