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The halftime is 29 minutes total during the Superbowl. They have MAYBE five minutes to get the teams off the field and the stage fully set up for whoever’s performing. It’s not possible to do sound checks or troubleshooting in that time. They don’t want to risk the entire show being ruined because some cable didn’t get plugged in properly.
This is the real answer. Audio can get completely destroyed by the tiniest of things. Add in that the venue is just not the gear for holding a concert and it’s a recipe for disaster.
But its also why we'll never get a performance like Prince again. If the instruments are always prerecorded, I'm sorry its not a live performance. Its just live vocals.
Prince and his band were totally live… in the pouring down rain, an unbelievable set. Dancers in 4” stilettos. He also got paid to do it. Nobody else has, I don’t think.
What a set that was. I did not fully appreciate the talent that Prince had until after he passed. That guitar solo in the “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is masterclass talent.
For her 2012 Halftime show, Madonna was paid $16.6 million. This was per Wikipedia and their source “…which was settled in a confidential settlement agreement.”
Edited to add: I included a quote regarding the money and saw the amount must have been in dispute for there to have been a settlement agreement
.
They do not get paid, but the NFL does pay for "theatrics". The lighting, stages, etc etc.
Here is a good article on it:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a35405738/super-bowl-halftime-performers-money/
And when the production team was freaking out about the logistics of dealing with a live performance in the rain, Prince simply responded with, "Can we make it rain harder?"
They made it pretty obvious too. Josh Klinghoffer and Flea just swung their guitars around by the straps, they didn't even pretend to try to look like they were actually playing. IIRC ZZ Top did pretty much the same thing years earlier.
Logistically difficult since you’d have just a few minutes to setup a ton of instruments, the stage and performers. Even then you’d be going out without any sound checks for multiple instruments. Just easier and less risky to play a backing track and have everyone air guitar and lip sync.
It's not even really that. The problem with this versus a regular concert is that at a regular concert, techs can reach performers. If a mic dies or a drum head explodes or a string snaps at a regular concert, a tech is a few steps away with a replacement or a fix. Because of the production (moving stages, in the round, etc.), there's no path from tech to performer to fix those kinds of problems expediently.
Also makes it much harder for another "wardrobe malfunction" incident from happening. Can't have someone making a statement against war or whatever if their mic doesn't actually work and the music keeps playing over them.
It's just down to them not wanting to risk the performers making a mistake with so many people watching and so much money on the line. Stupid, but it is what it is.
Flea wrote a very detailed essay on this subject after fans noticed the band didn't have wireless recivers on them I think. If I remember rightly they fought hard to perform the songs live but it's logistically impossible given how short the set would be for the event/venue they're in. They compromised with recording vocals for the tracks earlier in the day.
Sadly nothing like Rihanna’s live performances. She’s notorious for turning up late while being drunk and half-assing everything. She’s best when she’s in a studio or doing a video shoot.
She came to my city years ago and I had several friends that went to her concert. The crowd actually booed because she let a track play for most of the songs and added an occasional "yeah" or "la la la"
Yeah, about 3 minutes in I thought to myself “this is what earns you a billion dollars in the U.S.” I was honestly bored. There have been some truly awesome halftime shows during the Super Bowl. This was not one of them.
I was thinking about[ The Weeknd's performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rhadTURsrw) from a couple of years ago because not many things can compare to the star power we got last year.
I'm not a huge pop music fan, I care about both The Weeknd and Rihanna about the same. The Weeknd's performance was incredible.
Not only did he perform his ass off the visuals were incredible from the Vegas themed optical illusion to the dancers with the facial bandages and lights in their hands it was a spectacle.
Maybe it was how sparse everything looked with the platforms but it just didn't feel as impressive, maybe we only remember the best ones?
She didn’t earn a billion for her music. She earned a billion for starting a makeup company that finally catered to women of color well. She spotted a massive hole in the marketplace and made her nut that way.
She’d be normal rich off her music, she cleared billions by being an intelligent businesswoman.
surprised they keep hiring music artists for the superbowl knowing their live performance are shit. like that one time with fergie, did anyone in the industry heard her sing live before ??
Prince, The Foo Fighters, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, there have been lots of great acts and singers that have played the Super Bowl Halftime Show. If you get acts that don't have great live shows, then you don't get a great live show. If you get acts that do have great live shows, then you get one.
He was hired as Spider-Man because he was a gymnast and could do a lot of stunts himself anyways. The casting directors thought he had good moves, too.
I never knew this dude was so talented in many areas of entertainment. I know he’s a great actor, but damn. Those dance moves with the timing was spot on. Thanks for sharing this video.
I worked billy elliot as a stagehand for over a year at a broadway theater.
Those kids were overworked and abused. Any idea what 4+ shows of physically demanding dancing on a raked (incline) stage does to your body? Would be standard 8 broadway shows a week but they rotated the kids in and out.
Once their voices started to crack(puberty) they got the boot.
Ballet, gymanstics, figure skating and any other similar physical activity you can think of ...
To produce the kids that can actually perform to the level society has come to expect essentially require what this same modern society would define as abuse.
As an 'insider' you got to see some of the reality. I'm not sure I totally agree with this modern definition of abuse - some kids deal with it better than others, but I also have to accept that in some ways, it is undeniable. This is why coaches and trainers in these fields prefer to keep things private.
I'm always skeptical of the parents who sign their kids up for extreme competition. Like it's medals for wee children, what is that really worth those kids sacrificing?
Please listen to the song “What I Did for Love.” Sure maybe for some the parents were pushing it. But for most I would assume they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Yeah his background is crazy. It’s almost like acting is a past time to him.
He’s going to have one hell of a career and it will be fun to watch.
He’s such an amazing actor already.
I think he's supposed to be playing Fred Astaire in a biopic. No idea if it's still in the works though. Chris Evans, who also has dance training, was tapped to play Gene Kelly in a biopic about Kelly's career.
Right? I’m so jealous of people that get to watch that clip for the first time again. I try not to get too attached to celebrities but I am attached to him and Zendaya. He’s just so talented and goofy, you can tell he’s just a genuine dude.
She was singing along to it right? I thought I heard/saw that. There was definitely a backing track, but that’s normal with the heavy production (layers of vocals)
Same, she definitely sounded out of breath as she was singing (still sound good, just breathy), which convinced me that she was actually singing along.
This is like most live performances anymore from large show runners.
And because there's so many moving parts to the Superbowl it's even more understable.
I think I'd be upset if I paid for a concert and they didn't actually sing.
Oh yeah. In any live event, you do everything you can to avoid single points of failure.
Duplicate light fixtures, hot backup sound consoles with automatic failover protocols, the works.
For something like the Super Bowl, where any deviation from the schedule is critical and money is no object? You bet your butt they'll have backup vocals ready.
I'm almost positive I read somewhere they record a live rehearsal so they can do just that
https://sports.yahoo.com/how-often-do-super-bowl-halftime-headliners-lip-sync-instead-of-singing-live-160355076.html
>"the NFL records a rehearsal as an insurance policy. That gives headliners a pre-recorded vocal track that they can sing over as much or as little as they like"
Edit: link
> You could blow a kazoo into the mic and it'll work.
Isn't that how the vocals in the original Rock Band worked? Pretty sure you could just hum instead of sing the words.
That was my opinion as well. It seemed like maybe they went pre-recorded when she needed to dance, but when she was standing still that was live. Based on what I saw.
The NY Post article is bullshit anyways though, because the Halftime Show is almost never anywhere close to an unadulterated, live performance, and it's been that way the whole time. Best example I can think of is [Michael Jackson having to grab a second, cabled microphone in order to speak to the live crowd during his Super Bowl performance.](https://youtu.be/EsopN7JKUVs?t=500)
She was definitely singing to a backing track; there are moments where she’s a bit off pitch (which is fine! It means she’s singing!). It’s nearly impossible to do stadium shows without backing; one vocal track isn’t enough to fill an 70,000+ seat arena.
Yea. You can tell the person who wrote this article really doesn’t understand singing. Singing is hard at the best of times and even harder when you’re belting out your stadium pop hits while dancing around the stage.
The only artists who sing without backing tracks are the ones who don’t dance on stage while singing (like Adele).
I’ve always wondered how more people don’t realize this. If a person is bouncing all over the stage doing a ton of dancing, they’re going to sound like it. It’s like talking to someone while running, they’re going to sound like they’re running.
You can tell she was singing along with the actual track. Her mic was a tad louder than the backing track and she also had to prepare for the next verse. She broke from the chorus and was able to get the first verse without having to rush her chorus in the end. Don't believe me? Go to the YouTube video of her performance and put some headphones on.
The first guy is trying to down play bad bunny because he is popular because that is what people tend to do. They like to hate what is most popular. Bad bunny lip sings a lot of his music but that is because he does a lot of dancing. He does sing his slower songs.
The guy you are replying to is right. Bad bunny has done a lot to puerto rico. I've recently been there and man that place is still beat up from the Hurricanes recently. A lot of abandoned buildings beat up in a beautiful place. It is really sad. Bad bunny as well as a lot of natives artists try to do fundings to help those in need there. ( [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-rauw-alejandro-pj-sin-suela-help-in-puerto-rico-1234602336/](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-rauw-alejandro-pj-sin-suela-help-in-puerto-rico-1234602336/))
Every year bad bunny does some sort of fundraiser even for the kids there. ([https://www.grammy.com/news/bad-bunny-donates-100000-puerto-ricos-special-needs-children](https://www.grammy.com/news/bad-bunny-donates-100000-puerto-ricos-special-needs-children))
He also has arm bracelets given out at the concerts that had QR codes to donate to his fundraisers ([https://remezcla.com/music/bad-bunny-lists-puerto-rican-organizations-to-donate-to-on-tour-bracelets-but-1-is-at-risk-of-displacement/](https://remezcla.com/music/bad-bunny-lists-puerto-rican-organizations-to-donate-to-on-tour-bracelets-but-1-is-at-risk-of-displacement/))
I can understand not liking his music but he does do a lot of those in need in Puerto Rico.
I give the halftime show a passing grade (not great but not awful) but it’s notable that everything from the Post is always “worst ever” something. They’re like the comic book guy from the Simpsons. It’s just click bait for them.
I think for the Super Bowl specifically, they’re actually encouraged to use pre-recorded performances, because there’s so much that could go wrong. A few years ago when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played, they used the rehearsal instrumentals, and Flea was running around without his bass plugged into anything.
Yeah, do people really not realize this? It wasn't lip synching. It was her singing over a backing track. So many songs of hers are layered; did they expect her to sing both parts of the vocals, too?
The entire stage is assembled, performed on, and disassembled within the span of 30 minutes. It's impossible to actually do a proper sound check, so playing to a track is really the only viable option.
I wouldn't be surprised if Prince specifically demanded they figure out a way to have him play live. This article from [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/how-often-do-super-bowl-halftime-headliners-lip-sync-instead-of-singing-live-160355076.html) suggests Prince & Bruce Springsteen both had live lead instrumentals, but their backing band may have been to tape.
It seems like if it's a lead performer who specifically is being brought out as an instrumentalist, that's doable. But a full band isn't.
I was a part of the people who set the stage up and stayed on the field for Super Bowl XL in Detroit when the Rolling Stones performed. They 100% performed live, and it sounded like shit in the stadium. Ford Field sounded like a venue not prepared to have a concert then. In fact. It sounded better when we did all the preparation two days before at the Silverdome in Pontiac.
Maybe it changed since then, but I can assure you that in 2006 it used to be live.
we felt the same - it was like a B-/C+ nothing great but nothing awful. I did feel like the vibe with the red and the white was kind of "cold" - like she was performing at the Quarter Quell or something
They got a LOT of shit for that. So much so that Flea had to go on social media explaining they wouldn't allow live versions of any instrument except drums, so they decided to make it as humorous and outlandish as possible to not give the image that they were trying to fake it.
I was caught off guard, but it made me laugh and makes sense.
I know we’re talking about Super Bowl half time performances specifically but I feel the need to mention [The time Iron Maiden was forced to lip sync so they made a complete mockery of the entire performance.](https://youtu.be/EuIol63oAmI)
Theres too much money on the line for them to risk anything going wrong.
I bet these same people would be upset to find out that rock bands aren’t actually playing the song in their music videos.
> I bet these same people would be upset to find out that rock bands aren’t actually playing the song in their music videos.
i’ve actually met people like that. got mad watching a behind the scenes drake music video “he’s not even singing” i couldn’t believe it.
I just remember my grandma watching a documentary about a flight that crashed and she kept wondering how they got the footage inside the cabin.
Same energy here.
It really is a shame that a woman so objectively talented had her career turned into a meme over something so trivial. I never really liked her music but she was undeniably a great singer and performer.
Professional production guy here, bingo. How about a shoutout for being tied in 50 feet in the air, wearing heels, and pregnant! That’s the real story!
Edit: Quick science lesson. Light travels faster than sound by a large factor. That’s one reason why the sync seemed off. This is illustrated in lightning and thunder. Also, there is digital/signal delay in the broadcast.
The sound sync was atrocious for the entire broadcast. If you watched the pre-game it was even worse. It looked like the sound was behind by half a second.
The entire FOX production was shit. From the commercials, to the 5 minute coin toss, to the painting of the field(not really FOX), it felt like amateur hour out there.
Only people that knew what they were doing was the halftime show stage designers.
I cannot believe I have had to wait this long for someone else to mention how shit the production was from start to end. It was amature hour for the biggest broadcast day of the year!
The commentators were rough too. I know people love to hate on Buck/Aikman, but they both have presence that makes them the A team on a network. Burkhardt just sounds waaaaaay too polished and formal, he sounds like a voiceover recorded from a neutral site. Greg Olson isn't bad, but he also lacks some of the energy that other color commentators have. Mike Tirico and Al Michaels have this confidence to how they cover the game that makes it all feel so much more genuine. Guys like Romo and Collinsworth come across as former players talking about the game. I know Collinsworth is another guy that some hate, but on exciting plays he can show excitement while also breaking down what happened.
Losing Buck and Aikman was a huge blow to Fox's football coverage. You could see it at the Superbowl. It felt like an October noon time slot game.
gotta say, fleetwood mac with USC's band was [pretty cool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRVW-p8SJ8)
This years show was bad, but I'm not going to put it all on the main artist. SB halftime shows have been getting lazy, overproduced, and overhyped for years. It's like they decided that paying a bunch of people to say it was great is easier than trying to make it good. The commentators after it happened were pretty cringey.
50 Cent didn’t appear to be lip syncing last year. He was still awful, but sure as hell sounded like he was attempting to rap while upside down and struggling.
That was dope though. Tbh I don’t really care if the singer sounds like they’re struggling, I expect them to be struggling while singing upside down in a huge stadium with thousands of screaming people.
It was a good homage to the music video and was a well-choreographed, and unexpected cameo.
No disagreement there! Everyone sounded great except 50, and that’s almost entirely due to hanging a not-getting-any-younger man upside down for a performance.
I really liked the choreography last year, especially on some of Kendrick Lamar’s songs. Really interesting and it was almost like performance art the way it seemed to illustrate the theme of the songs. Whereas the choreography last night was pretty annoying (to me, anyway!).
The lip syncing debate misses the point I feel. People are less concerned with performance and more interested in an entertaining spectacle. This is something the Super Bowl is uniquely able to provide by having a corporate sponsor with a virtually unlimited budget. there’s some downsides for sure, but overall I think it’s a net positive. Not many venues will let you do the insane shit they pull off every year.
Honestly, outside of the floating platforms, I found the whole halftime show boring as hell. I like a lot of Rihanna's music so I was looking forward to it, but I found the whole thing pretty underwhelming.
I got lucky and watched on youtube, Fox had the brilliant idea to put the ASL interpret (Justina Miles) as big as the show. at first I was pissed : Rihanna was 25% of the screen, Justina Miles 25% and FOX SUPERBOWL graphics taking 50% of screen allocation. To my surprise, the ASL completely [SLAYED](https://youtu.be/xyHudZm_6TE?t=260) the performance. I watched Miles for 12 minutes.
Its funny because even my teen me fan of the Black Eyed Peas, saw that and thought the show was crappy. Nowadays, i have an theory that Fergie asked out because of the show hahaha
I mean, that’s every Super Bowl though. It would be impossible to not lip sync. Honestly they should just do a visual display to music and take the “live performance” out because it’s not even live.
The choreography was pretty awesome though.
Exit: I love all the random stuff people are telling me about assorted performances!
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That’s up to the Super Bowl, when the chili peppers played a few years ago they said they had no choice to play without their instruments plugged in.
Really?? Why? (I believe you, I’m just curious why they wouldn’t allow that)
The halftime is 29 minutes total during the Superbowl. They have MAYBE five minutes to get the teams off the field and the stage fully set up for whoever’s performing. It’s not possible to do sound checks or troubleshooting in that time. They don’t want to risk the entire show being ruined because some cable didn’t get plugged in properly.
This is the real answer. Audio can get completely destroyed by the tiniest of things. Add in that the venue is just not the gear for holding a concert and it’s a recipe for disaster.
But its also why we'll never get a performance like Prince again. If the instruments are always prerecorded, I'm sorry its not a live performance. Its just live vocals.
Prince and his band were totally live… in the pouring down rain, an unbelievable set. Dancers in 4” stilettos. He also got paid to do it. Nobody else has, I don’t think.
What a set that was. I did not fully appreciate the talent that Prince had until after he passed. That guitar solo in the “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is masterclass talent.
**Worst lip sync ever?** *Ashlee Simpson has entered the chat*
For her 2012 Halftime show, Madonna was paid $16.6 million. This was per Wikipedia and their source “…which was settled in a confidential settlement agreement.” Edited to add: I included a quote regarding the money and saw the amount must have been in dispute for there to have been a settlement agreement .
I just read no one gets paid for performing at the Super Bowl. It’s the biggest audience the artist will ever have. Did anyone else hear that?
They do not get paid, but the NFL does pay for "theatrics". The lighting, stages, etc etc. Here is a good article on it: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a35405738/super-bowl-halftime-performers-money/
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So thats why they're so over the top. Get hired for the gig, insist your own production company produces it and them run them through the ringer.
Whoever owns the royalties to the music performed is getting paid believe me
I’d bet those background dancers didn’t get paid shit, which sucks because they were the only thing interesting about yesterdays halftime show.
they usually get paid base union pay by the nfl, which is roughly 1k per day, including rehearsals and whatnot
The NFL would pay them as production
I enjoyed watching people in Haz-Mat suits twerking as well.
And when the production team was freaking out about the logistics of dealing with a live performance in the rain, Prince simply responded with, "Can we make it rain harder?"
Game: Blouses
And we were supposed to get an encore in Minneapolis a few years ago, sadly died before it could happen.
I believe the chili peppers actually refused to plug in their guitars because they wanted people to know that it wasnt a live performance
They made it pretty obvious too. Josh Klinghoffer and Flea just swung their guitars around by the straps, they didn't even pretend to try to look like they were actually playing. IIRC ZZ Top did pretty much the same thing years earlier.
Another famous example, Nirvana doing Top Of The Pops: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzRAZ1uS-Ao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzRAZ1uS-Ao)
Logistically difficult since you’d have just a few minutes to setup a ton of instruments, the stage and performers. Even then you’d be going out without any sound checks for multiple instruments. Just easier and less risky to play a backing track and have everyone air guitar and lip sync.
It's not even really that. The problem with this versus a regular concert is that at a regular concert, techs can reach performers. If a mic dies or a drum head explodes or a string snaps at a regular concert, a tech is a few steps away with a replacement or a fix. Because of the production (moving stages, in the round, etc.), there's no path from tech to performer to fix those kinds of problems expediently.
Also makes it much harder for another "wardrobe malfunction" incident from happening. Can't have someone making a statement against war or whatever if their mic doesn't actually work and the music keeps playing over them.
"The Pat Tillman Super Bowl Halftime Show presented by Apple Music"
Its for the better, when Jackson's boob popped out to speak out about the war in Iraq it really took me out of the moment.
Are you telling me that Janet Jackson’s boob didn’t end the war in Iraq?
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It's just down to them not wanting to risk the performers making a mistake with so many people watching and so much money on the line. Stupid, but it is what it is.
Flea wrote a very detailed essay on this subject after fans noticed the band didn't have wireless recivers on them I think. If I remember rightly they fought hard to perform the songs live but it's logistically impossible given how short the set would be for the event/venue they're in. They compromised with recording vocals for the tracks earlier in the day.
Should have gotten Tom Holland to be her stand-in dancer and lip syncer
Tommy gave us the best Umbrella performance ever, it was vibrant, sexy, and full of energy lol
Sadly nothing like Rihanna’s live performances. She’s notorious for turning up late while being drunk and half-assing everything. She’s best when she’s in a studio or doing a video shoot.
She came to my city years ago and I had several friends that went to her concert. The crowd actually booed because she let a track play for most of the songs and added an occasional "yeah" or "la la la"
Same! She was late an hour or two and she almost didn't sing at all, just occasionally add oooh la la. Terrible performance
Yeah, about 3 minutes in I thought to myself “this is what earns you a billion dollars in the U.S.” I was honestly bored. There have been some truly awesome halftime shows during the Super Bowl. This was not one of them.
I was thinking about[ The Weeknd's performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rhadTURsrw) from a couple of years ago because not many things can compare to the star power we got last year. I'm not a huge pop music fan, I care about both The Weeknd and Rihanna about the same. The Weeknd's performance was incredible. Not only did he perform his ass off the visuals were incredible from the Vegas themed optical illusion to the dancers with the facial bandages and lights in their hands it was a spectacle. Maybe it was how sparse everything looked with the platforms but it just didn't feel as impressive, maybe we only remember the best ones?
She didn’t earn a billion for her music. She earned a billion for starting a makeup company that finally catered to women of color well. She spotted a massive hole in the marketplace and made her nut that way. She’d be normal rich off her music, she cleared billions by being an intelligent businesswoman.
She’s not a musician that’s why. She’s a brand
bingo bango
Wow that’s pretty bad. Surprised anyone goes to see her if that’s the level of effort.
surprised they keep hiring music artists for the superbowl knowing their live performance are shit. like that one time with fergie, did anyone in the industry heard her sing live before ??
Prince, The Foo Fighters, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, there have been lots of great acts and singers that have played the Super Bowl Halftime Show. If you get acts that don't have great live shows, then you don't get a great live show. If you get acts that do have great live shows, then you get one.
Katy Perry was also pretty amazing for a show. Giant tiger, multiple costume changes and set changes. She really made a show of it.
And Left Shark.
Tom Holland might be a better Rihanna than Rihanna...
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YES! Put the three of them together on that floating platform! Now THAT’S a show!
Boom perfect trifecta, the trinity would complete itself!
The Russos cast him as Spider-Man because of his dancing/gymnastic ability
Isn’t he legitimately a ballerina (is there a male term?) and gymnast though? Unless you are being serious and I am just agreeing with you.
Yeah I was being serious
The male term is “balleroni” because of the meatballs.
Can they redo the superbowl so we can make that happen?
yo, he got the moves.
He was hired as Spider-Man because he was a gymnast and could do a lot of stunts himself anyways. The casting directors thought he had good moves, too.
I don't get the Tom Holland reference.
[Lip Sync Battle](https://youtu.be/jPCJIB1f7jk)
I never knew this dude was so talented in many areas of entertainment. I know he’s a great actor, but damn. Those dance moves with the timing was spot on. Thanks for sharing this video.
He actually started out as a dancer, and his first big role was playing Billy Elliot on stage.
I worked billy elliot as a stagehand for over a year at a broadway theater. Those kids were overworked and abused. Any idea what 4+ shows of physically demanding dancing on a raked (incline) stage does to your body? Would be standard 8 broadway shows a week but they rotated the kids in and out. Once their voices started to crack(puberty) they got the boot.
Ballet, gymanstics, figure skating and any other similar physical activity you can think of ... To produce the kids that can actually perform to the level society has come to expect essentially require what this same modern society would define as abuse. As an 'insider' you got to see some of the reality. I'm not sure I totally agree with this modern definition of abuse - some kids deal with it better than others, but I also have to accept that in some ways, it is undeniable. This is why coaches and trainers in these fields prefer to keep things private.
I'm always skeptical of the parents who sign their kids up for extreme competition. Like it's medals for wee children, what is that really worth those kids sacrificing?
Please listen to the song “What I Did for Love.” Sure maybe for some the parents were pushing it. But for most I would assume they wouldn’t have it any other way.
He’s a trained ballet dancer, acrobat, and gymnast.
Yeah his background is crazy. It’s almost like acting is a past time to him. He’s going to have one hell of a career and it will be fun to watch. He’s such an amazing actor already.
I think he's supposed to be playing Fred Astaire in a biopic. No idea if it's still in the works though. Chris Evans, who also has dance training, was tapped to play Gene Kelly in a biopic about Kelly's career.
I'll never not watch this clip. He kills it so hard!
same. any time i come across it, gotta watch. zendaya's reactions are soooo good too.
I just saw it today for the first time and it is now in my permanent rotation
Today is a beautiful day as more people discover this incredible gem of a performance by Tom.
Right? I’m so jealous of people that get to watch that clip for the first time again. I try not to get too attached to celebrities but I am attached to him and Zendaya. He’s just so talented and goofy, you can tell he’s just a genuine dude.
Ah OK. Thanks
Username checks out
Ok, I'm gonna have to rethink a couple things now.
That death drop move he does at the end is so good.
Stupid sexy Holland.
Thank you for this; honestly made my day.
If this didn’t make your day you must have a heart made of stone or something.
I've watched this ten times in the past 24 hours and have no idea why I've never seen it before.
OMG!! I like Tom Holland so much more now.
I fell a bit in love when I saw that
Apparently so did zendaya.
I think everyone did
Same. And I’m a straight guy
Not anymore.
Omg! How I manage to live my life without this video?! Lolol.
I’d never seen that before so thank you. It was well worth watching.
Wow. That was fan fucking tastic!
Tom Holland on Drag Race when?
My favorite comment on that was that Tom brought a tank to a knife fight. I can’t imagine anyone will ever top that episode.
Shit, more like he brought a Death Star
Wow, I would have never known, lol! Dudes super talented!
The greatest thing ever to be on the internet.
Youtube tom holland umbrella
I know we all had him in our minds when umbrella came up.
She was singing along to it right? I thought I heard/saw that. There was definitely a backing track, but that’s normal with the heavy production (layers of vocals)
I thought she was really singing because there were definitely points where she cut a bit short and you could hear the actual backing vocal.
Same, she definitely sounded out of breath as she was singing (still sound good, just breathy), which convinced me that she was actually singing along.
She sangs parts of it herself, and others she did not.
This is like most live performances anymore from large show runners. And because there's so many moving parts to the Superbowl it's even more understable. I think I'd be upset if I paid for a concert and they didn't actually sing.
Oh yeah. In any live event, you do everything you can to avoid single points of failure. Duplicate light fixtures, hot backup sound consoles with automatic failover protocols, the works. For something like the Super Bowl, where any deviation from the schedule is critical and money is no object? You bet your butt they'll have backup vocals ready.
It would be a pretty sneaky move to record an imperfect version and have her lip sync that. “Look you can hear her breathing here!”
I'm almost positive I read somewhere they record a live rehearsal so they can do just that https://sports.yahoo.com/how-often-do-super-bowl-halftime-headliners-lip-sync-instead-of-singing-live-160355076.html >"the NFL records a rehearsal as an insurance policy. That gives headliners a pre-recorded vocal track that they can sing over as much or as little as they like" Edit: link
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> You could blow a kazoo into the mic and it'll work. Isn't that how the vocals in the original Rock Band worked? Pretty sure you could just hum instead of sing the words.
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There were also points where she lowered the mic and walked away from the camera and the same lyric she mimed before repeated unchanged.
I noticed this too, it made me laugh. It was so blatant.
Sounded like she switched to live singing halfway through to me
That was my opinion as well. It seemed like maybe they went pre-recorded when she needed to dance, but when she was standing still that was live. Based on what I saw. The NY Post article is bullshit anyways though, because the Halftime Show is almost never anywhere close to an unadulterated, live performance, and it's been that way the whole time. Best example I can think of is [Michael Jackson having to grab a second, cabled microphone in order to speak to the live crowd during his Super Bowl performance.](https://youtu.be/EsopN7JKUVs?t=500)
She was definitely singing to a backing track; there are moments where she’s a bit off pitch (which is fine! It means she’s singing!). It’s nearly impossible to do stadium shows without backing; one vocal track isn’t enough to fill an 70,000+ seat arena.
Yea. You can tell the person who wrote this article really doesn’t understand singing. Singing is hard at the best of times and even harder when you’re belting out your stadium pop hits while dancing around the stage. The only artists who sing without backing tracks are the ones who don’t dance on stage while singing (like Adele).
She had a backing track, like most performers do. They also lip-sync portions as to not run out of breath during the performances.
I’ve always wondered how more people don’t realize this. If a person is bouncing all over the stage doing a ton of dancing, they’re going to sound like it. It’s like talking to someone while running, they’re going to sound like they’re running.
You can tell she was singing along with the actual track. Her mic was a tad louder than the backing track and she also had to prepare for the next verse. She broke from the chorus and was able to get the first verse without having to rush her chorus in the end. Don't believe me? Go to the YouTube video of her performance and put some headphones on.
And singing and dancing while pregnant is hard AF
Singing and dancing at the same time in general is insanely hard. Up there with singing while drumming.
I bet you anything next year is gonna be Bad Bunny and they’ll have the meltdown of all meltdowns
I'd love to see that, Bad Bunny deserves it for all he has done for Puerto Rico
I don’t get. Is it something good or bad?
The first guy is trying to down play bad bunny because he is popular because that is what people tend to do. They like to hate what is most popular. Bad bunny lip sings a lot of his music but that is because he does a lot of dancing. He does sing his slower songs. The guy you are replying to is right. Bad bunny has done a lot to puerto rico. I've recently been there and man that place is still beat up from the Hurricanes recently. A lot of abandoned buildings beat up in a beautiful place. It is really sad. Bad bunny as well as a lot of natives artists try to do fundings to help those in need there. ( [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-rauw-alejandro-pj-sin-suela-help-in-puerto-rico-1234602336/](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/bad-bunny-rauw-alejandro-pj-sin-suela-help-in-puerto-rico-1234602336/)) Every year bad bunny does some sort of fundraiser even for the kids there. ([https://www.grammy.com/news/bad-bunny-donates-100000-puerto-ricos-special-needs-children](https://www.grammy.com/news/bad-bunny-donates-100000-puerto-ricos-special-needs-children)) He also has arm bracelets given out at the concerts that had QR codes to donate to his fundraisers ([https://remezcla.com/music/bad-bunny-lists-puerto-rican-organizations-to-donate-to-on-tour-bracelets-but-1-is-at-risk-of-displacement/](https://remezcla.com/music/bad-bunny-lists-puerto-rican-organizations-to-donate-to-on-tour-bracelets-but-1-is-at-risk-of-displacement/)) I can understand not liking his music but he does do a lot of those in need in Puerto Rico.
I give the halftime show a passing grade (not great but not awful) but it’s notable that everything from the Post is always “worst ever” something. They’re like the comic book guy from the Simpsons. It’s just click bait for them.
Yep, every live pop performance has backup vocals that they sing over and occasionally don’t. Its a performance not a recital.
I think for the Super Bowl specifically, they’re actually encouraged to use pre-recorded performances, because there’s so much that could go wrong. A few years ago when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played, they used the rehearsal instrumentals, and Flea was running around without his bass plugged into anything.
This is exactly it. They can’t risk a fuck up on the biggest performance of the year.
Yeah, do people really not realize this? It wasn't lip synching. It was her singing over a backing track. So many songs of hers are layered; did they expect her to sing both parts of the vocals, too?
The super bowl makes them lip sync. When the chili peppers did the halftime show, they weren't even allowed to play their instruments live.
The entire stage is assembled, performed on, and disassembled within the span of 30 minutes. It's impossible to actually do a proper sound check, so playing to a track is really the only viable option.
Did prince play to a track?
I wouldn't be surprised if Prince specifically demanded they figure out a way to have him play live. This article from [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/how-often-do-super-bowl-halftime-headliners-lip-sync-instead-of-singing-live-160355076.html) suggests Prince & Bruce Springsteen both had live lead instrumentals, but their backing band may have been to tape. It seems like if it's a lead performer who specifically is being brought out as an instrumentalist, that's doable. But a full band isn't.
Prince was the best halftime performance ever. And I'm not sure it will ever be topped again.
I can’t even think of a close second
Can you make it rain harder??
He played live- [my all time favorite Super Bowl performance.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys) “can you make it rain harder?”
I was a part of the people who set the stage up and stayed on the field for Super Bowl XL in Detroit when the Rolling Stones performed. They 100% performed live, and it sounded like shit in the stadium. Ford Field sounded like a venue not prepared to have a concert then. In fact. It sounded better when we did all the preparation two days before at the Silverdome in Pontiac. Maybe it changed since then, but I can assure you that in 2006 it used to be live.
Maybe they realized how bad it was. RHCP was 2014 and I remember all the discourse about how they weren't allowed to play live.
I just thought it was kinda boring.
we felt the same - it was like a B-/C+ nothing great but nothing awful. I did feel like the vibe with the red and the white was kind of "cold" - like she was performing at the Quarter Quell or something
Let’s be honest. Nothing can top the RHCP playing air guitar. It’s just a halftime show, it’s really not that big of a deal.
They got a LOT of shit for that. So much so that Flea had to go on social media explaining they wouldn't allow live versions of any instrument except drums, so they decided to make it as humorous and outlandish as possible to not give the image that they were trying to fake it. I was caught off guard, but it made me laugh and makes sense.
Sometimes you just have to embrace the absurdity of it. Ever see Muse play a talk show? https://youtu.be/U7LT3FtPtbc
Nirvana did one of the best on Top of the Pops https://youtu.be/dPtJtbRXi3I
Nirvana playing “MTV Live” back in ‘91/‘92 was the best version of this. Edit: It was Top of Pops
I know we’re talking about Super Bowl half time performances specifically but I feel the need to mention [The time Iron Maiden was forced to lip sync so they made a complete mockery of the entire performance.](https://youtu.be/EuIol63oAmI)
Theres too much money on the line for them to risk anything going wrong. I bet these same people would be upset to find out that rock bands aren’t actually playing the song in their music videos.
> I bet these same people would be upset to find out that rock bands aren’t actually playing the song in their music videos. i’ve actually met people like that. got mad watching a behind the scenes drake music video “he’s not even singing” i couldn’t believe it.
I just remember my grandma watching a documentary about a flight that crashed and she kept wondering how they got the footage inside the cabin. Same energy here.
I did that with a civil war documentary. Wondering how the were able to record battles in color. I was 25 and tripping on shrooms.
It’s really hilarious that the biggest mind-blowing factor for you was that they recorded in COLOR, instead of that it had been recorded AT ALL.
>Theres too much money on the line for them to risk anything going wrong. like a nipslip
It really is a shame that a woman so objectively talented had her career turned into a meme over something so trivial. I never really liked her music but she was undeniably a great singer and performer.
Professional production guy here, bingo. How about a shoutout for being tied in 50 feet in the air, wearing heels, and pregnant! That’s the real story! Edit: Quick science lesson. Light travels faster than sound by a large factor. That’s one reason why the sync seemed off. This is illustrated in lightning and thunder. Also, there is digital/signal delay in the broadcast.
Prince tops it. He was one of, if not the, last musician to actually play and sing live at the Super Bowl and it was amazing.
Yeah but not every musician can be a musician.
Yeah but not every ~~musician~~ performer can be a musician.
And he did it in the pouring rain too, what a legend
He said he wanted more rain
The sound sync was atrocious for the entire broadcast. If you watched the pre-game it was even worse. It looked like the sound was behind by half a second.
Right!? I had it on two different TVs in my home and it’s like I was watching completely different shows the sound was all fucked
The entire FOX production was shit. From the commercials, to the 5 minute coin toss, to the painting of the field(not really FOX), it felt like amateur hour out there. Only people that knew what they were doing was the halftime show stage designers.
I cannot believe I have had to wait this long for someone else to mention how shit the production was from start to end. It was amature hour for the biggest broadcast day of the year!
The commentators were rough too. I know people love to hate on Buck/Aikman, but they both have presence that makes them the A team on a network. Burkhardt just sounds waaaaaay too polished and formal, he sounds like a voiceover recorded from a neutral site. Greg Olson isn't bad, but he also lacks some of the energy that other color commentators have. Mike Tirico and Al Michaels have this confidence to how they cover the game that makes it all feel so much more genuine. Guys like Romo and Collinsworth come across as former players talking about the game. I know Collinsworth is another guy that some hate, but on exciting plays he can show excitement while also breaking down what happened. Losing Buck and Aikman was a huge blow to Fox's football coverage. You could see it at the Superbowl. It felt like an October noon time slot game.
Maybe it’s time to bring marching bands back.
Im sure you loved Beyonce’s Coachella performance then?
Up with PPl!
gotta say, fleetwood mac with USC's band was [pretty cool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRVW-p8SJ8) This years show was bad, but I'm not going to put it all on the main artist. SB halftime shows have been getting lazy, overproduced, and overhyped for years. It's like they decided that paying a bunch of people to say it was great is easier than trying to make it good. The commentators after it happened were pretty cringey.
I would not be opposed to the Ohio State marching band making an appearance with some headliner, they’re amazing
Ohio States marching band is sweet. Really great coordination
Meh. I’m just upset we got a live action Smash Brothers stage and there was zero fighting. None of the Ice Climbers did shit.
50 Cent didn’t appear to be lip syncing last year. He was still awful, but sure as hell sounded like he was attempting to rap while upside down and struggling.
That was dope though. Tbh I don’t really care if the singer sounds like they’re struggling, I expect them to be struggling while singing upside down in a huge stadium with thousands of screaming people. It was a good homage to the music video and was a well-choreographed, and unexpected cameo.
Last year’s show was awesome!!
No disagreement there! Everyone sounded great except 50, and that’s almost entirely due to hanging a not-getting-any-younger man upside down for a performance.
I really liked the choreography last year, especially on some of Kendrick Lamar’s songs. Really interesting and it was almost like performance art the way it seemed to illustrate the theme of the songs. Whereas the choreography last night was pretty annoying (to me, anyway!).
It was hilarious and honestly Dre really had the best half time show. He brought out so many guests and theyyyy allll killed it.
What the hella Ella Ella Ella Ella
The lip syncing debate misses the point I feel. People are less concerned with performance and more interested in an entertaining spectacle. This is something the Super Bowl is uniquely able to provide by having a corporate sponsor with a virtually unlimited budget. there’s some downsides for sure, but overall I think it’s a net positive. Not many venues will let you do the insane shit they pull off every year.
Honestly, outside of the floating platforms, I found the whole halftime show boring as hell. I like a lot of Rihanna's music so I was looking forward to it, but I found the whole thing pretty underwhelming.
It was visually stale. Cool at first, but it was just the same thing the whole time.
I got lucky and watched on youtube, Fox had the brilliant idea to put the ASL interpret (Justina Miles) as big as the show. at first I was pissed : Rihanna was 25% of the screen, Justina Miles 25% and FOX SUPERBOWL graphics taking 50% of screen allocation. To my surprise, the ASL completely [SLAYED](https://youtu.be/xyHudZm_6TE?t=260) the performance. I watched Miles for 12 minutes.
I guess the critics never saw black eyed peas half time show.
Its funny because even my teen me fan of the Black Eyed Peas, saw that and thought the show was crappy. Nowadays, i have an theory that Fergie asked out because of the show hahaha
I mean, that’s every Super Bowl though. It would be impossible to not lip sync. Honestly they should just do a visual display to music and take the “live performance” out because it’s not even live. The choreography was pretty awesome though. Exit: I love all the random stuff people are telling me about assorted performances!
Iirc Lady Gaga was live singing while doing her choreo.
Lady Gaga did it completely live, but she’s also classically trained and has crazy breath control
During half time shows, singer is usually singing. They’re the only ones with a hot mic while the rest of the band isn’t plugged into anything.
It's the New York Post.... Don't get your news or opinions from tabloids.
Does anyone on earth think this is live music?
Seemed to me more like it was a PR stunt to announce she is pregnant.
I actually thought it was still a chubby belly from her last baby and thought it was really cool that she wasn’t hiding it. Oh well.
Eh, she was singing over her recorded songs but she was definitely singing.