Whether or not Taylor Swift performs the halftime show at Super Bowl 61 depends in part on whether her fiancé, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, decides to retire from the NFL. Swift has said she does not want to perform as long as there is a chance Kelce is on the field.
But there is another factor stopping Swift from taking over the Super Bowl halftime show — Jay-Z. The rapper heads Roc Nation and is responsible for picking the halftime acts, and according to recent reports, he has rejected Swift as too “safe.” A new poll, however, shows that NFL fans want to see Swift perform at the Super Bowl, no matter what Jay-Z or Kelce have to say about it.
Kelce and Swift became engaged last August and reportedly plan their wedding for later this year. But Kelce has not yet announced whether he plans to retire or play at least one more season, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport.
The poll, conducted by a professional research firm and released by Vegas Insider, showed that NFL fans have a wide variety of halftime performers they would like to see at Super Bowl 61, which will be played on Feb. 14, 2027 — Valentine’s Day — at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood.
Swift leads the field, with 7.6% of respondents naming her their preferred Super Bowl 61 halftime performer. According to the poll’s crosstabs, published by Vegas Insider, Swift owes her lead primarily to older NFL fans. Respondents in the 45-54 age group made Swift their top choice, with 8% selecting the 14-time Grammy winner. Fans age 55 and above favored Swift even more heavily, at 11%.
Jay-Z Rejection Controversy
But fan-favorite or not, according to recent reports, Taylor Swift will not perform at the next Super Bowl halftime show because she does not “fit the vision” held by Jay-Z for the direction of upcoming Super Bowl performances.
“The cultural megaphone Jay-Z has built through the halftime show requires artists who push conversations forward, not performers who simply confirm what audiences already know they love,” wrote Tega Egwabor, a politics and culture analyst for Rolling Out. “Swift, for all her commercial dominance, does not fit that framework.”
Rolling Out describes itself as “a community of multi-hyphenate storytellers that live the culture we report on. We were born out of a need for Black culture to see authentic and uplifting depictions of itself.”
According to entertainment industry insider Rob Shuter, Jay-Z has been emboldened by the success — a reported 125 million viewers — of his decision to choose Puerto Rican, Spanish-language star Bad Bunny for Super Bowl 60, played on Feb. 8, despite a political firestorm around the choice.
The Roc Nation chief is determined that future Super Bowl halftime shows will be “culture-defining” rather than “safe,” which is how Jay-Z sees Swift, according to Shuter’s report.
Younger NFL Fans Prefer Atlanta-Based Rapper
The Vegas Insider poll did contain some surprises for Swift. In the 35-44 age demographic she tied with Atlanta-based rapper Savage 21 (given name: Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) at 5%, and the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups clearly preferred the rapper, giving him 10% and 9%, respectively.
Swift, however, was the clear favorite among both men and women across age groups, with each giving her 7.6% of their selections. Among men, 78-year-old music icon Elton John was the second preference at 5.3%. But among women, 37-year-old British vocalist Adele placed second with 5.46%.
Swift was the favorite of eight out of the 32 NFL team fan bases, 25%, including the Chiefs, whose fans see her attending home games to watch Kelce play on a regular basis.
Poll: NFL Fans Demand Taylor Swift at Super Bowl Amid Kelce Retirement Decision