I still love Adele, I still listen to Adele, and I still wish she would just go back to making love songs and bittersweet bummercore songs. Adele has been pretty quiet this year, which is common for her – she can really disappear and not make news for months at a time. I have no idea if she’s working on new music or just enjoying her life (I would assume the latter). Well, even though I love Adele, I have known for some time why Adele has never been chosen to play the Super Bowl Halftime show. She’s not a multi-hyphenate “performer” – she just stands in one place and sings during her concerts. She’s not putting on a big circus-like show. Still, after this year’s amazing theatrics (courtesy of Kendrick Lamar), maybe the NFL and Roc Nation want to keep next year’s Halftime Show more lowkey. That’s the rumor going around:
Adele has been approached about playing the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show, insiders tell Page Six — but she has not been booked to play the gig. Rumors have been swirling that Adele could take the field for the big game in Santa Clara, Calif., next February, and we hear she’s been in talks. But there’s also been buzz halftime candidates also include No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs fan Taylor Swift, as well as “Party in the U.S.A.” singer Miley Cyrus, who has never played the high-profile gig.
Adele’s fiancé Rich Paul is one of sports’ biggest agents, and the British crooner has attended the Super Bowl before as a fan. But she quipped at a Las Vegas gig to her fans in 2024 of her being in the stands, “Last year I went, obviously I didn’t go for the football at all. I went to watch Rihanna.” She’d also said before the game at a live show, “I’m going just for Rihanna. I don’t give a flying f–k.”
Either way, NFL insiders have been buzzing that Adele is this year’s pick to play the gig, but another source close to the show says Adele has not been officially booked.
The “Hello” singer has said she previously turned down the gig in 2017 game. She told a Los Angeles crowd in 2016: “First of all, I’m not doing the Super Bowl… I mean, that show is not about music. I can’t dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I did say no.”
The case for Adele: Jay-Z and his team love Adele, and Adele is a huge fan of Beyonce and Jay-Z; she’s an evergreen talent with a catalog of songs loved by every demographic; the NFL would like someone less “controversial” than Kendrick, and Adele is as universally beloved as you can get, especially with football fans and corporate types. The case against Adele: many of her songs are super-sad, and it would end up being like an anti-hype Halftime show; this whole thing doesn’t seem to be her vibe; and she probably thinks it should go to an American artist. It will be interesting to see how this plays out – in Roc Nation’s shoes, I would choose Adele over Miley. And Taylor isn’t doing it next year, come on.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
