Super Bowl Avengers: What to expect from this year’s half-time show

Hip-hop is coming to save the world. Expect collateral damage. Bring popcorn. That’s the message from the Marvel-style trailer for Super Bowl LVI, in which Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Dr. Dre assemble like rap superheroes en route to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles.

The epic CGI-enhanced trailer goes for nearly four minutes. The half-time show it advertises will be 13 tops, but online chatter anticipates a landmark event which, to most of the roughly 100-million viewers, easily sidelines the football every year. As one YouTube user surmises, “This is gonna be the Avengers Endgame of Super Bowl halftime shows”.

The prequels have carved quite a legacy. Janet Jackson never recovered from Nipplegate in 2004 and neither has America. The moment gave us the now ubiquitous “wardrobe malfunction” disclaimer and reminded us just how selective is the great nation’s moral code. Justin Timberlake, her partner in the stunt, emerged from the fiasco unscathed to headline solo in 2018.

The halftime spectacle as we know it began with the inspired arrival of Janet’s brother Michael in 1993. After 25 years of marching bands and star-studded cabaret revues, the extraordinary appearance of the King of Pop drew a reported 133 million viewers to a fading TV event.

Three years on, Diana Ross was airlifted by helicopter from Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona as the stunt factor began to escalate. Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan’s 1999 show featured 1,000 performers among the lasers, balloons and pyro. Aerosmith and NSYNC introduced the “surprise guest” card with Britney Spears and others in 2001.

But Janet’s nipple outrage demanded a reset. She’d been bumped two years earlier, when U2 were deemed a more sober option after 9/11: an example of how halftime at the Super Bowl had come to resonate in sync with America’s pulse. Safely clad, mostly older white men — McCartney, the Stones, Petty, Springsteen, Prince, The Who — ushered the event back into wholesome heritage territory for the rest of the decade.

Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr Dre and Mary J Blige are performing at the Super Bowl halftime show on Monday.Credit: Getty

What’s happened since has been more interesting: less rock and more pop, less male and more coloured, and generally more aware of its power and responsibility to project identity and shape conversation in a world of instantaneous digital saturation.

Madonna’s stunning 2012 comeback appearance was mostly about Madonna (Forbes calculated her stock rose by US$84 million overnight), but her guests Nikki Minaj, MIA and CeeLo Green acknowledged which way the mainstream was blowing. Since then, pop headliners such as Katy Perry, Coldplay and Maroon 5 have typically leant on hip-hop and R&B guests — Missy Elliott, Beyonce, Travis Scott — to bolster their cred.

Beyonce’s headlining slot in 2013 was pointedly political in the way that, well, she just is. Her Black Lives Matter subtext was as bold as her dancers’ Black Panther berets and the bullet-belts crossing her chest: in turn a nod to Michael Jackson’s Super Bowl get-up 20 years earlier.

Come 2020, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira arrived in a Trojan horse of razzle-dazzle. Their entourage was “a reminder of the heritage of this country, which is one of diversity,” Shakira announced. Kids in glowing cages against the star-spangled banner made a potent statement in that US election year — even if most of the tweeting was about her tongue.

All of which whets the appetite for an event which, notwithstanding the Weeknd’s pandemic-compromised set last year, has become a reliable bellwether of pop power and cultural identity. To say the least, a bona fide assembly of hip-hop giants — faded public enemy Eminem, gangsta godfather Snoop Dogg, rap queen Mary J and Pulitzer-winning Kendrick Lamar, all curated by mix master Dre — feels like a moment whose time has come.

Much anticipation naturally revolves around the set list. Dre is the common thread and grand master of the long game (look closely at that trailer again), and any number of classics he produced — Eminem’s My Name Is, Mary J’s Family Affair, Snoop’s Gin and Juice — could burn up 12 minutes without raising sweat. The way the mix is mashed is half the fun, of course, and with Kendrick’s fifth album among the most highly anticipated of the era, the prospect of new material is equally thrilling.

Right now, only these things are certain. Content is king. Compromise is unlikely. Desperate times call for salient rhymes, the whole world is watching, and hip-hop vengeance is nigh. Here’s hoping someone has Ms Jackson’s number.

Super Bowl LVI kicks off at 10.30am AEDT on Monday.