Super Bowl LIX is shaping up to be one for the books.
Kendrick Lamar was announced as the halftime headliner for Feb. 9’s game back in September. On Thursday, official halftime show sponsor Apple Music revealed via a cheeky teaser trailer for the performance that Grammy winner and frequent Lamar collaborator SZA will join the rapper on stage at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome.
In the clip, Lamar paces around a greyscale football field, idly chatting on the phone with a friend. “This field a lot bigger than what it looks,” he remarks. Unbeknownst to the Compton-born musician, SZA creeps up behind him, shouldering a sloshing watercooler. She then dumps the sparkling blue, Gatorade-like contents of the cooler onto Lamar with a mischievous grin.
This is Lamar’s first time headlining a Super Bowl halftime show, but it isn’t his first time performing in one. He appeared as a special guest during Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s 2022 West Coast-themed Super Bowl spectacle. He and SZA also aren’t the only announced performers.
The NFL has tapped four Louisiana natives to fill out the night’s festivities: jazz singer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste will perform the national anthem; Christian singer Lauren Daigle and jazz musician Trombone Shorty will perform “America the Beautiful”; and R&B legend Ledisi will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
There are likely plenty of surprise guests to come, but for now, here’s the full slate of announced performers set for the 2025 Super Bowl.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Kendrick Lamar performs at Rolling Loud Miami 2022. Jason Koerner/Getty
Kendrick Lamar had one of the biggest years of his career in 2024. He achieved a resounding victory over Drake in one of the most vicious rap battles in the genre’s history, released a song that stayed at the top of the charts for months and that’s now led him to multiple Grammy nominations, and he released his sixth critically-acclaimed album, GNX, in November. Headlining the Super Bowl halftime show is as much an auspicious start to the new year as it is a victory lap for the decorated rapper and musician.
“Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,” Lamar said in a statement shared with Entertainment Weekly in September. “And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”
In a video coinciding with the Sept. announcement, Lamar stands before a massive American flag, feeding footballs into a throwing machine. “My name is Kendrick Lamar, and I’ll be performing at Super Bowl LIX. Will you be pulling up? I hope so,” he says to camera.
SZA performing at Chicago’s United Center in 2023. Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty
If Kendrick had a stellar year, SZA’s 2024 was super-galactic. The St. Louis-born musician born Solána Imani Rowe spent the year touring her acclaimed, Grammy-winning album SOS, which won her three Grammys. She released the deluxe version of that album, titled Lana, complete with a music video starring Ben Stiller. She also geared up for her acting debut in the Issa Rae-penned, Keke Palmer-costarring One of Them Days, which took the No. 2 spot at the MLK weekend domestic box office.
She and Kendrick also maximized their joint slay threefold, collaborating on three songs across their respective new albums (“gloria,” “luther,” and “30 for 30”), announcing the joint-headlining “Grand National Tour,” and, in February, taking the Super Bowl by storm together.
Jon Batiste rehearsing for the Grammys in 2024. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Another Super Bowl performer plucked straight from the 2024 Grammys (six nominations, but sadly no wins), Jon Batiste has been selected for the distinguished honor of performing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIX. Batiste succeeds American sweetheart, The Voice coach, and noted survivor Reba McEntire , who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at last year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
Batiste was born and raised in New Orleans, and belongs to a locally-revered family of jazz greats, including Milton Batiste, a former trumpeter in the Olympia Brass Band, and Lionel Batiste, the former assistant leader of the Treme Brass Band. His first album, released when he was only 17, is called Times in New Orleans. Batiste launched his first solo concert tour in 2024, dubbed “The Uneasy Tour.” His Super Bowl performance will be accompanied in American Sign Language (ASL) by the actress Stephanie Nogueras.
Ledisi in 2017. Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Like Batiste, R&B mainstay and Grammy-winning singer Ledisi was born and raised in New Orleans. She also hails from an influential family in the local jazz scene, and began singing in the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra when she was only eight. She’s gone on to release 11 albums, win major industry awards, tour the world with her band, and earn her spot as one of the greatest vocalists in the history of the genre, alongside Patti Labelle, with whom she starred in the documentary American Soul, and Mahalia Jackson, who she’s appeared on screen as twice, in Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story.
Ledisi has been tapped by the NFL to perform the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Colloquially known as the “Black national anthem,” the song was written by author and NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900, but was taken up as a rallying cry during the Civil Rights movement.
Trombone Shorty in 2024. Taylor Hill/Getty
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is another New Orleans native. The world-touring trombonist has been performing since the age of four when he made his debut at the city’s annual Jazz Fest accompanying Bo Diddley. Shorty attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts with Batiste. The two will reunite at Super Bowl LIX, but Shorty is performing with the Christian recording artist Lauren Daigle, who will sing “America the Beautiful.”
Lauren Daigle in 2019. Terry Wyatt/Getty
Lauren Daigle is the final Louisianian in the announced group of Super Bowl LIX performers. Born in Lake Charles and raised in Lafayette, Daigle rose to prominence in 2015, when her debut album, How Can It Be, topped Billboard’s Christian albums chart. She’s since become one of the most successful contemporary Christian recording artists in America, with two Grammy awards. She will sing “America the Beautiful” during the Super Bowl pregame lineup, accompanied by Trombone Shorty.
Super Bowl LIX airs on Sunday, Feb. 9 on Fox and streams on Fubo and the Fox Sports app. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, with the halftime show likely to begin between 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET.
