Every Single Album - Breaking Down the 2026 Bunny Bowl

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Nora and Nathan recap all of their favorite moments from the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show. They talk about their overall feelings on the show and the Easter eggs throughout the performance (12:19), the inclusion of Lady Gaga (28:23), and who they think might be on deck to perform at Super Bowl LXI (50:51).Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan HubbardProducer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Pinceati, and as always, I'm joined by my friend Nathan Hubbard. To recap a Super Bowl without Taylor Swift, but a Super Super Bowl nonetheless. Nathan, how is it going and how is your Super Bowl Sunday? Well, do you know why she wasn't there? Because Travis Kelsey and the Chiefs were... Correct. But do you know where Travis Kelsey was?

See, you were at the Super Bowl. I was at the Super Bowl of golf, otherwise known as the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Oh, Travis did really well at golf in something, right? Travis showed up on the 16th hole, which is a par three hole that's built inside a literal stadium, like 25,000 people are around it. And they're going bananas and like half the crowd is drunk out of their mind and in costumes. And he steps up in the proam and hits it to the closest distance to the hole all day. hit it the two feet and the place goes bonkers and he like did his happy Gilmore you know all his moves and he's playing this week at the AT&T pebble beach pro am in pebble beach california now the reason

i'm bringing all this up is because i have it on pretty good authority that the pGA tour asked her to not show not to come she was going to maybe come and do the round with travis who walked with Brooks Kepka and his influencer wife, Jenna Sims. And I think they just didn't feel like they could protect her because there's so many people who come out to this sporting out. There's 25,000 people in the stadium and there's like hundreds of thousands of people on ground. So I think they just got nervous about that. But I wouldn't be surprised, Nora, if she shows up at the AT&T Pebble Beach this week, we may get a Taylor Sighting on a golf course watching Travis actually play. Wow. She didn't go to any of the Super Bowl stuff. He did. He was a

San Francisco for a little bit before he went. So he had a busy week. He was like dancing behind the loud luxury DJ booth to the fate of Ophelia remixes and having a great time it seemed like. But she was definitely nowhere to be found. And so maybe that's a similar security concern. Yeah, security concern for sure. But I love that she dropped opalite like an hour after he stuck the T shot to two feet.

She's like, all right. All systems go. Travis, great job by you. What a team they are. Wow, I was not expecting to start this pod and within like 90 seconds have a little bit of Nathan scoopage. It's excited. How are the vibes? Well, hold on, hold on, hold on. I have a question for you first. How good at golf is Travis? He's pretty good in that he's good enough that he gets out and he's not going to kill people who are surrounding the holes. I'm going to be honest. I had a different bar in mind. Yeah, I mean, my sense is that if I had to guess, like, there's a, you know what a handicap is? Here's what I would say to answer that question. My understanding of what a handicap is, is it is a number that reflects how good at golf you are. Right. It's not like his spelling abilities with squirrel. It is a number that the higher it is, the more strokes you get relative to somebody who shoots even par. So Travis's handicap, I'm guessing, is about an 11, which means when he goes out, the average golf score is like a 70, not average golf score, par on a course, which is like, that is, yeah, what the good guys are supposed to shoot is like 72.

Travis is going to go out and shoot anywhere from like a 79 to a 90. And if you're shooting a 90, there's a decent chance that you might decapitate a nice old person sitting on the course watching you play golf. If you're shooting somewhere between a 70-something and an 85, maybe, you probably, there's only like one or two times where you have to call four and somebody has to duck. So the point of- This is like making the odds of decapitation sound much higher

than my baseline understanding had them at. Listen, my brother is a professional golfer. There's one time when he, on a course in a tournament, doinked his wife in the head from 200 yards away. I mean, the ball ricocheted back 30 yards. So like on the app tracker where you can track it, he'd only hit his driver 170 yards. He usually hits that thing like 280 or 300.

It went so squirrelly. It doinked her in the head. Of all the people, it hits his wife. She's laid out. Anyway, what I'm telling you is, if my brother can do that, Travis Kelsey can do it. Travis can definitely do that. But he's a pretty good golfer,

and it means that he's good enough that he can go play an event like this. And if there are moderate crowds, you're not going to kill somebody. Okay. Well, that's good to know. Hopefully. That's good to hear. We'll keep our fingers crossed from that. Love to do like a five-minute golf talk segment at the top of the pot.

I wasn't expecting that. This is very exciting. Thanks for humoring me. It did seem like everybody was really excited that he made that shot. Yeah, it was a great shot. I saw clips of it online and I saw a lot of quote tweets that were like, I'm Travis Kelsey. I'm really good at football

and I'm dating Taylor Swift and I get to be in whatever movie I want and also I'm great at golf. Yeah. Travis walked in. He's like, man, I've been here before and stuck it to two feet and we're getting opalite. And the video is awesome.

It is really good. I really liked it. Do you have any, do you want to give, we have to move on to the Super Bowl, but do you have like a 30 second take on the video? Yes. My 30 second take on the video is

she's incredible. That ridiculous face she made when the guy, when the actor on the Graham Norton show was like, oh, I just want to be in a Taylor Swift video. That ridiculous face, most people would be like,

oh, that's, there it is, contrived Taylor Swift. But from that moment, she spun it into this. It's utter brilliance. It's just so great. The gears started clicking. Yeah, it's really fun.

I also, like, it had such a sort of whimsical vibe to it. The pet rock in particular really made me laugh. I hadn't thought about a pet rock in a while, and I just really liked that. You know the awkward family photos content site, yeah? Yeah.

I mean, the whole video is basically straight out of that. And it's terrific. Totally. I love that everybody participated. Fantastic. And it's like, it's what, it's a moment that makes me feel, like sometimes I don't know what to make of the moments

when Taylor seems sort of like, like she feels too divergent ways about her stardom. Stuff like this. it just feels like the type of stuff that you would aspire to do if you had that stature of like, oh, anyone in the world would say yes to me. So why don't I take advantage of that in the best way possible? Why don't I understand that if I'm sitting on this couch with Graham Norton and an idea clicks about getting all of these people together and making something that like I have the confidence

to believe that everyone would be on board and you can just make it happen? So I thought it was fun. It is fun. That's the thing. The one thing that I love about this album is, I mean, it's like she said, Travis is a real yes guy. She can say yes to anything now. It's just supposed to be fun. Don't overthink it. She pulled a scene on a Graham Norton show, got everybody together and they made this thing. And then the last 30 seconds is while rolling the credits is the intro. Like, it was brilliant. It's just great work. Can we get her making this movie? Charlie XX is in about four fucking movies. A new trailer just dropped today for this other movie she's in. Looks interesting. I don't, I haven't seen, I don't know which one it is. I know. So, so it's, there's the A24 one. But then there's another one where she's in this, they just, they just released the single today. It's not the Wuthering Heights thing. There's another one that I just saw. Well, there's Wuthering Heights and there's the moment.

No, now there's a third one. one that you're talking about. Well, there's like seven. I haven't seen a trailer for any others than those two two, but remember when we went through that list and did like two Charlie X-D-X movies and a lie? Because she has nine different things in various stages of production right now. So this thing, it's called, I don't know how to pronounce it. Okay, so I'm too afraid to pronounce it. It's E-R-U-P-C-J-A. Oh. Erupica? and like she's stuck in a country and her boyfriend is trying to propose to her. They're stuck because a volcano has erupted and so they can't travel.

But there's another woman with whom she's got a past and a history and an interest. And so it's like it's like a sort of romantic drama. And the trailer just, I just saw it today. And I just, how many movies is she going to be in? She's in a lot of movies. I didn't realize that any of these were coming. this quickly. So this is coming out in April. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not holding my breath for the Taylor Swift movie. It just feels like it's been a long time. You don't think we're ever, it's going to be like

Guns and Rose's Chinese democracy. It's just never going to get made. It was like two or three years ago that all of that stuff about Taylor doing the deal where she was going to be a director and have a movie slate reported. And then the guy was in a, like at an award show with her or something, right? Remember, some public event? The head of that studio showed up with her. I don't know. I don't think it was all just bullshit. Do you? I don't think that it was bullshit, but I think things can change. And as far as I'm aware of, it's been a long time since it seemed like there was any, like, real traction in that happening. And it's possible that like maybe now as we feel like she's turning a page to a new chapter in some way, shape, or form, maybe that opens up some time when she'll go and do that. I will say that

like her movie forays have not been all that successful. And obviously... What about Valentine's Day? You love that movie. I do love that movie. Um, directorially is maybe a different way to go about things. and maybe the results of that would be different. I just like, I don't know. I'm not telling you that I know. I'm just telling you that if you ask me if I think that Taylor Swift movies are coming down the pipeline

in any way close to the way that they are with Charlie, my answer is no. Well, here we are. Charlie is firing them off. Taylor is making another single. You were at the Super Bowl. I know. We still haven't talked about it.

When we started talking about what we were going to talk about today, you were very excited to talk about the Super Bowl. And I don't think it's because you were formerly a beat writer for the Patriots and you went to watch your old beat get relatively ass kicked and tossed around a football stadium. But I think it was maybe because you saw the Bad Bunny show. So I want to hear what was it like to be live? First of all, how many Super Bowls have you been to?

Oh, gosh. Let's see. What's your body count? My body count is nine. I actually think it might, am I nine or eight? I may be eight. Okay. So you've seen a lot of these before?

Yes. Correct. And you've seen when you're live and there, like my overwhelming impression of those is you realize just how made for TV the thing is. Because sometimes like half the stadium doesn't see you and you see everything come out of the tunnel and the whole stage get assembled. And you're marveling at the like, production that goes into this, right?

The moment when the grass people, they go into halftime, and the grass people, everybody who's watching on TV is still in commercial break. Right. And the grass people all start toddling out onto this field. It was so funny.

Like they're... It really looked like the umpalumpas were coming out. Yeah. They're like Heidi Kloom in one of those Halloween dresses where it looks great on the red carpet. She can't actually move. It really really made me laugh. I was like taking pictures and sending them to my friends being like, I don't really know guys, but there's a bunch of people in grass on the stage.

It's funny that you say that. What was the energy like? Because I always just know, there's always this buzz as it starts to build. There was so much focus on this halftime show, wasn't there? What was the vibe inside? So let me tell you a few things. First of all, this, it was an interesting contrast because it felt like the juice for this halftime show. was particularly significant. It just felt like a lot of people were really amped up for what is this going to be? Are people going to like it?

What kind of statement is going to be made? Right. What's the potential for this bad bunny halftime show? It felt like a lot of people were incredibly excited for it. Of course, it had been polarizing. And it just felt like it was very much on people's minds going into the game. Had it been polarizing or was it?

polarized. Sure. The show itself. Right. Absolutely. In our, you know, fractured and mostly ridiculous times. It was a bit of a contrast to the game itself, which I would say felt like a relatively low stakes Super Bowl.

I would say that this was a relatively juiceless Super Bowl of the ones that I've gone to. Nobody cared. Just because both teams had sort of already surpassed expectations. and the Sam Darnold story is genuinely like one of the most interesting that's happened in football since I've covered the league. At the same time, it just didn't feel like it was particularly high stakes. And I think that energy affected the stadium. Hard to get fired up over defense, right?

And field goals. Yeah. And also just like they're both teams had already surpassed expectations. So I think there was a, it's okay if we win, it's okay if we lose thing that tends to take the temperature down. Not always in the best way in terms of entertainment value. Like I was running to the post game press area, which is outside of the stadium. And the people walking out of the game. And now this is maybe has something to do with the fact that I think 40% of them were advertising executives.

Yeah, they're all corporate. It's all corporate shm. Moose Fest there. That's why the energy sometimes sucks. But sometimes, particularly when it's Eagles fans, I'll say that. Right. Sometimes you feel like that's an audience that's like going out of their minds and you feel like it's a Super Bowl crowd when they walk out and at least in some ways, especially once the emotional climax of the game has happened, people are yelling and screaming and partying and blah, blah, blah. People just were not doing that. So all of that is to say that it just felt like the halftime show was the most important thing that happened on second day. Okay. Okay. And so I was

pretty amped up for it. It's interesting to me that you mention how these things are made for TV. I thought of anyone that I've seen, checking myself to make sure that that's true. I think, yes, it is. This was the most made for TV. Yeah. In that he did a lot of looks into cameras and shit that nobody in the, I'm in a Levi's. Like, if you're in anywhere other than maybe the end zone where he was, you weren't going to see it, right? Well, and also like, the grass was pretty bushy. Oh, shit. Especially while he's like down in there, anything that was happening, you know, in the pathways of the grass, you're just kind of seeing like swaying green. You can't see anything that was going on. So I was watching and then I also had it. Like, I had my headphones.

and I had it up on, um, on my stream, on my computer in front of me, which was of course a much more satisfying and like completest way to see it. And, wait, you double watched? I double watched.

Wow. I double watched. Um, did they show up on the screen before they showed the, you know, the only thing would are bigger than hate is love or whatever that they flashed. Did, did they show his? is camera angles or anything up there? Or if you were in the stadium, just watching?

They mostly showed lyrics. So they didn't show the feed that America was watching. If you were in the stadium. It was not the feed that America was watching. There were moments, but most of the time, it was like flashing lyrics. So you had no idea, Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba were... No, you had no clue. Weekly dancing in the Casito.

I put this on Instagram. I thought later... Lady Gaga was the cake. I was just like, she's in there, right? She's in that cake. She was not in the cake. So there was a little bit of like trying to figure out what was going on. So I think people who were watching at home had a had the right viewing experience,

which is good. Like that's, it should be for the people. It doesn't need to be for the people. We got all kind of camera technology and drone stuff that made all that possible where he climbed up on the power line and looked up or he did like it. It was different things. than just a flat stage.

That's how that show should be. Absolutely. What is your, what's your like top line review? I mean, my top line review is that it had everything that I want in a Super Bowl performance.

It had bops. It had great visual aesthetic. Like the town, the human grass, the way that they sort of moved through everything. It had large-scale choreography. It had

large-scale human bottoms, which every great halftime show has. Absolutely. It had fun artist cameos. It had fun celebrity cameos. It had a tiny

bit of danger. Like... Yeah. Those are the like seven things that I want from my Super Bowl. halftime show and I got all of them. I thought it was like celebratory. We talked about, is he going to make a big statement? Is he going to be inclusive? I thought the like multi-flag thing was great. I was entertained. I thought that as a, I loved it. And I thought that particularly

as a display of joy and inclusivity, but also power and strength and that little bit of danger, to me, that was the level on which it was a pretty no-notes experience. I thought in particular some of what he did where there were just so many people, it was such a collectivist show where he's making his way through the pathways in the grass. And you go past the famous taco stand and you see the woman from the Puerto Rican night club in New York and you go to the Casita, which is something that he did on tour where the celebrity, you know, sort of like the VIP box, but the celebrities who would go to that show would be in that house. And of course, for this, you have Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba and Ronald Okina Jr.

And Cardi B. and a bunch of other people in there. Like, to me, what I took from that was, yes, this is a celebration of bringing people together. But there also was this implicit, that if you want to be against me, you are also against all of these people. Like, this is a pretty big tent we've got going here. And I thought that was very powerful. Yeah. I think the whole thing was geared towards that big tent. And the big tentness could simultaneously be something that was unifying, but also be something

that felt a little bit pointed and like he got his message across. And, like, that was the part that really moved me. I thought the end where he's walking with the flags and there's, you know, he's like flanked by all of those people. And he's saying the names of the countries and you see that the only thing stronger than hate is love. Like, I really, I had chills. Like, it really, I felt like that was really, really moving. And the rest of it I thought was really, really fun. I do have two main notes.

I have two points of criticism just as, but those come on the level of the performance as performance and not the performance as statement. Are you going to read Trump's truth social post about it now? I am not. Nobody can understand that guy. Okay. It's like, oh, you weren't watching Kid Rock either. I hate talking about our current president. I hate even saying his name.

It honestly like just really puts me in a bad mental headspace. I am going to say the end of that tweet where all of a sudden he's talking about the fucking kickoff rule like the unintentional it's high comedy

it's really oh God it's the high comedy of an insane fascist Not even I watched the the kid rock show by the way

the kickoff rule sucks It's just insane Hey you know what totally agree Like, cool, man. Oh, God. That's a different podcast. No, that's not one of my notes.

That's not what I'm going to do. Okay. One of them is very predictable. And so I'm going to save it because it has to do with Lady Gaga and die with a smile. I have it in the canon, too. Don't worry. How could she do this to us? How could she do it to us?

Okay, we'll talk about it a second. The only thing that I felt like I was sort of left wanting more from was in an effort to, it was a very packed performance. Like there were so many things that happened. We're in the house. We're walking around. We just gave the Grammy away to a little kid. We gave the Grammy to a little kid. There is a literal marriage that happens.

He's up on the electrical poles. There are several dance breaks where everyone is shaking ass. And those parts I have nothing but good things to say about. In the process of putting so much into this 13-ish minute performance, I felt like it was lacking one or two moments that were the moments musically that you latch on to. and that become the high points of the show because nothing lingered. It was very this to this, to this, to this, to this, to this, to this.

And I thought that that drove home that point about unity and collectivism and this broad world that he's shining light on and showing the strength of. And it is a really, really hard task to do that while also having the kind of I'm the center of the universe pop star moments up there.

And it almost happened at the very end where the stuff with the flags has happened, the emotion of it, I think is at the highest point that it's been. And then he goes into DTMF

and it's like big huge dance party. And I needed that to last for like 20 seconds longer. Yeah. I needed that. to not immediately cut to commercial because I just thought that that was a moment of like exuberant catharsis that landed it landed as a statement and it needed two more beats to land as music. Yeah. I mean, I think about other Super Bowl performances, some of the iconic ones.

There's the U2 one after 9-11 where they played Beautiful Day and MLK and where the streets have no name and and Bono. What? It's just very funny that like all of this dumb, made up racist controversy about an American person headlining this Super Bowl halftime show. And then the sentence that you just said, which is you two, not American citizens. Yeah. Brought everybody together after 9-11.

Well, right. And like opened his jacket, if you recall at the end. and had the American flag on there and all the names of the victims behind it. Like, I attribute that, I attribute those songs to that moment. I think about Purple Rain, of course. See, Purple Rain,

which to me is the greatest half-time performance ever in the rain. And Prince just like, I mean, I don't know that I'm ever going to feel the way that I did about a live, performance that I'm ever going to feel about a live performance the way that I felt about that again. It just was, I don't know, it was just like mind-altering for me because it was fucking

raining and I'm still sure that he made it rain. I don't know. It just Prince was something else for me. But all of those, to your point, like was tied to like a really big musical moment. I even think about the like, let's get in formation, the cold play, Beyonce throw. Oh, definitely. So you're right that there are those sort of iconic moments of, of song and, and that this, this one maybe didn't have that. You just wanted, you wanted what? You wanted, you wanted fewer songs and more, like, moments around each of the songs or what? I mean, it was in some ways the, like, perfect performance for the lack of attention span world that we're in. Yeah. And maybe that for a lot of people ends up being a good thing. I wanted probably two more moments where he lingered on something a little bit longer.

And I think it's in that sense that the choice to spend as much time on die with a smile of all the things is my one real, what the fuck are we doing? Bromance. No one does the work like Gaga. Man, she will show up. She shows up for football. Remember that awkward-ass shit last year where she's playing

and Tom Brady's all around and Roger Goodell's around the piano and she, oh my Lord was that some weird ass shit. No, we are on this weird run where Lady Gaga and Post Malone. Yeah. show up to every Super Bowl. And I just, I mean, she also did the Olympics.

She also did the, somehow she's managed to keep the, I'm alternative and artsy thing, even though for almost anybody else. And Post is getting close. Like, it's not cool, man. Like, at some point, it's not cool. It's cool to do the Super Bowl, but to do the, like, side show.

at these things and to be present and be on screen that many times. And we just saw Gaga in the basket the Grammys the week before. Yeah. It's a lot. I think she takes this role as like the, you know, songbook Trubidor in a sense from her generation of stars really seriously. Yeah, she's definitely decided that I'm going to stay always on, but you're going to see me, I mean, contrast the performances, Gaga Sunday to Sunday.

Very, very different. Very, very different. Different outfits, different stuff. And maybe that is the point. Yeah. Well, so, okay, let's talk about, let's talk about Die with a Smile salsa version a little bit. No. No, we're going to do it.

We're going to do it. I actually thought that, like, once we're in the world where that's happening, I didn't. didn't mind the execution of it. I thought her dress was pretty. I liked when they danced. I think that she managed to get through that without anything that was destined to become a serious meme or was like, really inappropriate or cringy.

So props on that. I just, like, and this isn't even about the representational. elements of it. But it really slowed things down for me, not in a good way. It just felt like such a strange detour. And I swear this isn't just about my feelings about that song. It's okay if it is. I mean, it is a little bit, but it's not entirely a reflexive. I don't like Die with a Smile, so I didn't like this. It's happening on a stage where Cardi B is a little bit. It's, like a hundred feet away from you? She's right over there.

She's literally right there. Explain to me why Lady Gaga's on stage? That's what my kids asked. Like rhetorical question. Yeah. I resent Die with a smile fully. And so I was out as soon as I realized what it was. I respect the hustle, though,

and I respect the contrast in performances. It's pretty cool. She is a chameleon, man. She is. But that wasn't the way. one that I wanted to see. And if I'm going to see that, let me see some other, let me see Cardi B, who's right there. Like, what are, yes, what are we doing? Cardi was a big, Cardi was a big point of confusion to me in terms of, of, um, why she wasn't

involved more than she was involved. I guess, so there was the moment where they go into gasoline, which I do think would have set the stadium on fire. I guess Daddy Yankee has like found God and and won't do it. So that wasn't an option. I would have, I think that would have been great, but I guess that's not happening. And then the other person who I was sort of surprised,

not necessarily surprised, but who I just wondered if there were conversations was, you know, Jennifer Lopez has been part of one of my all-time favorite Super Bowl halftime shows. and is a very famous Puerto Rican in pop music. And so there were just like, it made me start going through the laundry list of people where I'm like, I wonder if they got a call?

Could they have said no? Is that why I'm looking at Lady Gaga right now? And I don't think that that's what you want out of a guest appearance. I want to know what the threshold is. what is Lady Gaga's no trigger? That's a really good question. I mean, she used to do, like,

she is sort of a theater kid in that way, or she's sort of like a NYU student forever in that way, where she pounds the pavement in a particular way. Like, she will just do an appearance if she thinks that that's going to get her songs and her work out there. And I absolutely respect that. And to be clear, if you're Gaga and you're getting the ask, I don't think you should say no.

Yeah. I just don't. And I know that he has real affection for Lady Gaga. And I love that and I'm charmed by it and I relate to it. I guess I just think that this was a moment to control that impulse and redirect it. So that we're not listening to die. with a smile. Do you remember

the like BTS footage of the Grammys where she goes up to him and scared the shit out of him while he was sitting at his table by himself? Yeah. It added some context and color to that because they obviously had been rehearsing and doing shit since that time. And the fact that he didn't engage as much is a reflection of the fact that they had banked hours together

doing this performance rehearsal. so it wasn't like he was like, oh, so great to see you, you know, for the first time in a long time. Like, they clearly had spent a lot of time. It just makes, it contextualizes what we saw. Yeah. I also just think that if, like, he has, he has this connection to Gaga and loves the music and loves the relationship between Gaga and drag. And, like, those are different Gaga songs than die with a smile. And so, like, I love that those two are buds, you know?

I love that they have a great working relationship. I think that it stems from an appreciation of music and Gaga's catalog that I'm just so much more interested in than the song that was chosen. And, like, if she'd come and done paparazzi, which is a song that is referenced in the lyrics to I like it. And then, you know, maybe Cardi comes up or something. It just, it would have made so much more sense. And I think it would have been a lot more fun. But I do understand that I have a particular bugaboo with, with this song. Not me.

I have a huge one. Yeah. Well, I mean, I want to hear more of your thoughts here. But I, did you watch the national anthem? I did watch the national anthem. Should Charlie Puth be a bigger artist? I mean, he became a bigger artist. sense because I'm sure that was the biggest audience of his career. So congrats to him for that.

Was that performance, how do you say it? Good? It was fine. I actually thought it was, I thought it was fine. I'm trying to think of national anthem performances. And part of this is because, you know, I'm standing there getting ready to do my job and stuff. So maybe I'm not as locked in as I should be. that have really moved me where I would be like, I don't know, you're just making sure you're like on the Wi-Fi and stuff.

Because you know you're going to double watch. I'm just trying to try to do a little bit of mental gut checking of before I say that like I thought it was fine, but I don't really care about the anthem performance to make sure that there's not something kicking around there that like I loved that somebody else did. Let me tell you what I love.

It's what he referenced and said was his inspiration, which was the Whitney Houston performance, which is if it was not pre-recorded, and I think the fact that it was maybe doesn't change it, but I think it's the best performance of the National Anthem that's ever happened. The Marvin Gay at the NBA All-Star game was, I think, the most interesting interpretation.

But like that, Whitney Houston, during the Desert Storm Super Bowl, National Anthem. It's just unfucking believable. And so he referenced that as his inspiration. And that's kind of like setting the bar way too high, man. Well, and did you, when you were, when you were listening to it, before you saw that, did you hear him sing that and go, I think Charlie Puth is reinterpreting Whitney Houston's interpretation of the national anthem? No. Right. But it felt, I don't know, man. whatever.

I just want to know what you thought. No, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. It just, it, it was fine. It was fine. Those performances have been used to make transcendent musical moments before. And that one didn't strike me as such. It wasn't bad, and we've seen bad national anthems, God knows, before.

But I, yeah, I, I, I, I, It also had some pace. No, you're right. And it is, like, I don't want to sound like I'm not taking it seriously. I also think that part of this is because in a press box with a bunch of sports writers, while that's happening, all that anybody is talking about, not me. But all that anybody else is talking about is whether or not it's going to go over or under the predicted time duration.

Right, because of the betting. Because of the betting. And he did go under. And quite often people trick themselves into thinking it's going to go under. and then it doesn't because somebody just wants to have a big moment and holds it at the end. But he was quick. He had pace. Can I just tell, I mean, here's the list of people who've done this of late.

Charlie Puth this year, John Batiste last year, Reba McIntyre, Chris Stapleton, Mickey Guyton. Oh, I liked Chris Stapleton's. Stapleton's was awesome. Yeah, Stapleton's was really good. That was a moment. Eric Church, Demi Lovato, Gladys Knight, Pink, Luke Brian, Gaga did it the last time that it was at Levi's in San Francisco. God has performed at the Super Bowl like seven times. I'm telling you, it's crazy.

She just shows up for, I mean, it's bonkers. So none of those to me stand up. The Stapleton one is the only one I remember, to be honest. You had like, Billy Joel has done it, Jordan Sparks, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood. Christina, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys. There's some others. But, like, my point in giving you that list is actually outside of Whitney Houston, I don't go back and think, oh, this has always been like an incredible moment the way that

the halftime shows have sometimes been, right? Yes, I think that's true. So maybe I'm going to let Charlie Puth off the hook and say, he did fine. That's all I ask of the national anthem. Same. Don't overdo it. Don't showboat on the nation's national anthem. And he didn't do any of those things.

He kept it inside the lines. I just talked myself out of it. Wow. I'm okay with it, Charlie. That's great. I was okay with it too. I also think that he, like, Charlie Puth is not really a showboater.

He could have, I guess, he could have done a less. traditional treatment of it. Yeah. Yeah. And tried to make it feel more like in the style of his pop music. Yeah. It could have, that could have been interesting, but it also could have gone poorly. I think mostly, like, he's got a good voice.

He had an idea of what he wanted it to be, and he did it, and then a bunch of, you know, military planes flew over the stadium. Here's, yes, here's what I'm responding. Charlie Puth is cool to follow on social media because he does, I mean, you can tell he's trying really hard for the camera, but he breaks down a lot of music in interesting ways. And he's very thoughtful about the way that he creates and communicative. Can I make something clear? I'm pro Pooh's. Yeah, yeah. I'm a pro-pooth individual. What I was just going to say was, I don't think he has like a stellar voice. I don't think it's like a voice of a generation. I think it's interesting.

And it's technically good. I don't know that it's like, like, it's like a stellar voice. I don't know that it's like, um, evocative in a voice of a generation type of way. But he is a skilled enough vocalist who has the range to do the national anthem, which is a difficult song to sing. Yeah. It is a difficult song to sing. And that's why I think you either have to make it whole your own the way Stapleton did or you got to be able to bust out the motherfucking runs like Carrie Underwood did. Right. And anybody else to me is probably somewhere in between. Anyway, it's enough. I, I, I, I, tucked myself into it being what I want from a national anthem. I just didn't think his voice didn't like give me,

I didn't get the chills from this one. But that's okay. It doesn't always happen at the Super Bowl. And again, like he's just not someone who I think, Charlie Puth, I think when he's at his best, is making interesting music, fun music, music that is sort of smarter than it feels like it is on the surface level. None of that is send a chiver down your,

spine oriented. See you again is pretty fucking... That's true. That's true. That's true. Chill down your spine. I don't think of that as like... I think of that as in a weird way sort of outlier Puth and not... Well, maybe you give it to Wiz Khalifa.

Yeah. With Puth on the course. But yeah, I mean, he's... I don't know that he should be a bigger artist. I think he's right where he should be. But it was appropriate that he did the National Anthem. Let's put it there. Can I just come back to this bunny performance

because one underrated component of it is it's very rare that these people have to do the show in daylight. Yes. Even next year, when the Super Bowl will be in L.A., presumably at the same time, it's going to be in an indoor stadium

where things can be black. Well, and also in a newer stadium where, and like I like the old stadiums and I like the outdoor stadiums better. I think SoFi is very beautiful in a lot of, to the extent that a football stadiums, can be beautiful.

There's something about the glass and blah, blah, blah, but I like the old stadiums that just feel like football stadiums. One reason why I don't think that the people in the stands were getting much of the feed that people on TV got

is because there isn't a big, giant video screen hanging in the middle of the rafters because there aren't rafters, which is something that will exist next year. Next year. in a lot of the stadiums where they do the halftime show.

These indoor stadiums are just functioning with different amounts of pixels that they can put in front of people's eyeballs. Well, it's hard to do and it requires like you can't hide

as many sections and actors and players and set production design and all that stuff like you can in the dark like Beyonce's. Like, where there was lots of stuff that... Or Kendrix, where all that stuff with the video game controller,

that would not have been possible to do. What I do... Well, and that's why I think leaning into having it be something that really functioned at its highest level for the TV audience was smart because then you can use the smaller camera angles and the close-ups to have something that feels dramatic and where when you are close in,

you can... People don't know what's going on on the other side, when they're changing the set and all of that, I think, can be a stand-in for that. It was a performance that had me thinking a lot about, like, does this halftime show exist in the same way

if... I'm just laughing at my Taylor Swift-centric view of the world, but, like, it had a lot of Easter eggs. Yeah. I thought the kids sleeping on the chairs during the party that so many people with Latin heritage seemed to like really respond to as just a thing that's a staple of social events. I thought the like the toad that is a particular type of toad that is

increasingly endangered in Puerto Rico because of overdevelopment, the power. Like all of those things that created this like really rich visual world. Those are Easter eggs. And like most of the time I loved it, there is this little part of me that's like, are we giving over too much of performance to these things that are ultimately consumed 30 minutes later on the internet and not even as the video? It's like the, you experience the show while you watch it. And then you experience it again, looking at social media a little bit later and people show you all the things that, all the little details that you missed.

Yeah, that's, but the show was built for that. It was the point. Most of me likes that. And a small part of me thinks it takes the focus away from what are the moments that we can create that are going to be experienced during the 13 minutes while someone is locked up to us.

Right. And this is less specifically about, like, for instance, one that really worked was the electrical poles. Like that you knew, you didn't need, no one needed to tell anyone what that was. I thought the dancing, the way that the people were like falling down and then coming back up, it was really visually resonant in a way that was able to hit home live. and like to me that's the best version of that. And the versions where you need people,

where it's sort of about playing Where's Waldo a little bit afterwards. Like I don't know. It's very common now. So I think that's maybe why I'm a little bit. I mean, it felt safe for me because I could just watch it knowing that any shit I didn't pick up, I was going to see it all.

And I was going to get it explained to me. So I didn't have to be like, what the fuck? Like what, wait, what was that? Was that the kid? Was that the kid? Did ICE? No. Child actor. Okay. Like shit like that. I could just sit there and enjoy it because I'm going to get the full breakdown. It's not the only content. I don't know. It just felt easier to... So for you, it opens today. Okay. I can just be present. I can just be present. Yeah. Yeah. Because some stupid fuck on the internet is going to explain this shit to me. Is going to tell me everything afterwards. Yeah. Because I'm the dumb fuck who didn't get it. This stupid fuck's going to explain it to me.

I think that is that that's the optimist's way of explaining that phenomenon. I have a little bit of like, I wonder if there is an opportunity cost of making sure that that is so possible that it takes something of the focus on just what you experience away. But that's just, this is more of a comment on the state of live performance in general than the specific choices of this halftime show. Well, I think we should immediately turn our attention to who's going to do it next year. Because it read my mind. it appears to me that Travis Kelsey's going to play one more year of football. Same. And I have been of this opinion, as you know, since she did not show up to his last game.

It just made no sense that he was going to retire and she wasn't going to be there for his last game. But that's just my dumb shit. He seems to be figuring it out. So it would be not necessarily taking the spotlight away if she performed and it could be. a little bit of a celebration. You know, who knows? She'll figure out a way to fucking do something in tribute

and speaking of Easter eggs and all that if she did. So Taylor is one possibility, right? Harry Styles. Yes, although if you take her at her word that she doesn't want to do it while he's still playing, then... Chiefs ain't making the Super Bowl next year.

He's not going to be playing by the time she does that show. Okay, but when she spoke about this exact thing, and again, if we're taking her at her word, which I'm usually not doing. What are you talking about? Then I don't see why it would be different, but that's just me stating facts.

That's not me saying that I necessarily disagree with you that she could change your tune on it. So it could be Taylor. Harry. Harry's an interesting one. I don't know why I just don't think that that's going to happen. Yeah, I don't either. it maybe isn't the

it maybe isn't the place for it um I Muna Noah Khan I love Muna I don't think it's going to be

Muna that would be that would then we really all be livin out boy genius taking their shirts off the boy genius Super Bowl halftime show sponsored by Turning Point Phoebe wears the

um the jersey and pads that has the skeleton on it They're really good. I don't think that it will be Boygenius. I mean, it could be a big country thing. Well, so this is a big question to me. Morgan?

There's a... If you go down the list of artists who are currently popular at a similar scale as a Taylor or a bad bunny, you are going to arrive at Morgan Wallen very quickly. Yes. Yes. I don't know that it would be, I don't know that I don't, I don't think that's going to happen.

And it's not because it would be seen as like a rebuttal to the choice of bad bunny this year. I don't think that's what it would be about. I think that right now, the NFL basically cares as a corporation about one thing and it is international growth. And I think that Morgan Wallen and a lot of countries' popularity

is too concentrated in the U.S. At a time when they feel like they've pretty much got people here and growing the game outside of this country is what is the priority. by the way, that's why, like, I'm not saying I give the NFL zero credit for having a Super Bowl where the artists that we heard from were Bad Bunny, Green Day, Brandy Carlyle, and Charlie Booth and Lady-Doh. Don't forget about Ricky Martin. And Ricky Martin.

Oh, my God. I thought Ricky Martin was fabulous. He looks fantastic. He looks unbelievable. Why aren't we singing La Vita Loca if we're bringing out Ricky Martin? I thought that having him do Hawaii, though, was really like, kind of poignant. And powerful to have him do this sort of like anti-statehood reflection and to do something

for Bad Bunny's catalog was really, really cool. Could we have mixed in a little bit? Okay. Could we have mixed it in a little bit? Fuck that shit. I'm with you. I'm with you. I would like to be living Lavita Loka.

Hawaii equals die with a smile. I mean, the guests just pick the wrong songs. Ricky, you got to do it. You look fantastic. Just bust it out. Show everybody you still got a 99 mile an hour fastball. If we had taken away Gaga's time and given it to Ricky so that he could have done,

could have also done live in La Vida Luka. Anyway. No notes from me on that. I just... But the reason that that happened is because the NFL felt like it was a good business decision, which it probably was. And I'm not sure...

I just... That's the issue for me with them doing country. I just don't think that they would see it in the same way. So maybe, but I want to push back a little and just say hip hop plays better here than it does internationally too. And 2025 we had Kendrick, 24 we had Usher, with little John and Ludacris and Alicia Keys and her. Yes. Rihanna, I think of as transcending that genre.

Rihanna is a global star. Last time it was in L.A. It was Dre and Snoop. And they were also massive global stars. Yeah. And I think there's a little piece of this where JZ is JZ. Well, so that's where I'm going. JZ is going to do the halftime show?

No, Jay-Z is a large factor in the decision-making, right? And so I just wonder. But yeah, I think Morgan Wallen is the one that seems to be flashing is the most obvious. But it comes with a whole lot of chatter. I also think when you end up looking at what people watched, they watched the Bad Bunny show because of the controversy. and they will watch the Morgan Wallen show because of the controversy.

Yeah. I agree with that to a point. I also think that Bad Bunny is a global star in a way that Morgan Wallen is not. And I think that that is something that is really, really important to the league right now. And then the question is, okay, if that is the perspective,

if you'll go on that journey with me, then who would make sense? I can't even believe I'm going to say this. Don't say it. Ed Sheeran. Don't say it. It's not impossible. Drake.

No, you can't do it. You can't do it. In Los Angeles, you can't do it. I think that makes some sense to me. What about Ariana Grande? It's, yeah. Okay. Is that because you think,

think that it wouldn't happen or because you just wouldn't be that excited about it? Yeah, it doesn't feel as big. She earned it? Sure. She could do some shit and some wicked stuff. Vocalist who's capable of spectacle. Yes, 100%. Has just been part of, you know, for better and for worse, a multi-year, big tent, highly

publicized cultural phenomenon. That was shout out at the Oscars and the Grammys for the most part. It has a level of awareness. Yeah. And she's got a lot of hits. A lot of hits. So I don't think that that's impossible. I just, like, yeah, I don't think it's impossible.

It would be fine. Well, and I think the takeaway from this conversation for me is like, it's not as big of a pool as you would expect it to be. Like, it's not, it's a pretty short, list of artists who would feel appropriate for the stage, especially because there was a long string of years where people didn't feel like the halftime show was well run or very good. And then Jay-Z and Rock Nation takeover.

And I think for the most part, they've done a really good job. Yep. And they've set a really high bar. for the level of excitement for one of these shows. And it is going to increase the amount that we're talking about, can they get Taylor, can they get Taylor, can they get Taylor? Because she, I think, is the only person left where they could top themselves right now. I think it's going to be Olivia Rodriguez.

Oh, that would be fucking cool. Wouldn't it? That would be really great. That would be really, really great. I mean, they should throw a bone to the pop girls. That's what I think. Wow. And maybe a few little cameos from some of the Olivia Friends. Yep. Oh, okay. And then we're going to get Conan Gray at the Super Bowl. But maybe just standing in the background. But yes, Olivia Rodriguez is my is my dark horse bet for the 2026 Super Bowl in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles. That's a good point, too. I have the same comment about, I just think that they are hyper-focused on an international

audience right now, and I don't know that she helps them in that respect all that much, but it's a really good dark horse pick. I guess I'll make Ariana my dark horse pick, but I think that you're more likely to be right. Billy Ish also from Los Angeles. Could Billy? Yes. Can Billy play to that audience? Yes.

Can Billy be that normie and that pop? She can... What are you talking about? Did Gaga do that? Tonight or last night or to whatever day it is? In her show, in her Super Bowl show. Yes. Okay.

Yes. There's a fair amount of... Now, look, this was a high watermark for the amount of ass shaking that goes on in a Super Bowl halftime show. There has to be some. And my question with Billy is where does she, where does she check that box? It's the dancers.

It would have to be the dancers. Yeah. I'm not saying she couldn't do it. I'm just saying that that's the challenge of a Billy Elish halftime show. Olivia Rodriguez is my bet for 2026. Okay. I kind of think that we should end things here. That was a great Super Bowl recap.

I really thoroughly enjoyed getting to talk to you about it. I know. I really, I've really got, frankly, more out of the halftime show than I did. it out of the game. So did I. But I'm happy for everybody who got to participate, and everyone should feel very proud of themselves. See you down here next year.

Let's do it. This has been every single album. As always, I'm Nora Prince Adi. He's Nathan Hubbard. Thank you to Kaya McMullen for producing this episode. And we'll talk to you next week. Bye.