q8 For a few beautiful minutes, it felt like everything was calm again—like the world before #47 flipped it upside down.
Brandi Carlile sang to her heart’s content.
The artist rocked the stage at the Super Bowl 2026 pregame show with an emotional acoustic rendition of “America the Beautiful.”
Carlile performed with deaf artist Julian Ortiz, who sang the song in ASL.
“Not a dry eye in the house including mine!” one fan tweeted during Carlile’s performance. “Thank you for bringing us the spirit of America!”
“Brandi Carlile is always a win,” added another. “Great choice NFL.”
“Brandi Carlile might be the most talented musician on the planet,” penned a third. “Awesome to see her on the world’s biggest stage.”
The 11-time Grammy winner released her ninth studio album, “Returning To Myself,” in October 2025.
Later this month, Carlile is kicking off her 2026 Human Tour on Tuesday, alongside special guest The Head and The Heart.
“This is the biggest tour we have ever done,” the singer, 44, wrote via Instagram. “I have never been more ready to meet this moment…let’s make an arena feel like a living room.”
Ahead of her performance, Carlile attended a press conference for Apple Music on Thursday and opened up about this massive opportunity.
“One of the things I love about being in my 40s versus when I was given opportunities for big moments when I was younger is I would just disassociate from the pressure,” she explained. “But now, you get that superpower at this point in life. You calm down and centralize yourself. Be there. And actually experience these milestones in life.”
“When your life flashes before your eyes, you’ll see things like this,” Carlile mused. “And you don’t want to be gone. You want to be there.”
The star was ready to make the rendition her own.
“I would offer these songs and lyrics, as they are, up, with a sense of humility and hope but to also sing big and try and be a presence at the same time.”
Along with Carlile, Green Day also took the stage at the pregame opening ceremony.
“We are super hyped to open Super Bowl 60 right in our backyard!” Billie Joe Armstrong said when the news was first announced. “We are honored to welcome the MVPs who’ve shaped the game and open the night for fans all over the world. Let’s have fun! Let’s get loud!”
According to the NFL, the band’s performance was meant to “celebrate six decades of the championship’s history, with the band helping usher generations of Super Bowl MVPs onto the field.”
Armstrong, 53, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool performed some of their biggest hits during the set.
Green Day first shot to stardom out of San Francisco with the 1994 album “Dookie.”
Since then, the group has released 11 albums and has taken home five Grammy awards.
Also in the lineup was Charlie Puth, who sang the National Anthem, and Coco Jones, who performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Both artists were accompanied by ASL performer Fred Beam.
Bad Bunny, meanwhile, was picked as the 2026 headliner for the Halftime Show.
The organization first announced the news in September during a Packers-Cowboys “Sunday Night Football” game.
Bunny, 31, who holds the title for most-streamed artist in the world, shared a statement shortly after the game.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” he gushed. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture, and our history.”
Bunny took to Instagram to upload a clip of himself wearing a straw hat while sitting on a goal post at the beach, set to his song “Callaita.”
“Super Bowl LX. Bay Area. February 2026. #AppleMusicHalftime,” the Puerto Rican superstar captioned his post.
The musician also added on X: “I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States.”
Bunny is no stranger to a Super Bowl performance. He took the stage as a special guest for Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s halftime show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami during Super Bowl 2020.
However, there was immediate backlash over Bunny’s upcoming performance.
In October, a petition to replace the rapper with the “King of Country” George Strait garnered thousands of signatures.
The petition asked for the country star, 73, in order to “pay tribute to American music’s rich heritage.”
“The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt. Bad Bunny represents none of these values; his drag performances and style are the opposite of what families expect on football’s biggest stage,” the petition read.
“Again, George Strait embodies unity, tradition, and the timeless American music that truly deserves the 2026 Super Bowl spotlight.”
Turning Point USA also announced that it will be airing its own halftime show.
In October, Bunny addressed the controversy during his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I’m very happy, and I think everyone is happy about it — even Fox News,” he teased as footage from Fox was clipped together to say: “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.”
“But really, I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl, and I know that people all around the world who love my music are also happy,” Bunny continued.
He stated in Spanish: “Especially all of the Latinos and Latinas in the world here in the United States who have worked to open doors. It’s more than a win for myself, it’s a win for all of us. Our footprints and our contribution in this country, no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it.”
Concluding his opening monologue, Bunny quipped: “If you didn’t understand what I just said. You have four months to learn.”
