(Art/Maddy Cook ’25)

From Maroon 5 to Katy Perry to The Weeknd, people have always had mixed opinions on the performance of the year, an artist’s dream: The Super Bowl Half-Time Show. Originally, the halftime show was just a way to keep fans entertained while the players were in the locker rooms, and the NFL would bring in marching bands from nearby universities to perform. However, as the years went on, popular artists would be brought out, to combat counterprogramming (The act of drawing attention away from other channels by the creation of exclusive content, usually very common with big events) of the game. Now, the Halftime show is one of the biggest musical events of the year, attracting even non-football fans. Due to the show’s popularity, artists will spend months perfecting their performance, which deserves respect regardless of your music taste. 

PDS students had mixed feelings about this year’s show. Freshman Silas Ramirez commented, “The show was worse than I expected it to be; he didn’t play the songs I wanted him to play.” He mentioned how the halftime show didn’t quite live up to his expectations, and this opinion doesn’t seem to be unpopular. 

Freshman Zain Hamdia had a similar take on the performance and commented, “It [the halftime show] was mid. The roller skating was fire, though.” 

Sophomore Luke Nolte had a more positive opinion of the show, describing the Halftime as “Good, but the audio and vocal mixing could have used some work. The set wasn’t fully complete, and some things could have been tightened up.” Luke went on to add that “The addition of Ludacris was cool,” and the show was overall not bad. Additionally, sophomore Umang Sharma added, “All in all, the show was okay with me.” 

In my opinion, the Halftime show did leave something to be desired. The dancing could have been better coordinated at times, and it wasn’t as tight as past shows have been. However, it was very entertaining to see all of the different artists from different backgrounds come together and perform. It was clear that they all truly gave it their all and left everything they had on the stage.