25-time Grammy winner Jay-Z addresses the pressure of Super Bowl 61 halftime show as questions build around the NFL’s biggest stage

Jay-Z says he feels no pressure about headlining the Super Bowl 61 halftime show. The 56-year-old rapper was asked about it by TMZ in New York City on Tuesday, October 27, a day after Apple Music’s Monday Night Football broadcast announced him as the performer. The show is set for February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. It will be his first halftime appearance on stage, though his company, Roc Nation, has produced the event since 2019. His answers were brief, and he gave them with a smile.Jay-Z says there is no pressure ahead of halftime showTMZ’s photographer asked the obvious question first. Did he feel any pressure? Jay-Z kept it short. “No pressure,” he said.The follow-up was about preparation. “Same as always,” he replied. No hint about the setlist, surprise guests or production, which is exactly what fans want to know right now. The silence fits him, though. This is a man who has sold out arenas for decades and built a billion-dollar business empire along the way. From someone with that résumé, a one-line answer sounds less like dodging and more like a shrug.Still, the Super Bowl is not a regular tour stop. Halftime reaches people who would never buy a concert ticket, and every song choice gets picked apart online within minutes. His calm suggests he will not change his approach just because the audience got bigger.Roger Goodell says Jay-Z picked his own momentNFL commissioner Roger Goodell added context on The Ebro Show on Tuesday. The league has wanted this for years, he said, and he first raised it when the partnership began.“We’ve always wanted this to happen at some point. It was something I asked him about at the time when we first started this, and he said, ‘Yeah, we’ll see. Let’s see what happens.’ But it was clear he wanted it to happen,” Goodell explained.The timing, he said, came from Jay-Z. “I think the fact that he’s in his 30th anniversary year of his first album, he just finished his tour, it’s L.A., he’s at that point as the GOAT that he’s ready for it,” Goodell said. He added that Jay-Z was direct about it. “I guess I was more excited than anything, maybe a little surprised, because he keeps putting it off a little bit.”The twist is hard to miss. Roc Nation has produced the halftime show since 2019, and the NFL extended that deal in 2024. The person who helped shape recent lineups is now the one on stage.He follows a busy run. SoFi hosted Super Bowl 56 in 2022 with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. Rihanna, Usher, Lamar again and Bad Bunny have headlined since. Jay-Z knows how this machine works from the inside, and that may explain the shrug.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.