Well, Swifties, it would appear “You Need To Calm Down.”
Hours after fans hypothesized that Taylor Swift could be the Super Bowl LVII halftime-show act, TMZ and People “have learned” from sources close to the situation that she will not be performing at the game.
Furthermore, TMZ reported Friday evening that a source told them Swift was asked to take the gig, but told the league she didn’t want to until she completed rerecording her first six albums.
In 2019, her former label, Big Machine Records and industry manager Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande), bought the rights to the master recording on all six of her first albums.
Swift claimed she didn’t know the sale was happening, let alone to Braun, and said she was “sad and grossed out” by it all.
Braun ended up reselling the masters but not before Swift vowed to rerecord each album to regain ownership.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to play the show — in fact, she does, per the source — but it’s a matter of timing.
So far, the singer/songwriter has released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version).
Still to come are “Taylor Swift,” “Speak Now,” “1989,” and “Reputation.” It’s possible she could rerecord these four by next year and maybe 2024 could be her year to headline the halftime show.
TMZ’s source says they’re still looking for a female pop star to next year’s show.
The buzz around Swift’s Super Bowl appearance began when the NFL and Apple Music released a press release Friday at midnight, announcing that the streaming service would fill Pepsi’s spot as the halftime show’s sponsor.
Taylor Swift, 32, was rumored to play the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show after fans thought they pieced together clues from a NFL press release.Getty ImagesIn 2020, the “Look What You Made Me Do” songstress dropped two albums: “Folklore” and “Evermore” at midnight, and has an upcoming album, titled “Midnights,” set to drop on Oct. 21.
If that seems like a stretch, it seemed like standard operating procedure to Swift’s fans. The “Bad Blood” singer is known for dropping “Easter eggs” leading up to new projects — little tidbits of information that her following puts together to figure out what’s coming next in her career.
It would also have been opportune timing for Swift to take the gig, since Pepsi will no longer be associated with the show. She has been locked into a sponsorship with Coca-Cola since 2013, leading some fans to believe that this was the first time Swift would even be allowed to get involved.
But for now, what we can confirm is that Super Bowl LVII will take place on Feb. 12, 2023, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Post has once again contacted reps for both Swift and the NFL for comment.
