The NFL announced on Sunday that Bruno Mars will headline the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The 14-time Grammy nominee also appeared on Fox NFL Sunday to reveal the news in New York City’s Times Square ahead of the afternoon games.
Pepsi, the halftime-show sponsor, confirmed the news to Mashable in an email on Sunday as the news broke -- a day after reports surfaced that Mars was chosen.
The 27-year-old crooner and the NFL immediately expressed their excitement on Twitter:
WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!! #PepsiSBHalftime— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) September 8, 2013
.@SuperBowl + @pepsi + @BrunoMars = #PepsiSBHalftimeShow pic.twitter.com/HrY2rgTdhg— NFL (@nfl) September 8, 2013
Mars, who scored his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart in March with Unorthodox Jukebox, follows in the footsteps of big-name halftime performers in the past decade, including Beyonce, Madonna, The Black Eyed Peas and The Who. Halftime shows tend to incorporate guest musicians in addition to the main act, but those are usually kept secret.
Last year, Beyonce's sizzling performance, which included an onstage Destiny's Child reunion, lit up social media. Her halftime show generated 5.5 million posts on Twitter and 200 Beyonce-related photos per second on Instagram. Meanwhile on Facebook, mentions for Beyonce increased 49,000% after the show started.
Mars' top-charting album this year has spawned such hits as "Locked Out of Heaven," "When I Was Your Man" and "Treasure." He debuted the album's cover on Instagram in 2012.
BONUS: Watch Every 2013 Super Bowl Commercial Right Here
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