Mary J. Blige Speaks on Not Getting Paid to Perform for Super Bowl Halftime Show

Mary J. Blige isn’t bothered by the fact that she’s not getting paid to perform at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show.

In a new interview with The Cruz Show, the singer called it the “opportunity of a lifetime.”

She confirmed to host J Cruz that the halftime performances are unpaid. “Listen, you’re gonna be paid for the rest of your life off of this,” she said. “People are gonna be knocking at your doors. They don’t have to pay me, but if they was paying it would be a lot of money.”

Cruz is referring to the fact that usually after an artist plays the Super Bowl, their sales tend to skyrocket. Last year, almost every song The Weeknd performed landed in the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs chart, per Variety.

It’s been agreed that this year’s halftime show is going to be fairly insane, with performances from Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, in addition to Blige. Pepsi dropped a trailer in advance, directed by F. Gary Gray, who also helmed Friday and Straight Outta Compton.

All of the artists appear in the almost 4-minute clip titled “The Call,” which opens with Em alongside a depiction of his Slim Shady character. Later, we see Snoop cruising along a Los Angeles highway, Blige getting her makeup done for a photoshoot, Kendrick penning the next great song, and Dre walking along the beach as waves lap over a digitally rendered piano in the water.

Blige is releasing her forthcoming album Good Morning Gorgeous on Feb. 11. Her Super Bowl performance is just two days later, on Feb. 13 in Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles Rams will take on the Cincinnati Bengals.