Rapper Kendrick Lamar is gearing up for a high-profile appearance at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
While Lamar is a big name, he’s not quite as big as the NFL’s darling at the moment, Taylor Swift. As it turns out, you probably know that Lamar has a hit song with Swift, “Bad Blood.” The 2015 hit is one of Lamar’s most popular songs, even though in the decade since that song has been released, he’s scored plenty of other hits.
Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift Together Again?
So, will Lamar play “Bad Blood” at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and have Swift on the stage as a special guest? Plenty of fans would love to see that happen, especially since if the Chiefs are at the Super Bowl, Swift will likely be there, too. So, why not attend and sing on the world’s biggest stage?
In a feature published in the New York Times on Friday, January 17, reporter Jason Jones predicts that Lamar won’t perform “Bad Blood” with Swift. In fact, he gives Lamar a zero percent chance of playing the tune. That’s not good odds.
“Taylor Swift collaborated with Lamar on this song in 2015,” Jones wrote in the feature. “Swift, however, might be in a suite watching her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, play in New Orleans. If that’s the case, there’s no way she could quietly leave to prepare for a performance.”
Jones also says Lamar will obviously skip “Poetic Justice,” his collaboration with Drake.
“Lamar and Drake together? After everything that has happened? Plus, Drake’s scheduled to be in Australia on tour. There’s no way this song is being performed,” Jones stated. True that.
Kendrick Lamar Could Perform ‘Not Like Us’
However, Jones thinks it’s a sure thing that Lamar will perform his 2024 chart-topper “Not Like Us,” giving a “100%” chance of him playing the song at the Big Game.
Lamar had a huge year in 2024, notching three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2024 alone. So, he’ll have lots of songs to choose from when taking the taste at the event.
The rapper’s biggest 2024 hit, “Not Like Us,” is so popular that it officially surpassed one billion Spotify streams on Friday, according to chart experts at Billboard.
Rapper Drake has sued Universal Music Group for defamation and harassment in the song for “promoting a song with punchlines involving accusations of pedophilia,” according to the New York Times. But, Jones thinks Lamar will still play it.
“Will the NFL allow Lamar to perform some of his most antagonistic lyrics aimed at Drake? Probably not,” Jones stated in the piece. In that case, Jones says that if Lamar performs the track, he could have the crowd fill in the lyrics for him.
Lamar’s appearance at Super Bowl LIX will mark his second time playing the Super Bowl halftime show. He performed at Super Bowl LVI in 2022 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Eminem.