112 million people sat down on the night of February 13th to watch the 56th Superbowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It is safe to assume that most were there for the game, but a lot were just waiting for commercials and the infamous halftime show.
While many headlines were focused on the “David and Goliath” aspect of the game, there was a lot of talk about Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar’s show as possibly being the best in Superbowl History. I thought this claim was a bold one to make, so I wanted to see if some data would back it up. In recent memory, not even Beyoncé had been granted that title; so I asked the Dana Hall community for their thoughts on the “best ever” halftime show from the past ten years.
Before I present the data, I do want to acknowledge some factors that may have influenced the results. I sent the poll to the entire school, both students and faculty, however, generational differences would impact the answers they gave. For example, a lot of younger students may have no idea who this year’s performers were, but many of the faculty and some older students would. This automatically takes Dr. Dre and company out of the running for best because of a lack of knowledge.
With that being said, the best halftime performance of the last ten years according to Dana Hall was a tie between Katy Perry’s show in 2015, and Lady Gaga’s performance in 2017.
While these results were likely due to Dana Hall’s overall demographic, I do think that SBLVI’s halftime show was special in many ways. For the first time in the history of the Superbowl, hip-hop and R&B are on the stage. Performances by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent filled the 14-minute showcase. Most of these performers grew and developed the West Coast rap scene, so having them perform at a Superbowl held in Los Angeles was especially significant.
In the past, Superbowl halftime show sets have either been outlandish (Katy Perry and her giant sharks) or a classic stage with dancers, as Coldplay demonstrated. Superbowl LVI displayed a white house in a neighborhood, emanating the more humble beginnings the performers grew from and used as inspiration in their music. With different open rooms for dancers and artists, as well as a rooftop soundboard for Dr. Dre to commandeer throughout the performance, this show used their own hometown to be equally as captivating as Katy Perry and her sharks.
Indresh Chandel 