Lady Gaga Reportedly In Talks For Super Bowl Halftime Show

Lady Gaga is apparently in talks to perform at the 2017 Super Bowl Halftime Show. Billboard reports that their sources have revealed the singer is being considered for the Super Bowl 51 gig after impressing the NFL with her rendition of The National Anthem at last year’s big game.

The timing makes sense: She just released a new single and it’s off a forthcoming album that will probably drop in Q4 or maybe Q1 of 2017, either way after the Grammy cutoff so she won’t be competing with Beyoncé and Adele and before the game on February 5. (Speaking of Adele, that Super Bowl spot is open because she turned down the NFL’s offer, and the league quickly denied that it ever asked her, a fact which pretty much everybody assumed the league was straight-up lying about.)

But How Perfect?: Our editors rate & review "Perfect Illusion"

When looking strictly at star power, the Gaga choice does and doesn’t make sense. Her standing among pop’s elite has certainly been threatened in the post-ARTPOP years. But! This is the least controversial she’s ever been in her career: She’s coming off a successful duets album with Tony Bennett, she’s back to wearing normal clothes, she’s on a hit TV drama. Never has she been more palatable to Middle America, and that is music to the NFL’s ears.

Anyway, when Billboard asked about Gaga, the NFL was tightlipped: “We have had conversations with several fantastic artists about the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show. However, at this point we do not have a final decision.” Perhaps they’re waiting to see how “Perfect Illusion” performs?

Dear god, look at me, I’ve gone into this rabbit hole based on one whispered report. The “who’s performing at the Super Bowl” rumor #content carousel really is gonna become an annual thing now isn’t it? Great. Super fun.