If you’re a musician, getting a million streams on platforms like Spotify is quite the milestone for you and your family’s legacy. Now add a hundred million streams, a few Grammy nominations (one or two wins), sold-out concerts, cameos in other artists’ music videos, and you are truly at the top of your game.
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Then, if you somehow take that success a few steps further and land a Super Bowl halftime show, you would go down in history as one of the era’s standout artists. And T-Pain is exactly the kind of artist who belongs on that stage.
The two-time Grammy winner, who helped popularize Auto-Tune in hip-hop and R&B, has been around for decades. With hits like Buy U a Drank, Bartender, Can’t Believe It, and many others, he could absolutely put on a strong performance for a stage like the Super Bowl halftime show. But does he want to do it?
Shannon Sharpe recently asked T-Pain that exact question. The former NFL star-turned podcaster wondered if Jay-Z, who helps select halftime performers through Roc Nation’s partnership with the league, offered T-Pain the gig, would he take it?
T-Pain surprisingly said no. And he had a pretty solid reason for it.
“Nah [I don’t want to do it]. It’s too much pressure. It’s a great honor, it’d be an amazing honor, but you got to think about me trying to squeeze 20 years of absolute hit records in 15 minutes,” he said (via Club Shay Shay podcast).
“Remember when Justin Timberlake did it? And that whole 15 minutes, I was like, ‘Oh, I forgot about that [song] … ‘Oh sh*t, what, that was his? Oh godddamn, for real?’ Yeah, I don’t want that. I don’t want the head snatch of- Oh, I forgot he did all that,” added the rapper.
T-Pain Will Turn Down Jay-Z To Do The Super Bowl Halftime Show
“It’s too much pressure. Cause you got to think, it’s a great honor, an amazing honor, but you got to think of me trying to squeeze 20 years of absolute hit records in 15 minutes.” – @TPAIN pic.twitter.com/qiz9aWz9wR
— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) November 30, 2025
From the outside, this decision to opt out might seem foolish. Who wouldn’t want to perform at the Super Bowl, where the entire country (and now even other countries) will be watching?
However, we shouldn’t forget that the NFL does not pay artists for their shows, and some even end up losing money if the production budget is exceeded to meet the artist’s demands. And then, there’s the national scrutiny if something doesn’t go right in the performance.
Still, it’s hard to ignore that a 15-minute Super Bowl spot would expand T-Pain’s brand exponentially. He could make far more money in the long run than he currently does. That’s why he should absolutely take the offer if, say, Jay-Z asks.
For this season’s Super Bowl, Puerto Rico-based singer Bad Bunny will headline the show. But there’s always next year, T-Pain.
