The Super Bowl: The Epitome of Americanism

The Super Bowl, unfortunately not a big bowl, is a widely important American Football Championship game similar to sporting competitions like the Premier League or The NBA Finals. The Super Bowl is just the final game where the winner of the National Football League (NFL) is revealed. Football enthusiasts and Music lovers alike tune in during the first week of February every year for a face-off of epic proportions. This year, the teams at battle were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Over the past month, The 55th Super Bowl was enjoyed by over 55 million people - but why?

A surprisingly large percentage of people tune in but not for football. Arguably, one of the most anticipated events - after the climactic game of course - is the halftime show. Every year, the NFL procures sensational performers to allure the audience during the 12-15 minute break from football, known as the half time. The Weekend, formally Abel Tesfaye, joined incredible artists like Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and the Rolling Stones in the Halftime hall of fame with his groundbreaking performance at Super Bowl 55. He sported his iconic red jewelled jacket and blinding smile as he serenaded the audience with a 13-minute production that featured his old hits like Starboy and Can’t Feel My Face; even throwing in some newly charting songs like Save Your Tears. It is interesting to note that the background dancers made more money than The Weekend, because the NFL is infamous for not paying performers. They see the performance as free advertising for the performer so they only pay for the production of the theatrics. Even with that, the Weekend paid $7 million out of pocket. Hopefully, this multi-million dollar investment will prove beneficial for his newly announced 2022 tour. I am streaming the Weekend right now so I guess the NFL have a point!

Sports and singing isn’t your thing? The Super Bowl also offers memes and madness to draw in all sorts of audiences. Spongebob seems to be playing a recurring role in the production of Super Bowl memes. The Halftime show seems to be extremely akin to some of Spongebob's dramatic productions. In 2017, photos of Lady Gaga lowering onto the stage were compared to Spongebob hanging from the ceiling after singing ‘Goofy Goober Gilbert’. In 2019, an ongoing joke led to SpongeBob himself performing at the Super Bowl. Well only for a few minutes to the disappointment of a lot of people but he was still there. Memes, Music and Sports. The Super Bowl has it all.