You would naturally associate the Super Bowl Halftime Show with jaw-dropping choreography, sky-high fireworks, as well as pop artists making dramatic entrances in literal clouds of smoke. Imagine having Ed Sheeran, holding his guitar, quietly singing the “A Team” in your mind’s eye. Doesn’t quite ring true, does it?
I don’t have pizzazz. I’m not going to have dancers on stage. I’m not going to have fireworks.
That is precisely the argument the British pop star made in not one but two recent sit-downs — on the Call Her Daddy podcast as well as on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show. One of the globe’s top-selling artists, Ed Sheeran, simply does not picture himself as the correct fit for America’s flashiest stage. Why not? According to him: “I don’t have pizzazz.”
Compare that with high-energy performances of the Super Bowl veterans like Beyonce, or Prince, or Michael Jackson, or Rihanna, whose standard routine is overwhelmingly elaborate. It is just him, his loop pedal, and his guitar – no backup dancers, no confetti cannons in tow, no pyrotechnics.
“If it were Beyoncé’s gig and she had the bells and whistles and then there was one moment where we sang ‘Perfect’ together, that does make sense to me,” Sheeran explained to Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper. “But me getting up there like, ‘Here’s The A Team,’ nobody’s gonna want that.”
He is right — it’s difficult to picture an acoustic ballad being played in a stadium full of revved-up spectators, nachos in hand, looking for musical action. “Have you seen me play as well?” he laughed, adding, “It’s loop pedal and you have to construct the things. Not really conducive for the Super Bowl. “Hey, hold on guys. I just gotta get this ready for two minutes.'”
To those outside American shores, the Super Bowl Halftime Show is not just any other job. It’s the job – a 15-minute pop culture explosion seen by more than 100 million individuals worldwide. It’s not so much music as spectacle. It’s flying stages, guest stars, and performances destined for going viral before they occur.
That kind of pizzazz doesn’t quite fit with Ed Sheeran’s mellow, British folk-pop sound. “The Super Bowl is an American experience,” he replied. “There are English bands that have the pizzazz, but I don’t think I do.”
However, he is not entirely shutting it down. Sheeran is fine with guesting — just not headlining. “There was this discussion about 10 years ago about going on with someone,” he mentioned. “That’d be the only way that I would do it.”
Naturally, no interview with Ed Sheeran is complete without some quirky anecdote. On Call Her Daddy, he nonchalantly shared a story about being locked out of his hotel room â?? entirely naked. “Classic tour moment,” he quipped
Aside from humorous anecdotes, he is also in for a busy year. He released a new song recently, “Azizam” – the first in a few singles leading up to his upcoming album. He even sang it live busking in the NYC subway with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Low-key.
“I don’t see myself doing it. Can you see me doing it?”
In addition, Sheeran is about to embark on tour in the Middle East and Europe. So as he may be staying away from Super Bowl venues, he is surely not staying away from the stage.
