Not gonna lie, Taylor Swift’s interview with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” broadcast Monday evening was on the lite side — at one point they talked at length about bread.
During one of Fallon’s trademark games, Swift was asked to say which of five rumors he’d found online were true, and the first was that she declined an offer to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime show because she would not own rights to the performance footage. She made a face but said nothing.
However, in the expanded version of the interview posted on the show’s website, she spoke about at length about why she’s not performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show, which she was widely rumored to be doing next Feb. 8, before Bad Bunny was officially announced as the performer.
After denying with a flat “No” that footage rights were the reason she declined to perform, she basically explained that her management had only received broad questions from Roc Nation, which programs the Super Bowl’s entertainment, about whether she’d be interested, rather than a formal offer. She added that regardless of whether or not an offer was official, she’d be too concerned about her fiancée, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, to even think about performing in the middle of the Super Bowl where he might be playing (which does not necessarily mean she presumes that the Chiefs will be in the Super Bowl: Halftime performers are announced early in the season).
Speaking of Roc Nation, which is led by Jay-Z, she said, “Jay-Z has always been very good to me — our [business] teams are really close. They sometimes will call and say, ‘How does she feel about [this or that issue]. And that’s not, like, an official offer or, like, a conference room conversation, more ‘How does she feel about it in general?’
And we’re always able to tell him the truth, which is that I am in love with a guy who does that sport on that actual field — like, [professional football] is violent chess. That is gladiators without swords. That is dangerous. I am, [for] the whole season, locked in on what that man is doing on the field. Can you imagine if he’s out there every single week, putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high pressure, high intensity sport, and I’m like [she puts on goofy voice and face], ‘I wonder what my choreo should be? I think we should do two verses of “Shake It Up,” into “Blank Space,” into “Cruel Summer” would be great!’”
She laughed before adding, “This has nothing to do with Travis — he would love for me to do it. But I’m just too locked in.”
So — Swifties will have to wait for a Super Bowl Halftime performance… until further notice.
