The Super Bowl Halftime Show is undeniably one of the most-watched television events, and organizers recently announced the stellar lineup for next year. Bad Bunny, aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, will be headlining the Super Bowl’s halftime showcase in February 2026.
Amid the buzz surrounding the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show, gossip columnist Rob Shuter revealed on his Substack, with input from industry veterans, the reason pop sensation Taylor Swift turned down the gig.
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A music executive told #ShuterScoop that Taylor Swift said no to the grand stage because she wasn’t willing to perform for free. It is a well-known fact that the performing artists, mostly A-listers, are not paid for their Super Bowl Halftime Show performances. “She wasn’t asking for favors, she was asking for respect. Taylor knows her worth. She knows the kind of ratings she brings, the global attention she commands. She wasn’t about to hand that over for free,” the music executive was quoted as saying.
Taylor Swift is one of the most popular singers in the world, with a following of over 281 million on Instagram alone. Highlighting the singer’s insane popularity, the insider added, “They expect the biggest artists in the world to do it for ‘exposure.’ Taylor Swift doesn’t need exposure. She wanted a deal that reflected her value.”
In addition to the music executive, another veteran insider told #ShuterScoop that it is the Super Bowl that could benefit from the singer’s popularity and not the other way round. “She doesn’t need the Super Bowl but the Super Bowl absolutely needs her. Without Taylor, it’s just another halftime show,” the insider said.
On the professional front, Taylor Swift recently released her new album The Life of a Showgirl, on October 3. The Lover singer penned a long emotional note on X on the day of her album release. She wrote, “Tonight all these lives converge here. The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears, where fraternal souls sing identical things and it’s beautiful. It’s rapturous. It is frightening.”
The 35-year-old singer signed off her post with these words, “I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right. A forever thank you goes out to my mentors and friends Max and Shellback for helping me paint this self-portrait. If you thought the big show was wild, perhaps you should come and take a look behind the curtain…The Life of a Showgirl is out now.”
Tonight all these lives converge here
The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears
Where fraternal souls sing identical things
And it’s beautiful
It’s rapturous.
It is frightening.
———
I can’t tell you how proud I am to share this with you, an album that just feels so right. A… pic.twitter.com/jIEG65ptR6— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) October 3, 2025
Swift’s album was met with mixed reactions online. While ‘Swifties’ (as Taylor Swift fans call themselves) declared the songs an instant hit, the lyrics of some of the songs didn’t quite resonate with another section of the Internet.
During a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Swift reacted to the negative feedback that her latest album is on the receiving end of, and she said, “I welcome the chaos. The rule of show business is if it’s the first week of my album release, and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping. I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art — I’m not the art police. Everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want and what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror.”
Despite the criticism, Taylor maintained that she “knows” what she made and that she “adores” it. “Oftentimes an album is a really, really wild way to look at yourself — what you’re going through in your life is gonna affect whether you relate to the music I’m putting out at any given moment. What I often love seeing my fans say is ‘I used to be someone who didn’t like relate to Reputation, and now that I’ve been through some other things in my life, that’s my favorite album.’ Or ‘I used to be a Fearless girlie, now I’m obsessed with Evermore.’ I have such an eye on legacy when I’m making my music — I know what I made, I know I adore it,” Taylor Swift said.
Taylor Swift began her music career with hit singles like Love Story and You Belong with Me. She followed it up with more hits like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Blank Space, I Knew You Were Trouble, to name a few.
