No, Britney Spears is not in talks to headline Super Bowl LVII in Arizona next February.
A rumour was sparked Monday by an anonymous Instagram user to promote their new website Pop Tingz.
“Britney Spears has been meeting with the NFL to perform at the Super Bowl in 2023,” it claimed, without any sourcing. “Britney Spears is asking Madonna and Iggy Azalea [to] appear in her Halftime Show with her.”
Spears was one of several artists who joined Aerosmith on stage at the Super Bowl in 2001 for the show-closing “Walk This Way.” Madonna performed the most-watched Super Bowl XLVI halftime show ever in 2012.
Despite the dubious source of the Spears rumour, it has made its way onto social media, where some fans are understandbly excited – including a few who have posted proposed setlists. Most, though, have called it out.
"The Britney Spears/Super Bowl rumor is bulls**t," reads one tweet. Another reads: "I love how the Internet just collectively decided that Britney Spears is headlining the next Super Bowl."
The fan account @BritneyOnline called the report "nothing else but a fan fiction."
A website called Show! added fuel to the rumour with some misinformation. “Brit has previously worked with Pepsi, the ones behind the halftime show, so it should not be a surprise if something like this happens,” it wrote. (Pepsi is no longer the sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show.)
Of course, the Britney Spears/Super Bowl rumour has resurfaced every few years.
In July 2017, the New York Daily News reported: “Britney Spears' associates have had ‘secret discussions’ with television and advertising execs tied to Super Bowl LII, according to a source close to the situation.” (Spears' ex Justin Timberlake headlined the halftime show.)
Last February, Spears posted a clip of her 2001 appearance at the Super Bowl on Instagram, prompting fans to express their hopes that she will do the show in 2023.
Spears hasn't performed since her Piece of Me Tour ended in October 2018. The 40-year-old singer (who is on a tropical honeymoon with husband Sam Asghari) has not addressed the rumour on Instagram and has not given any indication since the termination of her conservatorship last year that she wants to perform live.