Will this be the most political Super Bowl ever?

More than Kanye, more than Luigi Mangione, Elon Musk, and Timothée Chalamet, the men of the year in the United States have been Kendrick Lamar and Donald Trump. The first is an award-winning rapper and songwriter (with accolades including twenty-two Grammys, an Oscar, and a Pulitzer) whose lyrics are openly political, addressing the injustices that permeate America; the second is a Republican businessman who became President and, during the last election campaign, promised to launch the «largest deportation program in U.S. history». What could possibly go wrong this Sunday when both of them find themselves at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans for the most anticipated American sporting event of the year? Not only that: what could possibly go wrong when Lamar takes the stage at the halftime show with a microphone in hand in front of 120 million viewers? The White House recently confirmed Trump's attendance at this weekend's Super Bowl (it is the first that a U.S. President is present at the event) and the “End Racism” sign has been removed from the end zone of the field for the first time ever. For now, we do not know whether the U.S. President plans to have a chat with the rapper before his concert. 

Advertising is an excellent tool for measuring a country's politics: in the case of the United States, the best benchmark to consider is the Super Bowl Ads. This year, the extremely expensive commercials airing during Sunday’s showdown (Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles) clearly reflect the country's Republican shift: race cars, provocative protagonists, and slogans like «Papa, please let me deliver beer» depict an America that has come to terms with its destiny and has chosen to align with political conservatism. After all, the same has happened in the tech sector, with Elon Musk joining the government and Mark Zuckerberg showing his support for Trump’s policies by removing fact-checking from his apps and appointing Dana White, an ally of the president, to Meta’s board of directors. It’s no surprise that among the executives of major national corporations, the motto «follow the money» prevails, yet all this favoritism has already sparked some controversy regarding the «freedom of speech» so often championed by Zuckerberg and his colleagues. If we hear a new Kendrick Lamar track during halftime this Sunday, we can be sure that the rapper has had plenty of inspiration to pull from over the past few months. 

Throughout his career, Lamar has used music to support various political causes, particularly the Black Lives Matter movement. However, while a few years ago his most popular songs were filled with hope and social protest (such as Alright, which became an anthem for the Black American community), his latest hits suggest that Lamar is no longer interested in activism—as he raps in Savior, released in 2022, the pressure of fame and the myth built around him feel constraining. Over the past year, particularly during the presidential elections, he made headlines only in relation to his beef with Drake—which resulted in Not Like Us, a track that just won five Grammys. Whether he intended to or not, his voice was still heard during the elections, with Not Like Us and Freedom being chosen by Democrat Kamala Harris as the soundtrack for her political campaign. Now, all that remains is to wait and see what will happen on Sunday when Lamar takes the stage in front of Trump and all of America. If they choose to ignore each other, we can always count on the ongoing feud between the President of the United States and Taylor Swift, the pop star famously labeled a «childless cat lady» by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who will be attending the game in support of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Beef or not, Sunday’s show will be unmissable.