Bruno Mars Is Worthy Of A Super Bowl Halftime Performance
By Scott Allen
Jan 30, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Recording artist Bruno Mars addresses the media during a Halftime Show press conference for Super Bowl XLVIII at Rose Theater. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
You are never going to make everyone happy all the time. That’s guaranteed. Sometimes though you have more complainers than usual and it gets to be to the point where you have to ask, why is that? As we all know the Super Bowl halftime performance this year will be Bruno Mars featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This clearly hasn’t been a popular decision with the masses but then again the NFL doesn’t really care what you or I think. I have no issues with the selection.
Bruno Mars isn’t Madonna. Bruno Mars isn’t Bruce Springsteen. Bruno Mars isn’t Paul McCartney. Ok, I get that. All I keep hearing is how Bruno Mars isn’t worthy of a halftime performance. Really? Can someone go please find me the handbook on what a worthy Super Bowl halftime performance is or should be? Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Still waiting. Oh you didn’t find it? Yeah that’s because it doesn’t exist. It all comes down to opinion. You have yours and I have mine. Mine is if you are good and you are popular with a lot of people, you are certainly good enough to put up on television for 10 minutes. Bruno Mars has performed on the Grammy Awards. It’s not like he hasn’t performed in front of a national audience before.
People will want to talk about that popularity. He doesn’t appeal to people like say last year’s performer, Beyonce. Again, I disagree. Look at worldwide record sales. They aren’t far off from one another. Beyonce has sold 13 million albums in the United States, 118 worldwide. As for Bruno Mars? He’s sold 10 million in the United States and 115 worldwide. He’s also four years younger than Beyonce. I didn’t hear as many detractors of Beyonce last year. Oh they were there because there are always complainers but the complainers are louder this year.
The final words I’ll put on this subject is, so what if you don’t like him? The NFL does and they wouldn’t put him up on stage if people didn’t already like him. I’ve had several people say to me “oh I like his stuff” or “yeah he is a talented musician” BUT “he’s not worthy of a Super Bowl performance” or you can’t like this choice if you are over 40 and a true football fan. Those comments just make no sense. First, if you like him, then that should be all that matters. YOU get to enjoy the halftime performance. If you think he’s a true talent, then he belongs. It doesn’t matter if YOU don’t like him. Many do. It’s ok not to like him. There are plenty of performers I don’t like. It doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of a Super Bowl performance.
For the record, I am a football fan. I am 40, a month and a half shy of 41. I grew up as a child of the 80’s, in college in the 90’s but still love a lot of today’s stuff as well. It is possible to be A 40 year-old male, an NFL and Arizona Cardinals fan and a Bruno Mars fan. Those people exist. Really. Enjoy the show.