Every Single Album - All the Music News to Come Out of the Super Bowl

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Nora and Nathan talk about everything music from the Super Bowl, including: Taylor Swift's time at the event and whether or not Travis Kelce might retire soon (1:21), Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance and how it compared to past halftime shows (30:00), and Lady Gaga's pre-game performance on Bourbon Street (44:51). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi everyone, it's Amy Poehler, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang. In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice. Just be yourself, and the guests will come. Just, if you're going to do this, really do it. Commit to it. Don't be the celebrity that this is their, like, sixth thing they're doing. Have a good podcast. Keep your approval rating. I hear you got a new gig, girl. That's so fabulous. So glad you're working.

Is it apart for me? I love true crime and cooking podcast. Is there any way you could combine the two? So you're doing a podcast? That is awesome. Would you happen to know my blood type? I've got to put it down on this form. Hey, I got an email from my agent saying I need to record a video for you for charity,

but then I clicked the link and it took me to a GoFundMe page. So I kind of have a bad feeling about this. Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast. So, join me for good hang. It's rough out there. We're just trying to lighten it up a little. To every single album, I'm Nora Prysciati, and as always, I am joined by Nathan Hubbard. Nathan, it is the Tuesday after the Super Bowl.

I am just back from New Orleans. How are you doing? How is your Super Bowl Sunday? How has it been since the Grammy since we last chatted? I mean, who cares? You were in New Orleans at the Super Bowl. You've extracted yourself from the depths of New Orleans is like Vegas. Like if you're there for too many days, you start to get the shakes, I think.

So I'm sure you had travel issues getting in and out of there. It's a very special town. How was the Super Bowl? How were the vibes? How are you? Are you alive? I'm alive. I do think that I'm like 30% gumbo.

I had a great time. It was actually my first time in North. Orleans. I made a real error this morning because my flight got delayed a bunch getting back. Because it was, New Orleans was a great. New Orleans was a great host. That's a small airport for the amount of people that are going in and out. Small streets. And they were doing, yeah, they were doing their damnedest. They were doing their best. Everyone was so nice, like, getting us through checking bags and all of that. But everything was just so backed up. So it wasn't, it didn't even seem like anything happened, like nothing happened with the plane or anything. It was just like,

okay, half an hour, an hour, hour and a half, two hours. Like, we're just sitting there. So I got home kind of late, but, you know, no big deal. But really eager to, like, get back into my routine, which normally at home involves going to a workout class on Tuesday mornings. And I'm, like, barely sent you in and just clicking things on my phone and I book it. And then I show up this morning. I drag myself out of bed.

And I realize that they're at the end of, like, a Warrior Week thing. And I have booked myself into a 90 minute fitness class that is usually 45 minutes. Bad decision making. I almost cried. I almost walked out. Yeah, it was probably good for me. But man, I was saying, I was like, this is just not the right thing to do after a week of like, bignets and general New Orleans. very rich cuisine.

Your Instagram story was a very interesting tour of New Orleans. There were lots of shots of you going into places. I assumed that you did a tour of duty through the commander's palaces and Arnos and all of the yummy places to eat. Because also Taylor Swift seemed to be doing that all week long. And I wonder... Yeah, we did. We overlapped.

Nathan, we overlapped. We had one overlapping culinary experience, not at the same time, but at the same restaurant, which now the name of it, I'm blanking on, but it was a French restaurant. The name of it you're forgetting? What do you mean you're forgetting the restaurant that you overlapped with Taylor at? Lillette, Lillette, Lillette. Okay.

Delicious. Yeah. Well, I mean, she was in and out of restaurants. She definitely got there earlier than maybe you might have expected. certainly when she flew from Tokyo last year. Yeah, I was surprised by that. Yeah, and I'd sort of forgotten about the timing with the Tokyo show, so I guess in that sense,

it kind of tracks. But I was surprised to see her and more surprised to see that, like, she and Travis and Brittany and Patrick were having date night the Wednesday before the game. Yeah, that was interesting. Just to see, typically sort of don't see that. Yeah.

Was it that they were not locked in? It started to make me wonder if her being there early was maybe a leading indicator that she was going to get up and do something with Kendrick, although that seemed a little bit far-fetched to begin with, a little too much to hope for. But, I mean, let's just start from the basic standpoint of this. Taylor Swift has not been involved in an ass kicking like this,

maybe ever in her life. Like, this is one of the most traumatic things that has ever happened to Taylor Swift. And her face up in the suite, which we did not see very often. I mean, my son and I racked up a bunch of bets between us for the Super Bowl,

like how long is the national anthem going to be, heads or tails, color of the Gatorade. The over under, on number of times we were going to see Taylor Swift was six and a half.

That's what the betting line was. And so that's basically where they assumed people were going to have trouble deciding we got way fewer than six and, six and a half, seven Taylor Swift shots on screen. They just basically stopped showing her.

And some of that was because Travis just didn't even have much of a participation in the game. Neither did any of the chiefs, one might say. But I'm struggling to think about a more, you know, certainly disappointing. Taylor was not this bummed when she lost the album of the year last week. I can tell you that, right? Yeah, for sure. I mean, look, like the chiefs got waxed and Travis fell down a lot. So that doesn't add up to a lot of opportunities for the Fox crew to pan to an excited and exuberant Taylor Swift, you know, cheersing her vodka crann and jumping up and down in the box.

Six and a half, even if they'd been playing well seems like a lot to me. But the moments when they did pan to her, I thought they got a lot out of. I mean, first of all, I'm like so there are moments when it's just nice to have a platform like this. I keep seeing all of this commentary about the fact that she got booed. Yeah. And this being somehow like a reflection of general public sentiments towards Taylor Swift. No, you dummies. These are Philadelphia Eagles fans.

They booed Santa Claus, okay? They booed Santa Claus. They throw batteries at people. They're deranged. It was a absolute given that when she was put up on screen, after parading through New Orleans restaurants that start with L's and A or whatever strange

sort of French New Orleans Louisiana words go into those restaurants of course people with the Mahomes people were going to be like no way is that fan base going to cheer for her no chance at this point she is the most public

prominent supporter of the opposing team in the Super Bowl that beat the Philadelphia at Eagles also in the Super Bowl two years ago. It is not. And she got this. She totally understood this when she did the little side eye and chuckles. Like she was not.

The side eye was cute. She knew what this was. It was so funny. This was not about Trump or Maga. Get the fuck out of here. This was Eagles fans. Bradley Cooper probably booed her. Just my two cents.

To me in the stadium, it sounded a little bit more mixed because I think people approach him as a political figure and not a chiefs representative, although he, you know, has more of a connection with that team than the Eagles. To me in the stadium, it sounded like he got booed too.

So when you read the stuff that's like, you know, this is what happens at the Super Bowl. They cheer for Trump and boo Taylor Swift. You are getting played. That's not what happened. Yeah. I do not think it was a political reaction.

I think it was a perfectly understandable. And by the way, reasonable reaction among Eagles fans who travel very well, and who have not won a million Super Bowls. Philly's been a heartbroken sports city, as it's been well documented. And who are deeply,

and I say this with love, deranged. Yes. They had a prison, a jail in the old Eagles football stadium to deal with the fans. On site, a judge would deal with them and get them, you know, thrown in the slammer real.

I mean, like, that is the kind of Eagles fan. So just call it what it is. When you show up every single home game, on national television in chiefs gear, and then you show up on the big screen at the Super Bowl. Eagles fans are going to boo. So that's what it was. And let's not make this.

Let's just, we don't have to make it more than it needed to be. It just, everybody's okay. Taylor's fine. She knows what this was. She was smart enough to understand it. I do not think that she looked okay as the chiefs were getting panced midway through the first quarter. I mean, she really had this look of bewilderment.

Like, what is this? Failure? I do not know of what you speak. Tell me more, alien life form, about this feeling I'm having, this experience that I'm not used to. Mass, utter, complete public failure. What is this? I doubt she'd really considered that as a possible outcome. Because, look, like, I think most people picked the chiefs.

They were only slightly favored, but most people picked them, there's just this whole spend this whole thing all season long where they just find a way to win. Yeah, the mystique around Pat Mahomes.

Even if you didn't, yeah, but even if you didn't think, even if you picked the Eagles or even if you were thinking about, you know, possible ways that the Eagles could win that game,

I don't think anybody thought it would look like that where they just couldn't move the ball where they were totally dominated where the points that they scored were totally meaningless. I mean, it was the worst,

the worst statistical game of Patrick Mahomes's entire career. He was lost. Just from the start. And so I just don't think that anybody had really wrapped their minds around that as a possibility. And that's got to include Taylor. I just want to get your quick sort of football take here because we're talking about the goat in Taylor. I want to talk about this goat discussion with Mahomes.

Like you said, this was his worst statistical game, period. You covered the Patriots before you came to the ringer. So you have sort of a in-depth understanding of time. Brady's career. From your perspective, in this moment and time... Yes, I follow greatness everywhere I go. Is there a way for Mahomes to catch Brady after this experience? Yeah.

No, I think there is. But I think... I mean, I wrote our game column afterwards and ran the numbers on that a little bit, which is, you know, it's not that complicated. It's really... The race is very much on. Because if the Chiefs had won, he's seven years into his career as a starter,

they would have been to five and won four. And at that point for Brady, it was, they'd won three and lost to the Giants twice. And well, not yet. Oh, they hadn't lost the second time. Okay, got it. And so, you know, you could say, well, the remaining championships are never a given.

it's really hard. It's hard to keep getting back there. But Mahomes would have been outpacing him, certainly, outpacing Brady. And I think if you, you know, if you watch a lot of football, it's a sport that's about winning, not about what it looks like. But Patrick Mahomes generally looks like a more talented player of the position than Tom Brady. So you would start to have a lot of things adding up to say he's not there yet. You got to cross the finish line. It's about collecting those trophies at the end of the day.

but he's ahead relative to how long he's been doing this. Now at best it's even. Right. He's lost to Brady twice in the Super Bowl. He's gotten embarrassed one time to the Eagles. Well, he's lost to Brady once. He's lost to Brady a second time in the AFC championship game. And he just got waxed with Brady calling the game,

which does create this funny impression that like, if Tom Brady's kicking around somewhere, Patrick Mahomes can't play. He's can't play anywhere as well as usual. It's an interesting comparison to me because Brady, I think he actually think this came up. I saw this online. You know, the funny thing about covering the game is like you don't listen to the broadcast that carefully and there's some stuff that you see that I wasn't totally sure of the context of this.

But I think Brady did a pregame interview where he brought up something that I've heard him talk about in the past, which is that when he was really young and when he won particularly the first one, but even the first few with the Patriots, he sort of didn't understand. understand how hard it is and how hard it is to just stay on top and keep getting back. Right. And I wonder if Mahomes is going to experience that a little bit because, you know, the Patriots, they won their first three and then there was the big drought where they got there twice, but then lost to the Giants both times in 07 and 11.

And then it wasn't until the 2010s that they got back and sort of had the second half of the dynasty. And you can see that happening in the Chiefs, right? Like, I don't know if Travis is going to stick around. I think they won all these close games in ways that kind of made the closeness feel like a strength. Like they were always going to just find a way and it was so impressive. And then now they lose the way that they lost and you sort of look back on it and go like, huh, maybe having your guard play tackle all year wasn't a great idea.

Maybe not having a better running game wasn't a great idea. maybe the fact that the receivers aren't great separators, you know, maybe it was sort of hubris to not address those things. And there's a lot that they're going to have to figure out. I mean, they will be fine. Yeah. Long answer, the short version is,

I think it's complicated now, and I do think that you certainly cannot say that Mahomes' achievements to date really come anywhere close to surpassing Brady's. And Brady has never lost like that in a Super Bowl, certainly. Well, I asked you that question to then pivot to Travis because what does he do from here? I heard all of the stories about his halftime Fire Me Up speech.

He didn't. Which, by the way, there were identical stories last year, which is sort of neither here nor there, but it got leaked in the exact same way. Yeah, you wonder if there's just like the Travis hype machine about his. and being a hype machine for the team. Yeah, like Travis gives a lot of speeches. Like, he's been a big part of that team. But what he didn't give was a retirement speech. And his brother didn't seem to be talking afterwards like Travis was going to retire.

What happens from here? You know, in the week leading up to it, he spoke like he wanted to be playing football for the next two or three years. He didn't look great in that game, Nora. But it started with Mahomes, who did not look great in that game, didn't really give Travis an opportunity to look. that good. We've speculated a bunch about this, and this is pure speculation. But based on what we know now, what happens to Travis from here? This is not at all based on reading the tea leaves of what he said,

or, you know, body language or tone or anything like that. I guess if the real answer is I don't know, but if I had to guess, I would say that he retires. I just think he can tell that. I did not expect that from you at all. You think Kian Taylor are going to ride off into the sunset

after this. I mean, I don't know. Confused, bewildered Taylor is the last time we're going to see her in the stands

at a football game. Holy cow. Hot tape. Here are the things. Here are the things that I think. I think part of the reason why the three Pete

was so important to them was because it would have been historic, something that no one would, you know, no team's ever done before.

It's something that the Patriots never did. I don't think Travis is going to stick around to try to get to three consecutive Super Bowls again. Right. So that's off the table. And then we're talking about, okay, like, is another championship is great, right?

But he's already done that. It's not uncharted territory in the same way. Yeah. I think that he is really physically not the same player that he was two years ago. And, you know, last year, you could see it, but he was really able

to turn it on in the playoffs. This year, you saw that happen a little bit, but noticeably not as much. And then the other thing is that I think that there are 101 opportunities that are waiting for him

outside of football. And so to me, that just logically says that that's, that equals retirement more often than it equals not. Interesting.

Well, it is an important question to tie the football back to the to the taylor situation just because i do think um they have certainly had a long distance relationship for a lot of this time and this is the first time that taylor swift has had unscheduled time in her future at least not being on the road and she's she certainly continues to create because she's in new york and we're seeing her jump in and out of studios here and there but uh and we know there's more content to come but but But how it intersects with her life, this is really the first time where she may potentially

alter what she does every day to not accommodate, but to sort of jigsaw puzzle fit snugly in with another partner's life. So it's going to be very interesting to see what happens. I'm going to move you to the halftime show. Wait, can we just cover a few more? I feel that there are a few more tailored tidbits. Oh, my God. The boots, we didn't even talk about.

about the boots. Yeah, first and foremost, the boots. And I have to say that everyone who DM'd me or tagged me, I appreciate you so much. I felt so seen being a part of those conversations. Because I did indeed chuckle to myself when I saw those big old boots stomping down the tunnel. I texted you that I actually thought the fact that she didn't walk in in red was weird and was maybe an indication that perhaps she was going to show up on stage. There was a flicker of a moment

in which I was like, wait. You really thought she was going to like hop up for bad blood. I did not think that. I thought that it was a nod to the fact that the chiefs were wearing fair whiteout uniforms and warmups,

particularly because Brittany also showed up wearing all white. That's what I thought. fine. I just think her color is red. It's her go-to thing. She wore it everywhere, including to the Grammys, and she didn't wear it to the Super Bowl in which the Chiefs were playing. That was a little strange to me, but all's fair in love and football. And I just wanted to give you the floor there to really comment on the outfit. How do you feel in the aggregate about the fashion choices of the last week? You were very concerned coming in pre-Grammys. Exiting Super Bowl, it feels like

the boots were something, but maybe the rest of it was okay for you? I don't know. The bedazzled jean shorts, you were all right? I mean, I liked the blazer. I thought it was very, you know,

you're making me feel like I'm the man vibes. Yeah, it was. The Hollywood Reporter actually did an article on her game day style and the evolution of it since last season

when she wore, you know, she wore a lot more like Chiefs Apparel and the small businesses and, you know, the custom puffer by Kristen Newscheck and all of that stuff and how that's transitioned and said, which I've made note of and found was very interesting, that her touring an event stylist, whose name is Joseph Falconer, had started doing the game day looks this year, which if you look back, you can really see. because one, you know, she put all the chief swag away, basically,

and started wearing a lot of designer clothes. But I also think that you can kind of see a lot of the choices they made with the wardrobe for the Erez tour repeating themselves. Like some of the, you know, the corsets are a little bit like the body suits. Dude. The big old boots are always there. We're so far outside my understanding of this. I mean, I'm not.

which is why I'm just like monologuing. But okay, but think about it. Think about it. Think about it. She wears a lot of boots. She wears a lot of like, she's not wearing a body suit, but she's wearing tops especially

that kind of mimic that very like corseted style that at least for the lover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then the blazer was some of the lover era stuff. So I just thought that that was interesting. You know, I think I've made my opinions on the boots generally known. But I thought she seemed like she was having a good time.

And I got what I came for at the Grammys. And I'm going to choose to be happy about that. Okay. So, but did we see her with a drink in hand? Um, I did not see her with a drink in hand. And that's the first time in public that I've seen her without a drink in hand since she walked off the stage. I was going to say the exact same thing.

This is what we do. I track the boots and you track the. the cocktails. Yeah. Well, we just didn't get a lot of that. And there also was a surprising lack of postgame content. We didn't get any video, right? Yeah, I mean, there was video of Travis, which by the way, if you want to talk about outfits. Trav, my man, what is going on? Come on, man. Like, that does not say focus. That says mental energy was expended on this outfit. Here is the problem, and players do this sometimes, is like, you wear the goofy outfit to the game, and you're thinking about winning. And no one thinks about what's going to happen if you lose badly.

The walk of shame. And then you have to put on your Ron Burgundy ass outfit and go find your girlfriend's sweet. Major walk of shame. It really was hard to see. I mean, it looked like that, pardon the sort of pun, but New Year's Day sort of scene where you know the guy walking in the like shredded ass, like crumpled ass tuxedo walking home or the dress with the heels like the limp and the britt. Like you can just always see it in the morning.

It's not good. And that's what that walk was. More like the day after Halloween. Yeah. He was bummed. We saw him going, I mean, look, I think the reason you didn't see the videos of them is because they lost. Like, I've, they do still generally, teams still have the party after they lose because you've paid the musical act. They've paid for the, yeah, exactly.

And it's a weird vibe. It's a totally weird vibe. I've only ever been inside one of them. And it's just like very odd because you have a lot of people there that are, you know, marketing and their hangers on and they're just sort of adjacent. And they're happy to be partying. But then you have the people that this is all. and they're just super, super depressed if they even show up.

The telecast, Brady was like, you just never get over it. You never get over it. He's like, I'm still not over it. He was saying it somewhat gleefully knowing that Mahomes was going to have those feelings, but yeah, there's nothing to celebrate in that moment for the people closest to the team.

It hurts. Yeah, so I would, I bet she didn't go. I mean, maybe. But if I were them particularly with, you know, just the amount of attention. You don't want attention on you in a moment like that. I bet they didn't go. And that's where a lot of the video came from.

The other video last year came from on the field. And the losing team gets out of there as fast as they possibly can. So I think that's the reason we didn't see much. Where she goes from here will be very interesting. It is an interesting life moment for our dear Taylor Swift. There is still much content for her to publish. There are things ahead. But she now has a break with a significant other who has not a lot to do here,

although he's got a big decision to make. They've got really interesting career choices ahead of them. I'm excited to see the ways in which they support each other and how they spend their time together from here. I hope they also just vibe out a little, you know? They need a vibe out. Watch some White Lotus. just hang.

Last question on Taylor, what did you think of the crew? We had her family, we had Ashley, we had Ice Spice, and we had the sister's hyme. Yeah,

we did not have Blake lively, as you had mused, might take place. To me, I mean, there was no Lana, and I think maybe the fact that Lana

wasn't there was the breaking of the, of the superstition. I mean, clearly, ICE was there to contend.

the vibe. I don't know. It just seemed like if you're going to replicate the box. Lana is kind of surprising, especially because her husband vocationally spends his time so near near there, which I did go to, by the way. I saw it from your Instagram story. I went to Lana Del Rey's husband's alligator tour, but he wasn't there. There's three guys. We had a one and three shot. Did you take a boat tour? Yeah, we did it. I saw so many gators. That's a podcast in and of itself. We'll come back. I saw so many gators. I saw so many gators.

I saw, I went on the alligator boat tour on which Lana Del Rey initially fell in love. And our wonderful guide, uh, detailed to myself and my friends how in Louisiana, they have these, um, they're called like Naturia or something. These like road, large rodents that are invasive species. And they breed like crazy. So there's a bounty on these. animals, which I'm going to be honest, they look like giant rats. Yeah. And you get, from the Louisiana state government, you get like $6 an animal.

Right. It's like the python hunts in the Everglades. Well, sure. I mean this in the best way possible. It is some redneck shit in the best way possible. Yeah. This man told us that he made $37,000. last year, just by going out on his boat.

And I love animals, like, it's, but this is just, there's something so funny about this. Going out on his boat with a, you know, six pack of beers on a shotgun and just shooting large rats and collecting them and taking them into City Hall or whatever. And I need you to understand that that is the exact experience wherein Lana Delray met the man she is now married to. Hey, to each their own. We had a fabulous time. We had an absolutely fabulous

time. I met several gators, Brutus, Bubba. And I think one of them was named like Ashley or something. I did not hold one. I was offered the opportunity to hold one. I didn't do it. Look, some people, it's a friendship bracelet with my number. Some people, it's shooting giant Louisiana rodents. You just never know what's going to trigger love.

I can't believe I didn't even lead with that. It's like I've lived a thousand lives in the last eight days or whatever. I forgot that that happened. Okay. Thus concludes Taylor Talk, I think. Do you want to talk about the halftime show? I do. Can you just give us on site what it was like?

I've really enjoyed it. To me, F stroke just went viral. Right stroke, put a baby in a be humble. Sit down. To me, it felt defiant in a way that was really exciting and satisfying. I thought that Kendrick just had a stage presence that I think especially came through on TV, but also came through. you know, it's not, it's for TV. It's not for the stadium.

So the angles are weird sometimes. But it even came through in the stadium, which I think is really impressive. I feel like I've seen a lot of different reactions. Some people really loved it. I think some people... Nora, there are a lot of white people who did not get it. Like, that's the best way to say it.

And I think some of that is for lack of trying. I think in other cases, this was a set list. that, you know, it included two unreleased songs. It focused a lot on an album that was released in November. So there's a version of a Kendrick Lamar halftime show that, you know, some of those people are not trying to get it and actually don't want to get it. And I don't care about those people. Those people are lost cause.

There's a different version of a Kendrick Lamar halftime show that I think is a little bit more big tent in a way that it's the Super Bowl halftime show. It's kind of for normies. And, you know, I don't know if that's objectively better, but I do think that that would have been different and produced a different outcome. To me, I just felt that there was an energy to it that felt exciting to me.

In particular, you know, by the time, and this is pretty early, when he was doing humble, and all the dancers are, aligned is the flag, and they're sort of coming down the steps, and he's coming up the steps. Like, it just, you know, the hair was standing up on the back of my dad. The present of the United States is in the box. Like, it was a very interesting and bold statement for sure.

There was danger. Because I think the other group of people who were maybe not entirely satisfied with it is I've seen in a fair amount of reviews. There was one in Rolling Stone. There was a really good piece in New York Magazine that I didn't. agree with, but I thought was really interesting, that were sort of like, you know, this wasn't, this could have been a more radical statement. Yes. It wasn't Beyonce coming in with lemonade into the cold play set. Yeah. But at the same time, that, that was a cold play show, you know, that was the cold play halftime show. This was the Kendrick Lamar halftime show. I think it's different when you

are the headliner, when it's your name on it, when it's not a, you know, oh, whoa, surprise. It's, this is what you're coming to present. I really felt that to me, the energy was aggressive in a way that I think met what a lot of people were looking for from that performance in our current cultural moment. I think reasonable people can disagree with that. I think Kendrick, you know, generally has a lot of. lot to say and spends a lot of time thinking about the idea of like what people want from him and whether or not he's capable or even interested in sort of being the person who's carrying

the weight of all of those expectations on his shoulders. I thought that some of the stuff with Samuel L. Jackson kind of spoke to that in a way that was really interesting. So I really enjoyed it. I don't know that it'll go down as like an all-time great half-time show just because I do think that there are a lot of people who don't know those songs. Yeah, it just won't. Like a lot of people don't know the songs. And that's okay, it won't. But I do think that it will be remembered because of the Drake element

and because of the pettiness of it and the grin and the fucking bootcut jeans and the chain with the Lowercase A and Serena Williams Crip Walking on the state. Like, it'll be remembered for that. And it'll be remembered by the people who

take the time to engage with it. Because I did think that it was pretty well executed, if not, like, you know, the one that I want to go watch on YouTube 800 times over and over again. Yeah. So I think, on the one hand, I don't believe that this performance, necessarily grew the Kendrick tent.

I'm not sure that demand for his worldwide tour will go up as a result. I'm also not sure that this one belongs up on the trophy case along with Prince playing Purple Rain in the rain. Or you two running the names of the 9-11 victims on the screen. And I'm not sure that was the point. I'm not sure he was aspiring for that level of visual performance. I think it played its part.

I will say that, you know, when Rock Nation did the deal with the NFL in a moment of crisis for the NFL, at least public relations-wise, crisis for the NFL, where they did this deal with Jay-Z and Rock Nation to help produce and curate the Super Bowl halftime show, Jay-Z got a lot of flack for sort of bailing out the NFL and for aligning with the man and all those things. And if you just fast forward to Sunday, I do not think at this moment in time that that performance would have been showcased in the way that it was if not for Jay-Z. And so if, in fact, rap and hip-hop are as important to the culture as Kendrick declared when he accepted his two awards, two of the big awards, for Song and Record of the Year at the Grammys, you know, you have to step back and give Jay-Z some credit

for having the vision to understand the power of that platform and to grab a piece of it and to grab some control of it to make sure that an artist like this would have that moment. It was not the Dre snoop performance of a few years back that I think was maybe more accessible, to your point, because of the catalog of music that was played there. Top-d-off bottom-all, yeah, I'm burning it up. DPGC, go ahead and turn it on up.

D-P-T, LBC, yeah, we go get back up. And that was really a set celebration of hip-hop overall. This felt a little more esoteric, I guess. And it would not surprise me if next year there is a more Nashville-based country music, you know, Stapleton and the up-and-comers and Chesney and McGrath. Like that, it seems like it's just about time for that. not five years past time for that. But I think that this was a really interesting, deep performance

if you do the work to get underneath the catalog of a Pulitzer Prize winner and the visual performance that he put on in front of the president in that moment. Who left, like, five minutes after? That was kind of funny. I really agree. The NFL is not a good subject for purity tests

because it's going to fail all of them. they, the stupid end racism logos that they put in the end zones, which were a really hollow gesture when they, they did it, they went ahead and removed those for the Super Bowl this year, which is like, it's like in the onslaught of news that, that we're all dealing with on a daily basis, it just seems like this little thing. It's like really, really wild to me that they no longer think that that's like a good thing for them to be broadcasting. Unless I guess the point of view is like, we did it, guys, we're all good, mission accomplished. It's a choice to get into business with those people. Like, you know, to some extent I am, to Jay-Z obviously did the deal and, you know, you got to work with who you're working with. I think he's done a really good job. I think they've chosen really interesting performers. I think shows themselves have been really, really good.

and to your point, a lot of people just wouldn't have seen these halftime shows were it not for their partnership. So again, if you want to, if you want to score it based on purity tests, that's fine. But I just don't think that that's the most helpful way to look at what that partnership is meant.

And I do think that this show is a really, really good example of what's been gained based on that partnership. Well, it didn't look like the most expensive halftime show of all time, but it might become the most expensive halftime show of all time, because you now had, he did play, not like us, and he did look at that camera with that grin and call out Drake directly. And he did even reference, you know, they love to sue, Yep.

I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue. And so now you've got that song, having been intentionally broadcast around the world to a broad audience. We have wondered and speculated on this pod why Drake has been suing his label, but not Kendrick directly.

And I do wonder if right after that there were a bunch of lawyers on a Zoom with Drake or his representative saying, okay, we're going to wait for the ratings to come out, enter those numbers into our model, and we've got all we need for a defamation case with massive damages. Let's just watch this space to see what comes of this. Because there is no doubt after that performance about who lost the battle, right?

But the war is maybe not over if Drake decides that ultimately he maybe lost the rat battle, but he wants to win a war in the courts. We'll see. We'll see. Now, also possible right after that happens, Drake is on a Zoom with a bunch of lawyers who point out that while Kendrick did the song, he did not say certified pedophile.

He did a minor, but he didn't do that verse. I doubt that's why, but you never know. I mean, or if that's a censorship thing, I think it's the NFL, not fear of litigation, but you still never know. And maybe it ends up being both in some way, shape, or form. Yeah. Well, it was a, let's see, after years of really exciting games and halftime performances that seemed to be bigger tent, it was less of an exciting game, and maybe what ended up being a smaller tent but deeper Super Bowl performance.

So, hey, we got something different. It was still a big cultural moment that a lot of people were talking about. another performance we got at the Super Bowl. I don't know if you saw this because it was more for it was more for the on-hand crowd, I guess, but there's like a pre-game concert that happens. And Post Malone did it this year. Only a year after he sang America the Beautiful

before the Super Bowl last year. Do I need to put this man on the last year? like Bruno Mars gambling debt watch. Like, Post Malone will show up to anything. Yeah, that's Post Malone. I mean, he was on Taylor's record. He was on Beyonce's record. Everybody was on his record.

Post Malone is here for the hang. That's what he's here for. I mean, that's great. That's totally great. And I'm happy for him. I just, I do feel that his ubiquity is borderline shocking. Like in what way? Because he goes to every event.

He seems to say yes to everything. What is it that you say about Miley Cyrus? She picks her spots? I'm not saying I'm tired of Post Malone. I like Post Malone. I'm not sure Post Malone is picking his spots. No, he's not. And the quite, look, do you think that that is hurting his brand?

Is there an exposure issue with him? The bands that usually do this, this, and now maybe, look, maybe that's doing better and they want to get bigger people. But like, I think last year it was like the chain smokers or something that did this. Like, it's not, I know the chain smokers have had some really big songs. It doesn't scream, I'm a real A-lister. Yeah, I agree. What did you think?

I don't think Post Malone is really trying to scream, I'm a real A-lister. But this man was on the Beyonce album and the Taylor Swift album. And I'm wondering if he should just set a slightly higher bar for himself. Well, I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think my question is, what about Gaga? Did you see the pregame, I mean, from whatever box you were sitting in? Did you see the pregame Gaga performance?

And the weird-ass ways in which, like, everybody from Goodell to Michael Strahan were, like, hanging out in shirt and Tom Brady, like, that was some awkward ass shit. Raise your head. Yes. Yes. She was good. I mean, some of them aren't. She was great.

I thought she was phenomenal. Great hat. Yeah. That's a good moment. Like, the sort of tribute song has a weight to it that the pregame concert doesn't. I'll stop talking about post alone.

Yes. Look, like when those people, like, you know, Roger Goodell, Tom Brady, the sort of like, you need to walk slowly in a straight line, stare stoically to camera, and... What was the deal with that? Look solemn. Yeah.

They just don't know how to do it. They can't do it. They can't not be awkward. They do the, like, you know, they need to be holding two mugs. They don't know what to do with their hands. Super awkward men standing around Gaga, who was, again, doing great. But the setting was just... Michael Strayhan pulled it off.

Michael Strayhan can pull anything off. Michael Strayhan did fine. I don't know, man. It just, it got pretty... Brady was wearing the L-A-F-D t-shirt that he had incredibly strangely tucked into his pants. Yeah, what was the tucking? I don't get it.

It was just weird. It was like to the side. I don't know. I think he was trying to make it look cool. He's going through it, man. He's like posts and catpicks on his Instagram. The general schmaltz worked for me for most. of the pre-Super Bowl stuff.

The Brad Pitt stuff, give it to me. I don't even care whatever that person wearing a Tom Cruise suit was doing. That even worked for me. It's fine. Gaga's performance herself was great. That particular part of those people, it just was so contrived and staged.

I really struggled to, I just wish they'd cleared them out and let her and some little monsters on Bourbon Street do her thing. Like, they would have been awesome. Or it was four first responders who I believe were watching, you know, had been positioned to get to watch Gaga, perform, hold my hand on Bourbon Street, which they filmed. They could have just shown those first responders watching Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga singing. We don't really need to see Gail Benson.

No one cares. No. We don't need to ask Tom Brady to walk in a straight line. Like, we don't need to do any of this. But like, that's the Super Bowl. This always happens. They just don't quite know. They don't know what to do with their hands.

Like, they have extreme don't know what to do with my hand syndrome. Well, generally speaking, I think it wasn't a music meets football weekend. So I enjoyed it. Totally. And it sort of caps off what for me was a great week for music. Like the Grammys did it right. And I think the Super Bowl was interesting and did it fine. and now we can really turn our attention

to what's coming in 2025. For me, the chapter on 2024 is closed. Now we look ahead to 2025. New stuff coming. I'm all in, Nora. I'm all in too. And I think that, you know, it's nice that maybe we're ending here

talking about Gaga because I will say I think that she's positioned herself very sabbly in the last couple of, in the last several weeks, including with that performance, just sort of staying top of mind for people. Because meanwhile, if we talk about things that are, you know, to come later this year and even pretty soon, Gaga's doing the performance. She was at the Grammys. And we talked about, we talked about Abercadabra. We talked about the MasterCard commercial of it all last week.

But meanwhile, that song's getting some traction. And I know that it's sort of ironic to bring this up, while Lady Gaga literally has the number one song, like, in the world just consistently with Bruno Mars, but I can't address, die with a smile anymore. Abercadabra is working for people, and it's working for me. And I think that we can now say she has squarely beaten the Katie Perry allegations. Yes.

No doubt about it. That is no longer up for debate. I am absolutely sure that the little monsters are loving abercadabra. There's no doubt about it. It is clearly doing very well in the club. And I don't know if it is the size. It's going to be disease by a mile, right? Yeah.

It was in the top 10 on the Spotify global chart. I think I looked this afternoon and it was down. Yeah. but it's, it's getting, it's getting, you're seeing on social. But it is a serviceable. I swear, nothing makes me feel more alienated from culture than that song. It is a serviceable Gaga song and better than that based on the fan reaction. And I'm still not sure if that's,

that's just that everybody was thirsty for it or not. But like just thirsty for pop Gaga and they're getting it. But like it's working for sure. And the thing that matters is she. doing the work. She's showing up in the places. She's putting on the performance. She's out there doing the work. And it's connecting enough. And I think you're right that the undercurrent, that baseline foundation of Die with a Smile, like breaking the record for longest run on number one global Spotify, is just helping it all. She only has so far that she can go through any kind

of floor. And so it's booing everything else that she does. Is Die with a Smile going to be? become like the biggest song in the history of music. Die with the smile. Three years from now, we're going to be on this podcast being like, die with a smile, still number one. It's like my hot takes are dying with a smile

because it just keeps going. I don't need to understand it. There was a song in the 80s about like there's this song called Somewhere Out There was a movie about the Fival, the mouse. It doesn't matter. you weren't even born yet, I'm sure. But like, Die with a Smile is basically somewhere out there.

People need a lovey duet between a man and a woman that really is about nothing but has big soaring things. That's what this is. And it's fine. Every generation has its own imagined dragons. Here's Benson Boone. Every generation has its own five of the fucking mouse song. And that's what Die With a smile is.

And it's crushing good for them. What are the words that you're saying, fival, fival the mouse, fible? Yeah, fival, fiveel, fiveel, fiveel. F-V-E-L? Yeah, I don't even remember what the movie was. I just remember it was Fival the mouse. It was probably too scary for me to see, because, as you know, I cannot stand scary movies. Can't watch a scary movie.

I think the movie was called an American tale. An American tale. Yeah, but F-O-L was actually spelled F-I-E-V-E-L. Anyway, this song somewhere out there was from that movie, I'm pretty sure. And anyway, it is about the same quality, but it did have the same staying power. And good for Gaga. She's a part of it. Well, that's our show, ladies and gentlemen.

Shall we end it there? Shall we end it on five old amounts? James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt. It's the same damn thing. All right. Roll the credits, Kyle. This has spent every single album. As always, I'm Nora Princeati.

He's Nathan Hubbard. I hope you all enjoyed the Super Bowl. Secretly a pop music event. I really did. Thank you so much to Kaia McMullen for producing this episode. And to you for listening, we'll talk to you soon.