Here’s The Real Reason Taylor Swift Isn’t Performing At The Super Bowl

Last week, Swifties on Twitter, TikTok and elsewhere were convinced that Taylor Swift would be announced as the 2023 Super Bowl LVII halftime show performer. As rumors swirled across social media and fans continued to share their theories and guess that Swift, 32, may have been dropping clues, it became evident that “I Bet You Think About Me” singer would not be headlining the upcoming February 12th show. Over the weekend, the artist of choice was revealed to be Rihanna, much to fans’ delight, but many were still left wondering where the Swift/ Super Bowl rumors derived from, and if she was ever offered the major slot. Here’s what we know…

According to an anonymous insider source who allegedly spoke with TMZ, Swift was indeed offered the Super Bowl performance opportunity but turned it down. As for why the Grammy winner said ‘no’ to the idea, she reportedly wants to focus on re-recording the rest of her albums— her 2006 self-titled record, 2010’s Speak Now, 2014’s 1989 and 2017’s Reputation— as she already released “Taylor’s Versions” of her 2012 LP Red and 2008’s Fearless, with both revamped editions being huge successes. After talent manager Scooter Braun bought the rights to those albums back in 2019, Swift accused him of being an “incessant, manipulative bully” and wrote on Tumblr at the time that him owning the rights to her work was her “worst case scenario.” To move forward from this, she started making her “own” versions of her previous work.

Citing “three sources close to the situation,” Variety reported last week that Swift would take the stage at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona for the highly viewed game. Earlier last Friday, Apple Music was announced as the new presenting sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, replacing Pepsi. Because of the timing of that announcement (at 12:00 a.m.) fans took it as a hint that Swift would be performing (her forthcoming new album is also titled Midnights).

Since the “cardigan” musician has long been sponsored by Pepsi’s direct competitor Coca-Cola, fans were even more convinced that she would rock the Halftime show. As Swift has an ongoing deal with Coca-Cola, this would have prevented her from playing the Super Bowl in the past. According to the TMZ source, Swift supposedly wants to play the big game one day, but would only consider doing so if she had the rights to all of her songs and had re-recorded them. The earliest she could do this would be 2024.

On Sunday, September 25th, Rihanna, 34, took to Instagram to share the exciting Halftime Show news with her 136 million followers— posting a photo of her holding an official NFL football as thousands of fans left comments of approval. While Swifties may have to wait to see Swift take the legendary stage, they still have a (what we know will be) killer performance from Rihanna to look forward to, and Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights, out October 21st. We’re marking our calendars for both epic music events!