JAY-Z has reportedly chosen himself as the performer for the 2027 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Since 2019, the 56-year-old rapper’s company, Roc Nation, has served as the Live Music Strategist for SBLXI. According to industry source Puck, multiple sources have confirmed that JAY-Z (real name Shawn Carter) as the headliner “has long felt inevitable and more compelling than Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, both of whom were considered for SBLXI.”
In the seven years Roc Nation has produced the halftime show, it has definitely veered away from the pop and rock format that came to define the event since a headlining artist took it over in the early 1990s. The last few years has seen Roc Nation book artists such as Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Usher and Dr. Dre - along with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and (again) Kendrick Lamar - to command the big stage.
Unlike, the previous two headliners, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar, JAY-Z hasn’t stormed the charts as a lead artist since his 2011 album, Watch the Throne, with Kanye West.
However, with a deep catalogue of hits between the ‘90s and ‘10s and a group of collaborators that range from Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, to his wife Beyoncé, there is little doubt JAY-Z can put on a show.
The timing seems right for an announcement, which normally arrives soon after the beginning of the NFL season. JAY-Z is set to play two massive shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA this weekend, making it the optimal time to break the news.