Katy Perry announced that she will be joined by Lenny Kravitz for the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show three weeks from now on February 1, and she hinted that there would be other guests there, as well. Perry announced the news to NBC’s Willie Geist during the halftime of the the AFC Divisional Playoffs football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots on Saturday.
When Katy Perry made the stunning announcement that she would be joined during the Super Bowl Halftime Show by Lenny Kravitz, she called him “an incredible rock n roll icon, a guitar god,” and said that Kravitz would be her “first special guest.” Though Katy Perry has not yet mentioned who else will be joining her during the halftime show besides Lenny Kravitz, she just upped the anticipation level of rock fans around the world by a factor of 10.
According to Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz is “the King of cool,” and she added that he will “make me so much cooler that day.”
Willie Geist had a suggestion, or prediction for a possible song that the duo could sing together: American Woman. Perry neither confirmed nor denied that would be one of the songs that they would perform together, but she did wink and said “We’ll see!”
The Roar singer said that the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show had been in the planning stages since at least as early as November, and she told Geist that she has been “testing out ideas!” The full interview Willie Geist did with Katy Perry can be seen Monday morning on the Today show on NBC.
Last year, Bruno Mars began the seemingly growing trend of a younger musical artist asking a veteran musical act or performer to join him during the Super Bowl Halftime Show when the Red Hot Chili Peppers took the stage with him. Katy Perry is a superstar, capable of selling millions of records, but some sports fans who are older have been wondering if she could carry the halftime show off, on her own. Now, for fans of rock — well, the type of rock that Lenny Kravitz performs, at any rate — their worries have been assuaged.
Starting this year, reports came out that performers during the Super Bowl Halftime Show would have to pay for the privilege to perform. Then, in August, the NFL decided to instead ask that musical acts would have to give the league a percentage of their post-Super Bowl earnings.
Despite this, there were still no shortage of musical acts, along with Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz, lined up who wanted to take part in the event. That is likely because the Super Bowl Halftime Show is watched by a larger overall audience than any other musical event of the entire year, ensuring a lot of exposure for the acts that perform and a surge in their album sales.
Over 115 million people watched the Super Bowl Halftime Show last year, in the United States, alone. That amounts to a lot of publicity for the musical acts who take the stage at the venue. Other musical acts that have performed during the Super Bowl Halftime Show include U2, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Madonna, and the Rolling Stones.
Will Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz, and any other “special guests” that Perry might have invited benefit from their Super Bowl Halftime Show performance with increases in album sales and sold out stadiums when they go on tour? While that remains to be seen, the halftime show on February 1 will likely be a memorable one, full of surprises.
Written By: Douglas Cobb
Sources:
E! Online
USA Today
Gossip Cop
Forbes
Photo by Samantha Sekula – Flickr License
