The World Cup final halftime show was a bit of a mess Featuring Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Shakira, and a special appearance by Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog

With last night's victory by Spain, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially come to a close. A tournament that was certainly controversial, marked by petitions to reinstate certain eliminated teams, alleged favoritism, and players who suddenly became memes. The most glaring oddity, however, was the decision to concentrate the majority of matches in the United States — compared to the other two host countries, Canada and Mexico — given that the States have never had a particularly strong footballing tradition. But last night's event was a red, white, and blue spectacle, with a halftime show that felt more like the Super Bowl than a typical World Cup. As reported by the BBC, the break lasted 27 minutes and 22 seconds, nearly double the 15 minutes stipulated by IFAB regulations — an extension that had already sparked debate in the days leading up to the final.

The performances of Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS and Shakira

"Music makes the people come together" — so opened the halftime show of the final between Spain and Argentina, with Madonna bringing to the pitch of MetLife Stadium a medley from Confessions on a Dance Floor (the artist's cult 2005 album) and Confessions II, her latest project released in early July, accompanied by Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. BTS, Justin Bieber, and Shakira then took turns on stage, with an interlude featuring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy performing to the strains of Seven Nation Army.

Unlike the Super Bowl, which typically builds a coherent narrative, each performance seemed to exist in a parallel universe, with no real common thread. As the New York Times noted, even many fans of the artists involved were left baffled by such a eclectic cast, wondering what the outcome of such an unlikely collaboration could possibly be. The result was a halftime show designed to please everyone that, for precisely that reason, ended up saying very little. Madonna and BTS leaned on their most iconic tracks, favoring them over the new albums released this year, while Justin Bieber chose to bring Everything Hallelujah to the stage — a track from his latest album that was never officially released as a single, yet has gone viral on social media.

Saint Laurent, Skylrk, Roberto Cavalli: fashion at the 2026 World Cup final

The disconnect between the headliners was equally apparent in the styling choices, with a striking absence of any unifying color or aesthetic that might have signaled to viewers that they were watching a single show rather than several mini-performances stitched together. While the most iconic Super Bowl halftime shows almost always share a common aesthetic direction, here each artist seemed to belong to an entirely different universe — just think of the 2016 Super Bowl performance by Chris Martin, Beyoncé, and Bruno Mars.

Madonna opened the evening in a Saint Laurent look that echoed the aesthetic of Confessions on a Dance Floor: visible lingerie, silk mini shorts, metallic boots, and a cascade of Swarovski crystals. At the opposite end of the spectrum, BTS opted for the only outfit genuinely tied to the sporting context, reinterpreting the classic football kit with crests, patches, bombers, and custom jerseys in red, white, and black.

Justin Bieber, meanwhile, wore a look from his own label Skylrk, launched by the singer this year, consisting of a double-layer-effect polo shirt and raw denim bermuda shorts. Closing the show was Shakira in a custom Roberto Cavalli look by Fausto Puglisi, embroidered with over 200,000 Swarovski crystals and completed by a long fringed skirt. If the music told four different stories, the fashion only confirmed it. A thoroughly Hollywood approach that works brilliantly for the Super Bowl, but somewhat less so for a tournament that, for nearly a century, has always let football take center stage.