Taylor Swift added yet another feather to her already brimming cap of achievements when she embarked on a romance with NFL star Travis Kelce, dubbing herself the sports media's cherished antiheroine. Yet, oddly enough, she has yet to grace the stage as a Super Bowl Halftime Showgirl. With her 35-year-old beau still shining as the Kansas City Chiefs' star tight end and his team perpetually vying for the championship, one wonders: if not now, then when?
Swifties are firmly convinced that 2026 will be the magical year, pointing to her cryptic musings about sourdough bread-baking ahead of Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area—undoubtedly the global epicenter of sourdough. Could this be mere happenstance? Doubtful, especially considering her admission during her momentous 'New Heights' appearance that she's been dropping Easter eggs like a modern-day Zodiac killer, months in advance. Recall, the notorious puzzle-obsessed serial killer once terrorized the very same Bay Area in the late 1960s... Conspiracy theories aside, we're merely navigating through this intriguing era.
But perhaps the more pressing question lingers: why hasn't Taylor joined the elite club that boasts Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Beyoncé as its members? Speculations of her involvement have swirled for years, long before her love story with Travis blossomed two years ago. Yet, every year, another artist is inevitably announced, leaving fans perplexed. How could the biggest sport in the United States and the producers of the year's most-watched live TV event overlook the world's biggest pop star?
Of course, there are valid reasons why Taylor, seemingly tailor-made for such a spectacle (the halftime show spans a mere 13 minutes, mind you), hasn't yet taken the stage. For one, the logistics for Super Bowl 2024 simply didn't align. Swift was in the midst of her record-breaking 'Eras Tour,' having just kicked off its second half. Though she managed to jet from Japan to Las Vegas after four consecutive nights of performances in Tokyo to witness Travis's third Super Bowl victory, mounting a halftime show under such tight constraints would have proven nearly impossible.
Yet, despite Taylor's jam-packed schedule, rumors persisted until the eleventh hour that she might join Usher on stage in some capacity. Usher, who was announced as the headliner way back in September 2023 when Taylor was just dipping her toes into the world of NFL spectators, seemed like a geographically desirable choice given his Vegas residency that stretched through December of that year. Taylor's appearance at Super Bowl 2025, when the Kansas City Chiefs were trounced by the Philadelphia Eagles at the New Orleans Superdome, would have been unfortunate timing-wise.
Flashback to 15 years prior, when Taylor first topped the Billboard 200 with her sophomore album, "Fearless," released in 2008. Back then, she wasn't exactly known for stadium-shaking anthems that would resonate with everyone, from daughters to dads. But that narrative has since been thoroughly dismantled, with stadiums literally trembling during her Eras Tour. However, even before hits like "You Belong With Me" cemented her status as a fan-favorite, Taylor was still finding her footing. Her first No. 1 single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" from the 2012 album "Red," marked a turning point (and who can resist singing along whenever it comes on?). But it wasn't until the string of hits from "1989" in 2014 – "Shake It Off," "Blank Space," "Bad Blood" – that one could picture Taylor commanding the Super Bowl stage.
In 2013, Taylor inked a lucrative long-term endorsement deal to become the face of Diet Coke, with a Coca-Cola executive hailing her as "an extraordinary individual and a wonderful symbol of achievement." Meanwhile, Pepsi had just resumed its sponsorship of the Super Bowl halftime show that year, kicking off a beautiful friendship with Beyoncé's electrifying performance at the Superdome. (Beyoncé even stole the show from Coldplay at Super Bowl 50 in 2016.) Taylor remained a Diet Coke brand ambassador until 2018, during which time she took a break from releasing new music between 2014 and 2017. While it may not have seemed like a significant gap on paper, it was a haunting break from her every-two-years release schedule at the time.
"Make no mistake – my career was taken away from me," Swift said of that tumultuous period following her viral clash with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. (Fortunately, she was reflecting on her "career death" from the comfort of being named TIME's 2023 Person of the Year.) Pepsi stayed in the game until 2022, after which Apple Music took over as the halftime show sponsor. Reportedly, Apple Music asked Swift if she'd take the stage at Super Bowl LVII in February 2023. Her fans presented a convincing, albeit slightly deranged, argument for why it was finally meant to be, connecting every conceivable dot.
However, Swift declined, reportedly because she was in the midst of rerecording the albums she made for Big Machine Records. This ambitious project coincided with her most prolific period to date, spanning the release of "Lover," "folklore," "evermore," and "Midnights" between 2019 and 2022, culminating in 2024's 31-track masterpiece, "The Tortured Poets Department." In 2022, TMZ reported that sources close to the halftime show said Taylor didn't want to take the stage until she had finished re-recording her first six albums. With two albums left to go – her 2006 self-titled debut and 2017's persona-redefining "Reputation" (teased as "a goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure") – it seemed like a self-imposed constraint.
But possibly putting an end to that restriction, Taylor sealed the deal in May 2025 to buy back her catalogue from Shamrock Holdings. Now, in addition to her publishing rights, she owns her master recordings. And, in case you hadn't heard, her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," featuring precisely 12 bangers, is set to drop on October 3. Moreover, she's familiar with the venue, having held court for two sold-out nights at Levi's Stadium, the home turf of the San Francisco 49ers (albeit in Santa Clara), during her Eras Tour in 2023.
So, if there's a blank space in Taylor's schedule that allows her to fine-tune a halftime show to her exacting specifications on February 8, 2026... At this point, baby, all she has to do is say yes.
