Shakira, Madonna, BTS to headline World Cup final half-time show: ‘A busy but alluring blend’

FIFA has announced that Shakira, Madonna and BTS will headline the half-time show during the World Cup final on July 19.

The Athletic reported on May 13 that FIFA had drafted plans to use the MetLife Stadium field during the half-time show of the World Cup final, making the interval for the tournament’s showpiece event on July 19 run significantly beyond soccer’s usual regulations of 15 minutes.

On May 14, FIFA announced via a video posted on Instagram that Colombian singer Shakira, American artist Madonna and South Korean boyband BTS will headline the tournament’s first-ever half-time show. Coldplay’s Chris Martin curated the line-up, in partnership with Global Citizen, the social justice organization.

Shakira, 49, famously sang “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)”, the official World Cup song for the 2010 edition in South Africa. The Colombian singer last week unveiled her official World Cup song Dai Dai, in collaboration with Burna Boy.

At last year’s Club World Cup final at MetLife, FIFA presented half-time entertainment featuring musicians Doja Cat, J Balvin and Tems but the show did not use the field. Instead, the organizers constructed a stage high up in the stands to avoid any impact on the playing surface.

The World Cup final has previously featured pre-game shows but this edition will be the first time in the tournament’s history to involve a half-time show.

‘A busy but alluring blend of sounds’

Analysis from Caoimhe O’Neill

It is going to be a crowded house at the World Cup final for the inaugural half-time show.

Even if deep down I was hoping for a three-hour Bruce Springsteen set to break up play in his home state, I think Madonna, Shakira, and BTS could be a busy but alluring blend of sounds and styles to get us all dancing.

I do feel like a prayer has been answered that we are getting to see the original Queen of Pop performing at the final. Madonna’s surprise performance at Coachella with Sabrina Carpenter recently brought her music to a new generation, playing at the World Cup will do the same. Let’s just hope whatever iconic outfit the seven-time Grammy award winner pulls up in does not go missing as her 20-year-old corset from Coachella recently did after the show.

BTS is the biggest K-pop band in the world (Yuri Cortez / AFP via Getty Images)

Shakira, Shakira. This is the most obvious yet spot-on choice. It is like picking Lionel Messi to start the final for Argentina or Cristiano Ronaldo to take the crucial penalty for Portugal. It gives the fans what they want as we surely get to hear Shakira’s “Waka Waka”, the soundtrack of the 2010 World Cup, live. It has been stuck in our heads for 16 years like the noise of those vuvuzelas and I’m OK with it.

The four-time Grammy winner has a new tune for this World Cup called “Dai Dai” which she collaborated on with Nigerian singer Burna Boy. That is very good news for England Women head coach Sarina Wiegman (a self-confessed Burna Boy fan) as it could mean Burna Boy gets on the pitch at half-time along with seemingly dozens of others.

As for BTS, they are simply one of the biggest, if not the biggest, K-pop groups in the world. They were the first K-pop group to properly break America. Their song “Dynamite” from 2020 debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. To give you an idea of their popularity, it has two billion views on YouTube alone, should you not, like me, have a niece who knows everything there is to know about the South Korean group made up of seven members.

BTS are so famous they recently returned from their hiatus, after members of the band had to complete mandatory military service in South Korea, by streaming their comeback concert on Netflix to a global audience of 18.4 million.

The World Cup final viewers will be a lot bigger than that and I’m intrigued to see how Martin, Coldplay frontman turned half-time show choreographer, is going to get the best out of these much-loved artists and will he or Billy Joel be playing piano throughout?

If you are reading, Chris, my youngest niece says that “Golden” mania is far from over and she wants to hear the global phenomenon song from the movie KPop Demon Hunters at the final. With a quiet show to plan, I’m sure you can squeeze it onto the festival-like line-up along with some Springsteen?