If you mostly know Jay-Z as Beyoncé’s husband, Blue Ivy’s dad, or the guy behind the halftime bookings, this Jay-Z Super Bowl halftime news is for you. Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation announced Monday (October 26) that he will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. It’s his first time as a halftime headliner.
How Jay-Z ran the Super Bowl from backstage
Here’s the twist: Hov has run this thing from backstage for years. Roc Nation became the NFL’s live music entertainment strategist in 2019, and since then it has helped bring Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (2020), The Weeknd (2021), Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (2022), Rihanna (2023), Usher (2024), Kendrick Lamar (2025) and Bad Bunny (2026) to the stage. Your favorite halftime moment this decade? Roc Nation probably had a hand in it.
He also swore this wasn’t the plan. When the partnership started, he told Roger Goodell, “If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now,” as CBS News recounted. Per ESPN, Goodell had one request: that Jay-Z take the stage himself “whenever the moment felt right to him.” Apparently it does now.
GOAT’s Out Of The Bag
“From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said in a statement. That debut dropped in 1996, before most of Gen Z was born.
Roc Nation will executive produce the telecast, Hamish Hamilton is directing, and it airs on ESPN, ABC and Disney+, plus NFL+ on mobile. At his JAŸ-Z30 shows at SoFi on October 23 and 24, Blue Ivy played piano on “The Story of O.J.” and “Dead Presidents,” and Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Too $hort came out for the finale, as Remixd Magazine previously reported.
The real questions are about who shows up. Will Beyoncé make it a Valentine’s Day duet? Nothing is confirmed. Before the announcement, X replies ranged from “He has to bring out Beyoncé” to “nobody wants this bro,” Pro Football Network noted. Does Blue Ivy get another piano moment? We’ll know on February 14.
