Super Bowl Halftime 2025: The Pop Culture Bad Blood We’ve Been Waiting For

I really think Kendrick and Drake should just kiss on the lips in the middle of the football field to "You Belong With Me" at this point.

The Super Bowl halftime show has always been an impossible balancing act—one part legacy tribute, one part corporate branding exercise, and one part absolute mayhem, with the entire production held together by a budget that could feed a small country and a prayer to the Federal Communications Commission.

This year, however, the stakes feel even higher. Kendrick Lamar, hip-hop’s most elusive prophet, is set to headline. Taylor Swift’s presence looms large, even if she isn’t technically on the bill. The NFL has been playing PR gymnastics to maintain its performative stance on inclusion, and somewhere in the VIP suite, Jay-Z is plotting his next three business moves while also bracing for whatever chaos Ye might pull.

What follows is an educated guess—a carefully curated list of possibilities based on decades of Super Bowl halftime history, celebrity chaos theory, and the fact that the NFL is willing to do anything for ratings (except pay their performers). Let’s dive in.

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1. Taylor Swift Will Perform "Bad Blood" with Kendrick, Then Transition Into "You Belong With Me"

Even though Taylor Swift has gone full Phantom of the Eras Tour, ducking out of the halftime conversation, there’s no world in which the NFL, CBS, and Apple Music ignore the most famous woman on the planet sitting in a luxury box.

Enter "Bad Blood" feat. Kendrick Lamar. If Taylor does touch the stage, this is the safest, most logical entry point—a track that bridges their respective fandoms while doubling as a cheeky nod to the Drake-Kendrick feud. And, if we’re taking big swings, the transition to “You Belong With Me” writes itself: Kendrick exits, Swift shouts out her boyfriend and launches into the stadium-sized anthem for every wife, girlfriend, and situationship who got dragged to the game. For just that moment, the stadium transforms into a nationwide drunk bachelorette party.

If it happens? This is an instant Super Bowl classic. If it doesn’t? The broadcast will absolutely cut to her drunk-scream-singing from the VIP suite, flanked by her girl squad (minus Blake Lively, who will be watching from home and pretending she doesn’t know why).

2. "Squabble Up" Will Open the Show—For Less Than a Minute

Kendrick’s intro needs to be menacing. It needs to be violent. And nothing sets the tone quite like the rattling percussion and taunting delivery of Squabble Up, even if it’s only there as an appetizer for "Not Like Us."

If done right, this moment will serve as a warning shot—a reminder that Compton has arrived to New Orleans. No medleys of past hits. No overproduced Vegas residency energy. Just unapologetic, West Coast dominance before he drops the stadium into the most disrespectful diss track ever performed at an NFL-sanctioned event.

3. Travis Kelce Proposes to Taylor Swift, and America Loses Its Mind

If the Chiefs win, there is no way we are getting through the post-game celebration without Travis Kelce dropping to one knee at the 50-yard line while the broadcast team hyperventilates. Honestly, I think we’re all still hyperventilating about her not-so-subtle T charm on her gorgeous red dress at The Grammys.

Will it be corny? Yes. Will it break the internet? Yes. Will Taylor say yes? Unclear. But if she does, she’ll be the one to flip the script on the standard championship catchphrase, grabbing the mic to declare:

"We're going to Disneyland!"

(Cut to Jason Kelce sobbing uncontrollably in a Busch Light commercial.)

4. Doechii Will Be Crowned the Future of Rap on a National Stage

Fresh off her Grammy coronation and being dubbed “The Hardest Out There” by Kendrick himself, Swamp Princess Doechii is the next in line to carry the torch of Black Excellence at the Super Bowl.

This will be Kendrick’s way of paying it forward and homage to his Humble beginnings with Doechii’s current label Top Dawg Entertainment, letting her bring the house down with "Catfish" while the marching bands of three New Orleans HBCUs set the stage for an earth-shaking transition into "HUMBLE."

By the end of the night, Doechii will have one foot in mainstream superstardom and the other still firmly planted in the trenches—exactly where she needs to be.

5. Jay-Z Will Look Deeply Uncomfortable, and We Will All Know Why

Jay-Z is the executive mastermind behind the Super Bowl halftime show. He is also a billionaire with a poker face sharp enough to slice diamonds.

But this year? His energy will be different.

While Beyoncé is off actually having fun (or maybe hopping on stage with Post Malone to sing "LEVII'S JEANS" at the pre-show), Hov will be sitting there, visibly tense, aware that the Diddy allegations have permanently altered the industry ecosystem.

At some point, the camera will cut to him during Kendrick’s set, and for a fleeting moment, we will all see it—the same look he had when it’s a billion dollars on an elevator.

By the time the night is over, he will have spoken to exactly three people and left the stadium before the final whistle. Meanwhile, the internet, of course, will read way too much into every single expression he makes.

6. The Super Bowl Will Accidentally Let an Entire Stadium of White People Say the N-Word on Live TV

Look, the NFL thinks they know what they signed up for.

They don’t.

When Kendrick performs Not Like Us, the NFL production team will be ready—hand hovering over the censorship button, prepared to mute every offending lyric.

But here’s what they won’t expect: an entire stadium of very drunk, very emboldened white people screaming “N***a” in perfect unison.**

Because this isn’t just a song anymore—it’s a ritual. A stadium anthem. And the moment that hook drops, it’s going to be a sociological event.

The NFL will scramble. The broadcast will cut away to a shaky aerial shot of Allegiant Stadium. Roger Goodell will be seen rubbing his temples. You will be able to still hear the entire stadium finish the entire song like their life depends on it.

7. SZA Will Perform "Kill Bill" and a Louis Armstrong Cover

SZA and Kendrick will not perform All the Stars. If they do, it’ll be five seconds of the chorus, just enough to remind the sports audience who she is before she pivots to:

• "Kill Bill" – because the NFL loves a murder ballad disguised as a breakup anthem, and

• A surprise Louis Armstrong cover – because nothing says New Orleans like a jazz interlude for the dancers to reset and set to change.

Somewhere, a 70-year-old football purist will tweet, "Who is this?" Meanwhile, Gen Z will immediately add her set to their TikTok ‘Sad Baddie’ playlists.

8. Jay Electronica Will Appear for Exactly 30 Seconds, Confuse Everyone, and Leave

Kendrick has a deep bag of unexpected guests, but if Jay Electronica appears (or a Black Hippy reunion—yes, even Ab-Soul), hip-hop Twitter will implode.

A sports bro on X will immediately tweet, "Who invited this random?" Meanwhile, hip-hop heads will ascend into the afterlife.

9. Kanye Will Be There, and Bianca’s Outfit Will Upstage the Entire First Half of the Game

Kanye is showing up. This is not a prediction. This is a certainty.

But rather than making a scene himself, he will do what he does best: use Bianca Censori as performance art.

Expect her to be in something fully obstructive, borderline dystopian—maybe a grass bodysuit or nothing but an all black football helmet.

The camera will catch her exactly once, and it will be all anyone talks about for the first two quarters.

10. Shaboozey Will Have the Whole Stadium in Their Country Era

The second Shaboozey starts singing "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," the Super Bowl crowd after saying the N word multiple times will collectively remember they are white and they love country music.

The stadium will instantly become a massive honky-tonk Amurrcan Dream moment, complete with viral crowd shots of Mahomes bros drunkenly two-stepping and girls in cowboy boots screaming every word.

Somewhere in the VIP section, Taylor Swift will be fully in her element, and the NFL will pretend they have always been this supportive of Black country artists.

11. Lil Wayne Will Open "Not Like Us" With "I See Dead People" to Squash His NFL Beef

Lil Wayne spent the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl heartbroken and publicly wounded, after the NFL snubbed him for the halftime show in his own city. The man has been rapping about Louisiana for over two decades, and yet, the league reportedly considered replacing Kendrick with Wayne only to backpedal and choose neither.

Wayne took to Instagram to say the decision “broke” him, which, frankly, is not something you ever want to hear from a man who has survived multiple near-fatal lean overdoses and a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was devastated. Fans rallied behind him. The NFL’s legal department scrambled to manage the fallout.

But Kendrick—who clearly understood the stakes of this moment better than the NFL ever did—will do what the NFL couldn’t: declare Wayne as a New Orleans legend, showing him the respect he deserved.

Imagine this:

• The lights go dark.

• A single spotlight hits the field.

• Lil Wayne steps forward, voice eerily calm.

• "Pssst. I see dead people."

• Then? The beat drops into "Not Like Us," and the stadium erupts into chaos.

And just like that, the NFL’s biggest snub of the year becomes one of the best Super Bowl halftime moments of all time.

12. There Will Be One (1) Awkward Camera Cut to Lana Del Rey Looking Like She Just Remembered She’s at a Football Game

Lana will be there, because she’s still in her mainstream pop girlie crossover era and possibly to support Jack Antonoff’s entire grip on the industry as well as bestie Taylor Swift. At some point during Kendrick’s set—or maybe when Doechii hits the stage—the camera will cut to her, blank-faced, slowly clapping, hitting her pen, before she leans over to Taylor Swift to ask, “Wait… what quarter is this?”

Final Prediction: This Will Be the First Super Bowl Where I Actually Stay Seated for the Entire Game

Historically, my relationship with football has been strictly halftime-oriented—a performance-based sport, if you will. The actual game? A background event between celebrity sightings, reaction shots, and the brief but crucial moments when Rihanna or Beyoncé descend from the heavens.

But this year? I will be seated.

Not because I suddenly care about yard lines or blitz formations (I had to Google both of those just now), but because for the first time, the NFL finally understands that this game is just as much about tracking Taylor Swift’s every movement as it is about touchdowns.

Will she be screaming Not Like Us next to Lana Del Rey, who looks like she just woke up from a dream? Will Jay-Z finally lose his ability to remain neutral? Will Kanye do something that makes the broadcast legally obligated to issue a statement before the post-game show?

There’s too much at stake.

So yes, I will be watching—not just for the halftime show, but for every cutaway shot, every uncomfortable A-list interaction, and every moment that proves once and for all that the Super Bowl is no longer just a football game.

It’s an entire pop culture ecosystem. And this year? I am its biggest fan.