Super Bowl
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Saweetie has scored here very own touchdown, by fronting an NFL metaverse concert during Super Bowl week. The “Best Friend” rapper is the headline performer at the Saweetie Super Bowl Concert, a free virtual show presented by Intuit on Roblox and set to premiere Feb. 10.
The Warner Records artist will step into the metaverse on the heels of the launch of WMG’s Rhythm City, for what’s said to be a first-of-its-kind “music-themed social roleplay experience” on the Roblox gaming platform.
According to WMG, which partnered with NFL on the latest initiative, Saweetie will perform a “family-friendly, fully motion-captured” set featuring her hit singles and presented as official part of the Super Bowl LVII event lineup.
The virtual concert will drop next Friday at 7:00pm ET and will re-air every hour, on the hour, until Sunday, Feb. 12.
“As our ecosystem evolves,” comments Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer & executive vp of business development at WMG, the music major “is focused on building open, interactive and dynamic virtual experiences that deeply connect artists with their fans. It doesn’t get more iconic than the Saweetie Super Bowl Concert Presented by Intuit on Roblox. We are so thrilled to be working in support of this event and incredibly excited to kick off our first concert in Rhythm City.”
Saweetie is the latest WMG artist to make the crossover into the Roblox world, namely Twenty One Pilots, Why Don’t We, Ava Max, David Guetta and Royal Blood.
This year, she’s on a mission to expand her creative horizons. Saweetie is reportedly stepping back onto the small screen with a guest starring role on Peacock’s Bel-Air, the streaming platform’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air spin-off. The 29-year-old previously appeared in several episodes of Freeform’s Black-ish spinoff show Grown-ish, as rapper Indigo.
As for music, Saweetie most recently released her six-track EP The Single Life in November 2022. And she has hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Triller U.S. chart with three numbers: “Tap In” in mid-2020, followed by “Fast (Motion)” in mid-2021, and “Closer,” featuring H.E.R., in February 2022.
With the Rhythm City project, WMG is the latest music company to partner with Roblox, which boasts more than 61 million daily active users and exploded in popularity with young gamers during the pandemic.
Sony Music and BMG announced partnerships with Roblox in 2021. Spotify became “the first music-streaming brand to have a presence on Roblox” last year.
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Drake and the NFL are joining forces for a fashion collaboration just in time for game day. The sporty collab between the football league and the Canadian rapper’s October’s Very Own lifestyle brand was announced Tuesday (Jan. 31) and will debut later this week.
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Drake tapped his Young Money boss Lil Wayne and fellow rapper Benny the Butcher to star in the campaign, which features OVO x NFL co-branded hoodies, varsity jackets and tees. The limited collection launches this Friday, Feb. 3, at NFLshop.com, NFLShop.ca and in OVO stores and online at octobersveryown.com.
Weezy, a proud Green Bay Packers fan, represents his favorite team in a green varsity jacket in one photo and green hoodie in another. Ditto for Benny who sports Buffalo Bills gear in honor of his hometown team.
Lil Wayne
Courtesy Photo
Benny Butcher
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Underscoring the partnership’s Canadian roots, Canadian NFL players Jevon Holland, a safety for the Miami Dolphins, and Neville Gallimore, a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, will showcase the campaign across their respective social media platforms.
Other teams featured in the collection include the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams.
Courtesy Photo
News of the NFL x OVO capsule collection comes one week after the league unveiled its merch collab with Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty brand and sporting goods giant Mitchell & Ness.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will face off in this year’s Super Bowl scheduled for next Sunday, Feb. 12, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem, Babyface is singing “America the Beautiful,” Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Rihanna is taking over the halftime show. Super Bowl LVII airs on Fox at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Want to catch the action in person? Click here to buy tickets to the Super Bowl.
We’re less than two weeks away until Rihanna makes her highly anticipated return to the stage for the the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 12, and leading up to the fun, the show’s musical director Adam Blackstone teased a bit of what’s in story.
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“The story that she wants to tell is, ‘Let’s be epic.’ Let’s let this be a moment in time that people will have never seen or heard before,” Blackstone, who previously worked with Rihanna on her Savage x Fenty fashion shows, told Good Morning America on Tuesday (Jan. 31). “We’re forcing the concert in the middle of the biggest sporting event in the world.”
As for potential onstage collaborations, Blackstone kept his lips sealed, but assured, “I think you’ll be in for a surprise.”
While chatting with Billboard back in November, Blackstone shared details about the experience of working with RiRi, for Savage x Fenty and beyond. “There are no boundaries when it comes to her and her creativity,” he shared. “The team that she has assembled, it sounds cliché and churchy, but we know all things are possible when it comes to her. If she has an idea, it pushes us to execute it without limits. I don’t know if we can pinpoint and say ‘This is where it can go’ because it has the ability and the power to go anywhere.”
The newly rebranded Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being produced by DPS with Roc Nation, will take place on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
Two months after the release of his Billboard 200-topping album Heroes & Villains, Metro Boomin is continuing his hot streak by partnering with Budweiser for Super Bowl LVII.
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Reintroducing its tagline “This Bud’s for You,” the hip-hop superproducer will feature in the beer company’s “Six Degrees of Budweiser” commercial airing during the big game. The spot will kick off a new focus for the brand by reaching a younger audience and depicting authentic, first-hand experiences that shows the importance of human connection, determination and the American spirit.
The commercial, narrated by Kevin Bacon, is Budweiser’s interpretation of the idea that everyone can be traced by six degrees of separation. From Metro to a local food truck owner and construction worker, each individual is connected by their determination, spirit and a six-pack of Budweiser, which is passed from person-to-person until one beer remains. The final beer is then offered to the viewer, hence “this Bud’s for you.”
While Metro (born Leland Wayne) isn’t necessarily a beer drinker, the opportunity to partner with Budweiser for the Super Bowl felt like a step up in his career and a full-circle moment for him given his ties to St. Louis.
“Budweiser being in St. Louis and me being born and raised in St. Louis and always representing and speaking out for [the city], I saw it as a golden opportunity,” he told Billboard. “A lot of my closest friends growing up, some of my family and everybody like… Bud’s always been around. I remember going to the Anheuser-Busch factory, we had a field trip there when I was a kid. That just goes to show you how big of an impact Budweiser has always had on the whole city, even from the original Busch Stadium.”
Metro said he also resonated with the six degrees of separation concept since “that’s how I live my everyday life. I do everything regular, I’ve always been regular, I aspire to always be how I’ve always been because that’s how I see all of us We have our differences, but I feel like we’re more all the same more than anything,” he says humbly.
Back in December, the Grammy-nominated producer released his highly anticipated second solo album Heroes & Villains — creating his own sonic universe of good guys and bad guys via collaborators like 21 Savage, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug and more, who were turned into comic book sketches for the project’s rollout. Metro also dropped a short film starring himself and Morgan Freeman, whom he met for the first time in-person while filming the movie. (Metro and Freeman first worked together when the veteran actor narrated the producer and 21 Savage’s 2020 joint album Savage Mode 2.)
“That’s how I do my art. Put the younger generation and the older one and my generation, just everybody in the same car,” he explained. “On Heroes & Villains, it was like, ‘OK, what if we can get him on-camera and actually shoot something with him?’ because it’s like how do you level up? I thought that might be a little far-fetched, but he was down for that too!”
The album earned Metro his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200, along with all 15 tracks debuting on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Creepin’,” which currently sits at No. 4. The song, which features The Weeknd and 21, is a re-creation of Mario Winans’ 2004 hit “I Don’t Wanna Know.” While clearing the sample wasn’t easy, Metro said the track’s success is exceeding his expectations.
“I can’t say this about a lot of songs because I just try to make stuff that I love and hope it resonates with other people, but it’s really a rare occasion to where even after we made [‘Creepin”]. It was like, ‘OK. I know this is gonna go up,’” Metro said. “Not just because of me or because of The Weeknd, but also with it halfway being a cover of a song that I loved so much growing up, and just know how much it worked before [and] it getting a new spin for the next generation.
“Mario Winans is like a big brother to me, he helped out with some other stuff on the album, so on that end, we had all the love and support,” he continued. “On the end of the original sample, even before the Fugees’ [‘Ready or Not’], it was the Enya song [‘Boadicea’]. There was just a small hiccup in the road. We ended up getting it cleared, but they just had us change the name.”
The 29-year-old is already back in the lab, saying he plans to drop the villain’s version of the album in “probably like a week or two.” He also created a custom song that will be played in the Budweiser commercial.
“With my career, my head’s always down. I’m always working so I’m not always looking back like, ‘Oh, this album did this or this happened,’ you know?” he said. “Just like in the gym, I feel like this Super Bowl commercial is like when you start to see some gains. It’s one of them things where you can see [my] growth.”
This year marks the first that Apple Music will take over Pepsi’s role as sponsor for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and it’s going all out for the occasion. In addition to securing the one and only Rihanna to perform as headliner, the music streaming service will count down the next two weeks before game day with a multimedia “Rihanna’s Road to Halftime” launch, as announced Monday (Jan. 30).
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“Rihanna’s Road to Halftime” includes Apple Music features tailored specifically to the star’s music and fans. For example, subscribers can now listen to the Fenty Beauty founder’s catalog with Spatial Audio in Dolby Atmos, or they can take center stage by singing along with the new Apple Music Sing feature, compatible with iPhone and iPad models as well as the new Apple TV 4K.
Leading up to Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 12, Apple Music Radio will also celebrate the Barbados superstar’s career with “Rihanna Revisited Radio,” an eight-episode roundtable exploring the cultural impact of her music. Plus, a collection of 32 playlists featuring the top songs listened to by each NFL team in the locker room, the weight room and on game day will be made available to subscribers.
“Rihanna is one of the most prolific artists of our time, and we, along with her many fans across the globe, cannot wait to see her take the stage at the first Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music and Beats, in a statement. “We are excited to celebrate Rihanna, and give her fans a new way to experience her music with Spatial Audio, as well as exclusive content from Apple Music.”
Other special programming will include “Halftime Hype Radio,” a 10-part series reflecting on some of the most notable past Super Bowl Halftime performances and “Live from Super Bowl LVII,” a series of daily live broadcasts co-hosted by Zane Lowe that will capture the excitement in Arizona leading up to kickoff in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium. The day after the Super Bowl, Apple Music Radio will celebrate the debut of Apple Music’s Halftime Show sponsorship with a program called “Halftime Recap Radio.”
Back in 2007, Sarah McLachlan starred in a now-famous infomercial for the ASPCA, encouraging viewers to help saved abused animals to the tune of her heartstring-tugging 1998 ballad “Angel.” Now, the Canadian superstar is helping Busch Light’s rugged mascot find “shelter” in a new Super Bowl LVII commercial — though the two seem to have different ideas about what that means.
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“Three things are required in the great outdoors,” the Busch Guy tells the camera in the 30-second spot, amid a forest-filled landscape, pointing out that every camper needs food, drink (Busch Light, of course) and shelter.
That’s when McLachlan pops out from inside a tent, sitting alongside a massive “dog.” “Angel” begins to play as the singer says, “For just dollars a day, you can find helpless animals find shelter,” before the Busch Guy interrupts her.
“Wrong ‘shelter,’ Sarah,” he tells her, before pointing out that the “dog” next to her is actually a wolf.
“Busch Light shares my love of animals and the wilderness so, while it seems unexpected, this spot is a really clever and good-hearted mix of my passions and their brand,” McLachlan said in a statement. “Last year, Kenny G revived the beer brand’s classic ‘Head for the Mountains’ song and that’s a tough act to follow, but I love that Busch Light is playing into nostalgia again with a new rendition of my ‘Angel’ ASPCA commercial and I can’t wait to see how people react!”
“Our fans love nothing more than time in nature with an ice-cold Busch Light and that’s why we’re once again bringing the great outdoors to the biggest game of the year,” added Krystyn Stowe, head of marketing for Busch Family and Natural Family at Anheuser-Busch. “Busch Light fans will love our spin on Sarah McLachlan’s iconic commercial as they always appreciate a bit of humor that ultimately serves a good cause – especially when it comes to great outdoors we both hold dear.”
Busch Light will also be donating $25,000 to its partner, One Tree Planted, which helps to restore forests, create habitats for biodiversity and make a positive social impact around the world.
Watch Busch Light’s Super Bowl commercial featuring McLachlan below.
Dave Grohl is going to the Super Bowl. The Foo Fighters singer will appear in a commercial for Canadian whiskey brand Crown Royal slated to air during the big game on Feb. 12 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. During Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games the singer/guitarist appeared in a pair of 30-second teaser ad that begged more questions than they answered.
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Sitting at the console in a recording studio, Grohl grabs a pice of paper and rattles off what appears to be a random list of unrelated phrases. “Peanut butter? What?,” he says incredulously. “The Paint Roller? The battery? No! Trash bags? The replay? No way. The egg carton? Did you know the egg carton?” he asks one of his engineers, who nods knowingly.
“Did you know the carton? It says it right here. Whoa. Electric wheelchair. Did you know that, Lou? Hawaiian pizza?” At press time it was not clear what Grohl’s rundown meant. Is it a roster of things whose prices have skyrocketed during the post-pandemic era? A tally of dance moves from the 1950s? In a second 15-second teaser, Grohl merely says “thank you” over and over with different inflections into a microphone.
“Dave is a Crown Royal super fan and the perfect partner to spread a message of gratitude to the audience that is authentic to the brand,” said Crown Royal spokesperson Sophie Kelly in a statement.
The full ad is slated to air during the third quarter of the game in Glendale, Arizona. So far we’ve also seen previews of some other music celeb-heavy ads, including ones starring Ozzy Osbourne, Missy Elliott and Jack Harlow and Meghan Trainor.
Check out Grohl’s Crown Royal ad teasers.
Eight-time Grammy winner Chris Stapleton will become the latest country artist to usher in the Super Bowl, with a performance at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, Feb. 12 on FOX, just prior to the game’s kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Stapleton is known for his bluesy, supple vocal delivery as well as his songwriting chops (in addition to his own material, he’s written hits for Kenny Chesney, Josh Turner and Darius Rucker, among others). He’s also the reigning CMA male vocalist of the year, having won in the category six times. This year’s Super Bowl pregame performance lineup also includes R&B artist Babyface performing “America The Beautiful,” while Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Rihanna is this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performer.
Stapleton is the third consecutive country singer to handle national anthem duties prior to the big game since 2021–Eric Church joined Jazmine Sullivan for a rendition of the anthem in 2021, while Mickey Guyton performed the national anthem last year.
Here, Billboard looks back at other country music artists who have performed the national anthem throughout the years.
We’re less than three weeks away from the highly anticipated Rihanna concert, a.k.a the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, and the “Love on the Brain” singer is getting fans hyped for her upcoming performance on Friday (Jan. 27) with a new teaser video.
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In the clip shared to Twitter, RiRi strikes a number of poses in an oversized jersey and sweatpants from her new “Game Day” Savage X Fenty collection. “Pre gaming in @SavageXFenty,” she captioned the post.
The sporty Savage X Fenty drop features 17 styles, from hoodies to boxers, sweatpants, two-tone varsity jerseys, beanies, bandanas and tube tops, with sizes ranging from XXS to 4X. There’s also a white graphic tee with the important message: “Rihanna Concert Interrupted by a Football Game, Weird But Whatever.”
The newly rebranded Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being produced by DPS with Roc Nation, will take place on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
According to WWD, the singer will also launch a three-day “Game Day” pop-up shop in Los Angeles from Jan. 27-29 where customers will be able to shop the entire collection in a football-themed store. As is customary, new mom Rihanna is keeping details of her halftime extravaganza under tight wraps, telling ET in Nov., “I can’t believe I even said yes. It was one of those things that even when I announced it, I was like, ‘OK, I can’t take it back. Now, it’s like final.’ The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that,” she added. “But it’s nerve-racking. You want to get it right. You know, everybody’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”
The NFL announced today the musical lineup for its inaugural Pro Bowl Games, the multi-day programming slate that is replacing the traditional Pro Bowl exhibition game for the first time this year. Rae Sremmurd will headline the halftime show of the main event on Sunday, Feb. 5, which will be a flag football game between representatives of the AFC and NFC this year instead of a contact event.
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The main event will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, from 3pm-6pm EST on that Sunday on ABC and ESPN. In addition to Rae Sremmurd, performers include country singer Jessie James Decker singing the national anthem, the Las Vegas Academy Choir performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and additional appearances by DJ Esther Anaya and the Blue Man Group.
In addition to the flagship flag football game that Sunday, the Pro Bowl Games will include a skills competition on Thursday, Feb. 2 from 7pm-8:30 EST on ESPN, which will then continue on Sunday. That competition will include multiple rounds of dodgeball; a three-part “lightning round” event that will involve a water balloon toss and a water bucket challenge; a golf event; a quarterback accuracy competition; a “best catch” contest; a kicking tic-tac-toe challenge; and more. The winner of each challenge will earn points for their conference, which will be added to points earned from each of two initial flag football games on the Sunday; the points accumulated by all those events will then determine the opening score of the final flag football game. Hard to explain but sounds like fun.
The Pro Bowl Games are taking place the week between the NFL’s conference championship games and the Super Bowl, which will be held Sunday, Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona. Rihanna is headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the first year it will be presented by Apple Music.