Taylor Swift has addressed why she ‘turned down’ the opportunity to perform during the Super Bowl’s half-time show.
Swift, who is engaged to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, is one of the most popular singers on the planet, but she has yet to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.
There were several rumours that the 2026 Super Bowl could finally see Swift perform, but Bad Bunny has since been announced and will become the first male Latin artist to take up the role.
The artist, who mainly sings in Spanish, has been a vocal opponent of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
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Recent Super Bowl halftime performers include stars such as Kendrick Lamar (2025), Usher (2024), Rihanna (2023), Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar (2022).
And Swift was in attendance at the 2025 Super Bowl during which the Chiefs fell to a 40-22 defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The 35-year-old was also at the 2024 edition of the Super Bowl when her now-fiancé, Kelce, helped the Chiefs to a narrow 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
The singer will likely attend the game once more in 2026 if Kelce and the Chiefs manage to reach a fourth consecutive Super Bowl and sixth in eight seasons.
However, Swift explained how she would be “locked in” on what Kelce was doing on the field rather than being able to prepare to perform.
“Here’s the thing: Jay-Z has always been very good to me,” Swift said when asked about the rumours during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The American rapper’s company, Roc Nation, programs the Super Bowl show.
Swift then revealed that there were informal conversations about how she’d feel about performing at the Super Bowl, but no “official offer” was tabled.
Swift explained: “That’s not, like, an official offer or a conference-room conversation, more, ‘How does she feel about it in general?’”
The popstar then homed in on the fact she is “in love with a guy [Kelce] who does that sport on that actual field”, before describing the sport as “violent chess”.
She added: “I am, [for] the whole season, locked in on what that man is doing on the field.
“Can you imagine if he’s out there every single week, putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high-pressure, high-intensity sport, and I’m like, ‘I wonder what my choreo should be? I think we should do two verses of “Shake It Up,” into “Blank Space,” into “Cruel Summer,” that would be great!’”
Despite referring to Kelce, Swift was keen to stress that the decision “has nothing to do” with the NFL star.
The 2026 Super Bowl is set to take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, in February 2026.
Topics: Super Bowl, Travis Kelce, NFL
Luke Davies