The artists presenting the halftime show of the FIFA World Cup final at the temporarily renamed New York New Jersey Stadium were a reasonably diverse representation of the world: Justin Bieber reprized Canada; BTS, South Korea; Shakira, Colombia; and Madonna, global citizen of The Club. There was a lot of star power to cram the musical into 11 minutes, but the show also offered smash hit songs, blinding pastels, and a non-zero number of Muppets.
Madonna opens the show with a (mostly pre-taped) throwback One of their best live performances everA mashup of their Y2K masterpiece “Music” and The Tramps’ 1976 classic “Disco Inferno”, complete with a bunch of spirited roller skaters. Stuart Price, a producer on his final career win Confessions IIServed as her DJ; Heading to the field in a dune buggy, she gave a ride to two Brazilian football legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, both looking a little dazed – and who wouldn’t be in point-blank range of Madonna’s great charisma? – But were happy to be there.
A drastic tonal detour brought us to a handful of Muppets playing “Seven Nation Army” with a color-coordinated marching band. Gustavo Dudamel, mid-transfer from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the New York Philharmonic, was wearing a crisp blue suit with his name and the number 1 on the back. After breaking into a Norway-style Viking rowing chant, the band consisting of a mix of members of the NY Phil and Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestras handed the stage over to BTS, who performed their 2020 positivity jam “Dynamite,” leaning into the camera lens and singing softly, like a mother cradling her baby in a bassinet.
Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt appear as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard to introduce Justin Bieber. There are two main things you need to know about Justin Bieber’s performance. For one thing, he sang the closing song “Everything Hallelujah” Swag II It got a viral boost after Coachella — it’s the kind of song that makes you think, “After all, maybe church camp doesn’t sound so bad.” Second, he was wearing a sort of deconstructed rugby shirt. Wrong game, Justin! Just kidding, you’re forgiven. Oh, maybe three things – his facial hair is adorable right now, like a goat that has gone off into the forest to find itself. The camera remained focused on his face throughout the song, so you better consider this bad situation.
Ultimately Shakira took over. Her appearance was so youthful that my group chat dedicated to this World Cup activity decided she might as well be immortal. Barefoot in a pink and yellow cut-out dress, Shakira performed her duet “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy, which was specially created for the 2026 World Cup. The children kept dancing here and there. This halftime show proved that Shakira’s natural position is doing a graceful chest and hip separation while an uplifting, intercultural song plays. In a world of global citizens, she may be the most global citizen of them all.
More Kids Appear – PS22 Chorus from Staten Island. They start singing a happy song called “Believe in Love”, which sounds like a yet-to-be-released Coldplay song. The Muppets reappear. The ground was filled with people and Chris Martin’s head rose amid the growing crowd. He was the curator of this halftime show, and just as he politely allowed Beyoncé and Bruno Mars ahead of him at his Super Bowl halftime show in 2016, he was more than happy to allow several superstars and several children to take center stage in this respite from the tense, zero-zero match between Spain and Argentina. Neon pastel colors, flags with hearts on them, adults dancing and smiling, children singing songs: it was a halftime show designed to bring some childlike wonder to the intense proceedings, with sweeping gestures for peace and love to counterbalance the harsh energy of sloppy slide tackles and referee tussles. World Cup, HallelujahAs Bieber said.
