Jay-Z will headline the halftime show at Super Bowl LXI, taking the stage as a performer at the event he has helped shape behind the scenes for years.
South Korea’s Newsis reported on October 27 that the NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation announced on October 26 local time that Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, will headline the halftime show on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The game will be the 61st Super Bowl.
The booking marks a striking change of role. Roc Nation, the entertainment company led by Jay-Z, has partnered with the NFL since 2019 and has overseen the planning and executive production of the halftime show. Jay-Z produced the 2022 hip-hop all-star stage featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem, as well as this year’s Bad Bunny performance, work that earned Primetime Emmy recognition. This time, the producer behind those shows will be the headliner himself, performing on the halftime stage for the first time.
In a statement reported by Newsis, Jay-Z described the journey from his debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” to the Super Bowl stage as a huge one, calling it 30 years filled with music and culture on the world’s biggest stage and a dream still being realized.
The timing ties directly to that debut. Jay-Z released “Reasonable Doubt” in 1996 and recently wrapped a tour marking the album’s 30th anniversary, including stops at SoFi Stadium. Across his career, he has won 25 Grammy Awards, became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017, and entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
The production team also carries a recent link to K-pop audiences. Newsis reported that Hamish Hamilton will again direct the 2027 halftime show, and noted that Hamilton directed BTS’s comeback live, “ARIRANG,” at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul in March. That connection gives the halftime team a direct line to one of the largest live stages in K-pop this year, even as the 2027 show itself belongs to Jay-Z.
No set list was detailed in the Newsis report, and the announcement leaves open how Jay-Z will condense three decades of music into a single halftime set. What is certain is the reversal at the heart of the news: after years of building the show for other artists, he will now build it for himself.
