The 2021 Super Bowl is almost here and that means the halftime show is right around the corner.
This year, Canadian artist The Weeknd will set foot on the world’s biggest stage and perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, has won three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards and nine Billboard Music Awards.
This comes one year after viewers watched Jennifer Lopez and Shakira headline the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show in Miami featuring special guests Bad Bunny and J Balvin.
Fans are hoping that songstress Ariana Grande will join The Weeknd for his Super Bowl LV Halftime show.
The Weeknd will set foot on the world’s biggest stage and perform at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday (Image: Getty Images)
Rumours of a possible collaboration began on social media after The Weeknd announced that he was dropping The Highlights album ahead of Big Game that includes his song Love Me Harder featuring the pop princess.
As fans gear up for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, Daily Star has taken a look back at some of sexiest and most scandalous moments from over the years.
Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction
Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed by Justin Timberlake during their performance back in 2004 (Image: Getty Images)
The halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 is notable for a moment in which Janet Jackson’s breast – adorned with a nipple shield – was exposed by Justin Timberlake to the viewing public for approximately half a second.
Janet’s unfortunate incident, sometimes referred to as Nipplegate, led to an widespread debate on perceived indecency in broadcasting.
The cheeky flash was broadcast to a total audience of 143.6million viewers.
Following the wardrobe incident, the National Football League (NFL) announced that MTV would not be involved in future Super Bowl halftime shows.
YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim credits the flashing incident with leading to the creation of the video sharing website.
Michael Jackson’s sister’s infamous TV moment also made “Janet Jackson” the most searched person and term of 2004 and 2005.
The term “wardrobe malfunction” was coined as a result of the incident, and was eventually added to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
Prince’s explicit shadow
Prince’s silhouette thrown by the spotlight appeared to have some rather phallic connotations (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
Nobody would question that Prince was one of the greatest live performers of the modern era, but he really proved this at the 2007 Super Bowl.
As well as covering tracks by Queen, Foo Fighters and Bob Dylan, he performed his own songs Let’s Go Crazy and Baby I’m A Star during the halftime show.
However, some questioned whether Prince’s guitar was really just his guitar during his iconic performance.
In the midst of the artist’s rendition of hit song Purple Rain, his shadow was projected onto a large beige sheet during his guitar solo.
The silhouette created by the spotlight appeared to have some rather phallic connotations according the millions of shocked fans watching at home.
Beyonce’s attempt to Photoshop reality
Beyonce’s team attempted to scrub unflattering photographs from digital archives following her iconic Super Bowl performance (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Beyonce put on quite the show at the Superdome back in 2013, delighting the viewing audience with her electric stage presence and a long-overdue Destiny’s Child reunion.
Mrs Carter delivered one of the greatest performances in halftime history, performing a medley of her classic hits including Single Ladies, Halo and Crazy In Love.
Most artists would be thrilled with rave reviews but Team Beyonce wasn’t content to just leave well enough alone.
Following the Super Bowl, Queen B’s people attempted to remove unflattering photographs from digital archives such as Getty Images and were reportedly largely successful, according to Gawker’s Rich Juzwiak.
Individual media outlets such as BuzzFeed were less receptive to the strange request, opting instead to publicise the email sent by Team Beyonce.
M.I.A’s million-dollar middle finger
M.I.A took the attention off Madonna during their Super Bowl performance in 2012 (Image: Getty Images)
Madonna was the main event during the 2012 Halftime Show, but it was rapper M.I.A. who ended up generating the most headlines.
Upon finding out that her pre-recorded vocals would be cutting out the word “s**t” as she appeared during Give Me All Your Luvin’, M.I.A decided to take matters into her own hands by flipping off the camera at the end of her part of the performance.
Although the incident only lasted a split second, it had big repercussions for M.I.A., who found herself facing a lawsuit for millions of dollars from the NFL over the unplanned incident.
Both sides settled the lawsuit later in 2014 for an unknown amount of money.
Ultimately, though, the NFL didn’t learn much from that lawsuit. Recent Super Bowl halftimes have featured rappers openly swearing as well as lewd and inappropriate dancing.
Katy Perry’s ‘Left Shark’ goes rogue
Katy Perry’s backing dancer stole the spotlight during her Super Bowl performance in 2015 (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
I Kissed A Girl hitmaker Katy Perry was in charge of entertaining the crowds at the Super Bowl halftime show back in 2015.
She performed a medley of her hits wearing a series of stunning outfits, however, it was one of her back-up dancers who stole the spotlight.
During her performance of her smash-hit Teenage Dream, Katy was joined onstage by two dancers dressed in enormous blue shark costumes.
The one on the right seemed to dance in sync, while the one on the other side had some issues.
At the time, the man inside Left Shark refused to talk to news outlets. That’s since changed.
Surprisingly, the dancer beneath the costume, Bryan Gaw, was actually a veteran member of Perry’s team.
JLo and Shakira’s raunchy outfits and kinky moves
Shakira and Jenifer Lopez delivered the sexiest Super Bowl halftime show ever last year (Image: William Nikon /London Entertainment / SplashNews.com)
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira delivered arguably the sexiest Super Bowl halftime show ever last year.
Fans turning in to the event lost it as the two Latina pop stars put on a killer performance at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Shakira kicked off the show in a red sequin mini dress as she belted out She Wolf surrounded by a troupe of back-up dancers.
The Colombian star showed off her signature hip-swivelling belly dancing moves as she moved onto Whenever Wherever, prancing across the stage as the crowd went wild.
J-Lo then took over proceedings in a sexy leather catsuit with chaps that showed off her famous bum.
She had a long pink skirt wrapped around her but quickly whipped it off to reveal her sultry outfit and work her way through more of her back catalogue of hits including Jenny From The Block and Get Right.
The beauty somehow managed to change into a skintight silver bodysuit as she showed off some pole dancing moves on stage while belting out Waiting For Tonight.
Artists who’ve rejected Super Bowl slot
Rihanna reportedly rebuffed the Super Bowl’s advances to appear in the 2019 halftime show (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
The Super Bowl has been surrounded by controversy over the long-standing dispute between the NFL and quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
There has been friction surrounding his decision not to stand for the national anthem before games and to instead take the knee in protest of, and reference to, police brutality against minorities.
One of the biggest names to ever say no, music megastar Rihanna reportedly rebuffed the Super Bowl’s advances to appear in the 2019 halftime show.
A representative of Rihanna even confirmed that her decision was based on her disagreement with the NFL’s stance on Kaepernick, who has remained a free agent since the off-season following his 2016 on-field protests, leading to accusations of him being frozen out.
Rapper Cardi B is another performer believed to have passed over the chance to perform due to the serious situation with Kaepernick.
Adele is one of a few on this list to have seemingly turned down the Super Bowl for reasons that are musical, rather than political.
During a US performance, the singer-songwriter felt compelled to publicly address rumours she was set to perform in 2017, stating that it was because the show was “not about music” and that she “can’t dance”.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
