Why Maroon 5 really played Super Bowl
They might not be interesting or groundbreaking, but in choosing Maroon 5 as the half-time entertainment for Super Bowl, the NFL fulfilled its wish to play it safe, writes Cameron Adams.
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Maroon 5 were deliberately picked to be beige and they filled the Super Bowl with oatmeal as promised.
Some are calling it the worst Super Bowl performance. That’s harsh. It was no Meat Loaf, it was just a very safe, very calculated, very Maroon 5 performance.
There was no taking a knee (some petitioned the band to at least acknowledge the Colin Kaepernick issue in some way, but considering even the press conference was axed that seemed unlikely) and the only controversy came when singer Adam Levine took his shirt off at the end.
Nipples at the Super Bowl are apparently fine on men, but not when a man exposes them on a woman — ask Janet Jackson, who remains in Super Bowl jail.
This country should have a serious chat about why Adam Levine’s nipples are, uh, apparently “acceptable†on TV but Janet Jackson was shamed and blacklisted for something she didn’t even do.#SuperBowl
— Charlotte ClymerðŸ³ï¸â€ðŸŒˆ (@cmclymer) February 4, 2019
Justin Timberlake, who exposed the Jackson nipple in 2004, was invited back to the Super Bowl last year. By comparison, his set looked positively thrilling now.
Maroon 5 have had a string of hits with special guests — Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Cardi B — but none turned up to play with them at the Super Bowl.
Instead OutKast’s Big Boi came into the stadium in a car, performed a 16 year old song (The Way You Move) and in a matter of minutes turned Adam Levine into his backing singer and then got the heck out of there.
Maroon 5 still had two of their big hits up their sleeve — Sugar and an Aguilera-free Moves Like Jagger — but it seemed like they were limping to the finish line.
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Levine’s voice, in particular his falsetto, sounded a little shaky at times, which is a problem when you’re literally the only person in Maroon 5 the majority of the world recognise.
The other band members must be used to Levine getting all of the attention, but their parents at home would have been waiting a long time for close ups.
The other awkwardly-shoehorned-in guest appearance was from rapper Travis Scott (Kylie Jenner’s babydaddy for Kardashian fans) who was introduced via a SpongeBob SquarePants animated introduction.
The audio dropped out several time, you couldn’t work out whether the US TV network were trying to censor Scott’s references to Nike and Jamba Juice.
When Scott ended his few minutes on stage and exited via crowd-surfing he automatically out-rockstarred Levine in one second. Which admittedly isn’t too difficult.
Wheeling a gospel choir on stage for Girls Like You tried to make up for no Cardi B, while the staging for She Will Be Loved looked like they’d recycled it from Imagine Dragons who’d recycled it from Coldplay.
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The Super Bowl’s rumoured first choices — Rihanna, Jay-Z and Drake — pulled out in solidarity with footballer Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem to protest America’s treatment of minorities, which angered Donald Trump.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour,” Kaepernick explained. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting away with murder.”
Rapper Cardi B also declined an offer to perform at the event on her own, and also with Maroon 5.
Maroon 5 were a very safe option which is what the Super Bowl needs in 2019.
Rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi appeared after the NFL made hefty donations to social justice groups on their behalf — leading to claims of virtue signalling.
There’s one main reason any act does the Super Bowl — exposure. What they lose in terms of a pay cheque (Maroon 5 get nearly $2 million per show for their own gigs) they get worldwide attention to an audience they may normally never reach.
Even for superstar acts who’ve played the Super Bowl in the past (Madonna, Paul McCartney, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Prince, Coldplay) they’ve seen instant spikes in album or ticket sales, streaming figures. They’re not charities.
Reaction to Maroon 5 on Twitter has been fairly brutal (they’re used to that) but will that mean the NFL will listen and find something more edgy and current? LOL. Remember, like the AFL and NRL Grand Finals, no one buys a ticket for the few minutes of music. And remember, 2020 is an election year in America so prepare for them to play it even safer. Michael Buble or Celine Dion for Super Bowl 2020 anyone?
Cameron Adams is a News Corp music writer.
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