Super Bowl Halftime Show: Broken Beyond Repair?
The internet tore Maroon 5 apart, but was a lackluster halftime performance really their fault?
While watching an eventually shirtless Adam Levine Sunday night, I amusingly scrolled through Twitter and Facebook. The hate/love ratio was typical for modern day social media, 30-1. Let's be honest with ourselves; we love to tear apart the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Once in a while, you get a Prince or Beyonce. More often than not, it falls along the lines of a trying too hard Black Eyed Peas, or past their prime The Who.
On paper, Maroon 5 seemed to strike the balance of being "okay" for Boomers/GenX and Millenials alike. The problem with something for everyone is you fail to really impress any of them. Many iconic cross-generational acts have already performed, which is why a nearly two decades old Maroon 5 seemed a little, diluted.
Does the show go young? It's evident the current crop of pop stars do not covet the gig nearly as much as the generations before them. The Super Bowl Halftime Show could be going the way of American Bandstand, or a slot on Saturday Night Live. Mass-appeal television doesn't hold the prestige for a generation who have grown-up with Vine/YouTube/live video. There's also the NFL's stance on social issues which have caused many of today's stars to shun any spotlight the Super Bowl offers. If the gap widens, will appearing on the halftime show soon be akin to a turn on Lawrence Welk?
Maroon 5 weren't the problem with this year's Halftime Show, but it's evident that a major overhaul is needed. Otherwise, get ready for an inevitable Imagine Dragons show come 2020.