Jennifer Lopez shared her initial thoughts about doing the 2020 Super Bowl half-time show in 2020 with pop star Shakira, making it clear she thought the NFL’s plan was the “worst idea in the world.”
During the 52-year-old singer’s appearance in her upcoming Netflix documentary, “Halftime,” Lopez can be seen discussing how the NFL had mapped out having both her and the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer in the show. Lopez stressed about how she was going to do her part with a limited amount of time on stage, Entertainment Weekly reported on Wednesday.
“We have six f***ing minutes,” Lopez explained in the scene. “We have 30 seconds of a song, and if we take a minute, that’s it, we’ve got five left. But, there’s got to be certain songs that we sing, though.”
“We have to have our singing moments,” she added, speaking to her music director Kim Burse. “It’s not going to be a dance f***ing revue. We have to sing our message. This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl. It was the worst idea in the world.”
Entertainment Weekly noted that the “Hustlers” star’s longtime manager Benny Medina also expressed his frustration with the half-time plans.
“Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl,” Medina shared. “That headliner constructs a show, and, should they choose to have other guests, that’s their choice. It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done.”
At one point in the film, Lopez talked to Shakira about her performance, saying they would probably have a max of 14 minutes and should probably just plan to each use up half of that time.
“I know that the Super Bowl people want us to be weaved throughout the show. I haven’t had a confirmation about how many minutes I’m going to have,” Shakira explained to the “Selena” star.
“Let me address that really quick,” Lopez responded. “They said 12 minutes. I got kind of a good confirmation that we could have an extra minute or two, so now we’re at, like, 13, 14 minutes. I think, Shakira, what we should have is you should have half the time and I should [have half].”
“If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes,” she added. “That’s what they should’ve f***ing done.”
WATCH:
In the trailer posted on YouTube, the pop singer said, “I’m trying to give you something with substance, not just us out there shaking our f***ing a**es. I want something real.”
The report noted that when performers like Madonna and Lady Gaga were picked by the league to perform their halftime shows, they didn’t have to share the stage and each were given 14 and 15 minutes the years they performed. In 2012 when Madonna headlined, she invited stars Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo Green to perform with her, NBC sports.com noted.
In 2004, Janet Jackson was picked to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. She invited a surprise guest to perform with her, Justin Timberlake, and was later remembered for its “wardrobe malfunction.” That year the show also included a performance by Kid Rock, P. Diddy, and Nelly.
The 2022 Super Bowl Halftime show was a joint effort headlined by five performers: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.