Why Maroon 5? Five Reasons That Explain the Choice Behind the New Super Bowl Headline Performers

The collection of Maroon 5 as headline performers for the upcoming Super Bowl LIII halftime present — initially reported by Variety and confirmed by Billboard — has, unsurprisingly, been met with tepid enthusiasm, if not outright snark, from a number of corners of the Internet.

It is sensible. The band would not fairly have the legacy or esteem of a basic rock act like earlier performers The Who or Bruce Springsteen, and arguably lacks the modern vibrancy of a present pop hitmaker like latest headliners Beyoncé or Bruno Mars. What’s extra, they seem to be a group whose most seen members are straight white males — for the second yr in a row, following Justin Timberlake’s headlining efficiency earlier this yr — in a time when all cultural establishments are being rightfully challenged to be extra inclusive with the range of their chosen performers and honorees.

With so many different main skills and business behemoths from the worlds of pop, rock and hip-hop nonetheless but to play essentially the most televised occasion of the yr — Rihanna, Drake, P!nk, Taylor Swift and JAY-Z, simply to call a handful — it is undoubtedly shocking for a lot of that Maroon 5 can be the following act to get the nod. But that is to not say that it’s very with out logic, both. Here’s a number of the the reason why the L.A. septet will probably be beamed into your front room subsequent February. 

They have extra hits than you would possibly notice. We’ve already covered this extensively in latest months at Billboard, however the variety of smash hits that Maroon 5 have been in a position to amass over their decade and a half within the highlight (at a reasonably constant price) is nothing lower than staggering. They’ve scored 22 high 40 hits, 14 of which have hit the highest 10, and three of which — 2006’s “Makes Me Wonder,” 2010’s “Moves Like Jagger” and 2012’s “One More Night” — went all the best way to No. 1. Throw in radio (and marriage ceremony) perennials like “She Will Be Loved,” “This Love,” “Payphone” and “Sugar,” and the group has greater than sufficient universally recognizable jams to fill out a 15-minute Super Bowl set. 

They even have one of many largest songs on the earth proper now. Maroon 5 won’t really feel like one of many largest pop acts in 2018 however your native high 40 station would beg to vary: Their most up-to-date single “Girls Like You” has been No. 1 on Billboard‘s Radio Songs chart for eight weeks, and is barely an historic Drake run from reaching the identical spot on the general Hot 100, the place it at the moment sits at No. 2. It’s additionally one of many yr’s largest music movies, with its cameo-cluttered clip nearing 900 million views on YouTube — greater than twice the variety of performs for Childish Gambino’s incendiary “This Is America” video, even. Truthfully, it is a a lot larger and extra recognizable hit than most up-to-date SB headline performers — together with Timberlake final yr, Lady Gaga in 2017 and Coldplay in 2016 — have needed to function a contemporary linchpin for his or her best hits set.

Adam Levine is a big (and widely known) star. The Maroon 5 frontman won’t solely deliver his simply acknowledged, falsetto-heavy model of blue-eyed soul to the Super Bowl stage, however his personal explicit model of movie star, which features a starring function as a coach on the long-running NBC hit The Voice and a tabloid and life-style journal reputation that culminated in his being named People‘s Sexiest Man Alive in 2013. He’s one of many few stars in 2018 that continues to be extremely recognizable and accessible to each youthful music followers and their dad and mom, in addition to informal pop listeners and normal popular culture observers who is perhaps extra prone to establish Levine from his face than from his songs.

They test the “rock” field whereas nonetheless sounding modern. Maroon 5 will probably be simply the third band this decade to headline the Super Bowl halftime stage — following The Who in 2010 and Coldplay in 2016 — maintaining the flame alive for these older followers questioning why basic rock would not dominate the present the best way it used to within the ’00s, when U2, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty all carried out. However, they’re removed from a standard rock band at this level, more and more pulling in influences from pop, soul, hip-hop and even EDM over the course of their profession, altering with the instances to ensure they proceed to suit the sound of contemporary radio. At least in idea, they need to permit the present to have the most effective of each worlds. 

They’ll deliver well-known buddies. Undoubtedly, Maroon 5 will comply with the mannequin of Coldplay a pair years in the past with their set, and pull youthful (and arguably extra 2018-vital) stars to help on their hits, and perhaps even pause for them to dip into one or two of their very own. Cardi B appears the obvious alternative, because the visitor rapper on “Girls Like You,” and Kendrick Lamar or SZA might additionally make appearances, if their latest “Don’t Wanna Know” or “What Lovers Do” hits made the ultimate set checklist, respectively. (Billboard has additionally reported rapper Travis Scott as a possible cameo, although the group haven’t got a single with him but.) And the group might additionally go the opposite method with it and invite Levine’s Voice co-stars Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani to the get together — assuming CBS might abdomen that a lot promotion for an NBC program, anyway. Regardless, it makes extra sense for all concerned if the band would not need to shoulder the load on their very own. 

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