By Ellie Schuckman
Opinions Editor
The Super Bowl is often breaking records, whether it’s the amount of viewers who tune in, the teams playing the actual game or those notorious commercials.
However, while the big game attracts an average of 111.5 million viewers every year compared to the typical 20.3 million who watch any given NFL game a week, the sudden rise in viewership begs the question — do people tune in to watch the game, the commercials or the often infamous halftime show performance?
In the last decade alone, we have seen legends from Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, subpar performances from the Black Eyed Peas and LMFAO and last year’s flawless display of a true talent, Bruno Mars.
And this year’s lucky winner? The one and only, Katy Perry.
While the “Queen of Pop” has had three million-selling albums, her vocal ability remains questionable. With the rise of autotune, almost anyone can put on a sparkly costume, have help writing a catchy song and suddenly become a star. However, it takes talent to have a positive lasting memory, especially with a performance seen around the world.
From her grand entrance on a shiny lion to her flying escape on a shooting star, Perry’s performance was downright cheesy and unmemorable. While it is hard for any performer to deliver stellar vocals while putting on a decent show, Perry’s lip-synching was delayed, and sounded nothing like the tracks on her albums.
With controversy surrounding this year’s halftime show performer, as reports spread that the NFL wanted the lucky artist to pay to play, Perry booked the deal without paying a dime.
According to Forbes.com, the lucky halftime performer receives no pay for playing the show, but does receive compensation for all travel, lodging and production expenses. The free publicity often serves as pay all in its own right.
After last year’s performance, Mars’s latest album rose 92 percent the week after the Super Bowl, according to the same article.
However, no matter his album sales, Mars delivered a performance which captivated most who watched it. His vocals were flawless, the production was not overdone, he showed off some stellar dance moves and many even begged to have him perform again this year.
Mars managed to entertain his audience, regardless of age or gender, something that Perry was unable to do.
