{"id":11299,"date":"2026-07-20T07:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11299"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:14:03","slug":"justin-bieber-madonna-and-shakira-made-fifas-first-ever-world-cup-halftime-show-a-true-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11299","title":{"rendered":"Justin Bieber, Madonna, and Shakira Made FIFA\u2019s First-Ever World Cup Halftime Show a True Spectacle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">More than ever, the pressure has been on the games to deliver something\u2014a last gasp of monoculture, as so many observers have put it\u2014and more than ever, they are delivering. A recent CNBC survey found that around 50% of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, viewed at least one World Cup match, and ticket resale prices spiked to about $10,000 the day before the final. Whether it was the social media antics of Norway\u2019s giant viking of a striker, Erling Haaland, or the TikTok fantasies lavished on England\u2019s dashing, powerhouse midfielder Jude Bellingham, the primary characters of the tournament had crossed over beyond the game, with faces as recognizable as the fans in attendance on Sunday: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/timothee-chalamet\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/kylie-jenner\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Kylie Jenner<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/culture\/story\/jalen-brunson\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Jalen Brunson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/zohran-mamdani-and-the-future-of-american-politics\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text link\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">As Argentina and Spain\u2019s players left the field, a rainbow tarp was rolled out over the surface. This was not the all-out, immersive show that is a ritual of Super Bowl halftimes but a somewhat humbler affair: a series of musical vignettes layered in quick succession. In the stadium, the individual performances felt underwhelming, and the mood in the crowd was relatively staid. For the most part, the performers played straight to the cameras trailing them around the field, making for a visual presentation that filled TV monitors but only occupied a small portion of the stadium\u2019s space and attention. While Bieber wrapped his intimate performance, Burna Boy and Shakira were setting up on the opposite side of the field, a phalanx of yellow-clad dancers assembling around them. (There was also a hodgepodge of cultural ephemera: the Muppets joining an orchestral rendition of \u201cSeven Nation Army,\u201d and Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, appearing as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard, introducing Bieber\u2019s performance.)<\/p>\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-iJvQnD cOWUYC asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-fnduJP iaVSwI asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-kFnjvc eKnjjD responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-jKunQM gjCCFj AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Gianni Infantino Donald Trump People Person Blazer Clothing Coat Jacket Photography and Face\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_120,c_limit\/2286213281 120w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_240,c_limit\/2286213281 240w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_320,c_limit\/2286213281 320w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_640,c_limit\/2286213281 640w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_960,c_limit\/2286213281 960w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_1280,c_limit\/2286213281 1280w, https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_1600,c_limit\/2286213281 1600w\" sizes=\"100vw\" src=\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d4a35fa694f38861a4475\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/2286213281\"\/><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-bpPcvW kzGGxb caption AssetEmbedCaption-eZIMNW gMgneI asset-embed__caption\" data-testid=\"caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionText-cQpRdU klhnDX hbiMYj caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>The alliance between Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino was on full display during the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionCredit-cUgOGk gsdIcD hRFzlA caption__credit\">Jose Breton\/Pics Ation\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The halftime show was produced in partnership with Global Citizen, the international anti-poverty organization, and aimed to raise money for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, the advisory board of which includes Infantino, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/ivanka-trump\" class=\"text link\">Ivanka Trump<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/the-weeknd\" class=\"text link\">The Weeknd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/serena-williams\" class=\"text link\">Serena Williams<\/a>, and Bank of America co-president Jim DeMare. When Smith issued his tirade against the halftime show, he focused in particular on FIFA president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/story\/fifa-world-cup-gianni-infantino-trump\" class=\"text link\">Gianni Infantino<\/a> and Trump, who watched the final together on Sunday in another show of their close alliance. The notion, as echoed by so many soccer fans, was that corporate and political interests were interfering with the integrity of the match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Few of those concerns were in the air as the halftime performers retreated from the field, the tarp was rolled back, and the sprinkler system was activated to prepare the field for the final moments of the World Cup. The tournament had minted all manner of stars and produced all measure of pageantry, and if a FIFA halftime show was not quite a hit on its first attempt, it still was in keeping with the action that had preceded it. Bieber exited the field as wordlessly as he had entered it, as reluctant and enigmatic as ever, but the World Cup had ultimately provided just as natural a stage for him as Coachella.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than ever, the pressure has been on the games to deliver something\u2014a last gasp of monoculture, as so many observers have put it\u2014and more than ever, they are delivering. A recent CNBC survey found that around 50% of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, viewed at least one World Cup match, and ticket resale prices&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a5d449f072725e4bfdd1c68\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/2286798288","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}