Katy Perry first appeared on the music charts in 2008 with her track “I Kissed a Girl.” You know the song. I know the song. Your mom knows the song.
Fast forward to present day, after months of speculation as to whether Rihanna, Coldplay or Perry would be performing at the halftime show, the NFL settled on the latter. This February, Perry will be taking the stage for the 49th Superbowl in Glendale, Arizona.
The singer joins the likes of musical superstars Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, U2, The Rolling Stones and Beyoncé that get the crowd jumping for the game.
Here’s the thing: She’s not an icon yet.
All of Perry’s predecessors for the Superbowl Halftime Show have pushed the boundaries of music and improved the landscape of pop culture with artistry that will span across generations.
Katy hasn’t even won a Grammy and relies on grand theater productions to supersede her lack of vocal range – when she’s not appropriating other cultures.
Aside from her lack of superstardom, the singer has a well-documented habit of dressing into caricatures of other ethnicities to push her brand and fails to see the insensitivity behind it.
But her weaker vocal abilities isn’t the issue: plenty of musicians have become uber-successful with voices that aren’t the strongest, like Superbowl Halftime show alumnae Madonna or Janet Jackson.
The Superbowl Halftime show is a live performance, but not a stranger to using pre-recorded vocals. This decision can make or expose shows – just ask the Red Hot Chili Peppers who performed with Bruno Mars last year. The band made the decision to play along to a track, but was shunned for it.
If Perry decides to use pre-recorded vocals, then she could face the same expulsion.
Like Perry, Bruno Mars is not quite an icon. But he’s off to an illustrious career while she is still searching to leave her mark on the pop world scene.
It’s hard to picture Perry matching Mars’s highest rated Superbowl Halftime show of all time with 115.3 million viewers or exceeding his record.
Perry makes catchy pop tunes, but are they captivating enough to engage the audience in a 10-minute set?
Football fans are going to be hyped from the game and see the countdown to the Halftime show where the stage is most likely going to be set up with cartoon characters, cotton candy and rainbows.
Perry’s whimsical, child-like tour themes and aesthetics honestly seem out of place for a football game.
Performing at the Superbowl indicates an artist’s stamp on today’s music, the music industry, pop culture and making music that resonates with people. Katy Perry has been around for some time now, but a halftime performance is simply premature.
Meanwhile Perry’s lukewarm-hit song “This is How We Do” off her most recent album Prism literally repeats, “It's no big deal, it's no big deal, it's no big deal / This is no big deal” foreshadowing her future performance.
email: kaylamen@buffalo.edu
Disagree? Read the column that's pro Katy Perry's performance here.
