2025 Super Bowl, Grammy Awards Lock Out Country Performances

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For going on the third straight year, country music continues to be one of the most popular and dominant genres in all of popular music, rivaling and surpassing hip-hop’s decade-plus previous dominance. Yet on the biggest stages when America comes together to celebrate unifying cultural moments, country music continues to be locked out.

Kendrick Lamar was the halftime performer for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday (2-10)—a hip-hop artist in a long string of them ever since Jay-Z’s Roc Nation partnered with the NFL to produce the halftime show in 2019. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that it’s been one hip-hop performance after another ever since. And hey, previously, hip-hop had been deemed too hot for primetime, and had been locked out of Super Bowl opportunities itself.

But how long has it been since country music was featured during the the Super Bowl halftime? It’s now officially been 31 years. You have to go all the way back to 1994 when Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and The Judds played the Super Bowl halftime to find the last and really only time country music was featured during the Super Bowl halftime. There hasn’t even been a country artist featured as a guest in over 20 years. Shania Twain appeared briefly with No Doubt in 2003.

Though a country critic is perfectly unqualified to commentate on the quality of Kendrick Lamar’s performance, what can be quantifiably determined is that ultimately, it was a (at least partially) lip-synced presentation punctuated by choreographic dancing, just like pretty much every single other popular music performance from the pop and hip-hop realm. There were no live musicians on a stage. Guest performer SZA didn’t even seem to attempt to act like she was actually singing. And how could you with all the precise gesticulations that are required for such a performance?

As hip-hop pundits and political activists harp about the iconography and Easter eggs employed by Kendrick Lamar and what they all mean, the majority of America stared at their televisions screens and couldn’t tell what the hell was going on, though there was a lot of movement, which apparently is the most important thing.

Even to a pre-recorded track, the lyrics were incoherent, and any messages veiled or overt were mostly lost, which frankly, is a shame when considering Kendrick’s more thoughtful, socially conscious, and clever lyricism. And that really is the kick in the pants. Kendrick Lamar is one of the most critically-acclaimed hip-hop artists of all time. And there he was, doing a song and dance routine to a pre-recorded track as opposed to being live and in-the-moment.

The week previous, Kendrick Lamar had earned five Grammy Awards, leading the field, including his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” winning Record of the Year and Song of the Year—the same song that capped off his Super Bowl performance. Early February is now arguably the epicenter for culturally unifying moments in media and music, with the Super Bowl being very much a musical event along with a sports one.

Similar to many recent Super Bowl halftime performances, the Grammy Awards were primarily dominated by lip-synced performances and choreographic dancing without a live instrument to be seen on stage.

Billboard remarked “Rock Is the Second-Biggest Genre in the U.S. Why Was It Missing From the Grammys?” That’s a good question. An even better question is why country can claim the same thing? Aside from Brad Paisley appearing in a multi-genre opening segment with Dawes centered around the L.A. fires, Lainey Wilson appearing in tribute to Quincy Jones, and an appearance by Shaboozey, country music was nowhere to be seen.

Actual music keeps going missing from musical performances in lieu of pre-recorded backing tracks and and what boils down to dance routines. Sierra Ferrell was the 2nd-highest Grammy winner in 2025 with four trophies, sweeping all of her nominations similar to Kendrick Lamar. She would have stunned the world with a Grammy performance. But none was bestowed, and all of her wins were relegated to the pre-telecast.

Why are rock and country surging in interest? And why is more earthy, twangy, songwriter-based country shading out hip-hop and drum-machine versions of commercial country? It’s because in a increasingly complex, digitized, AI-driven, cold and detached world, country and roots music feels real.

Even if young audiences are interfacing with this music through their phones and other technology, there is something about flesh and blood, wood and wire, the beautiful imperfections of a truly live performance that makes people feel connected in an increasingly disconnected world. It’s organic. It breathes, feels, cries, and bleeds.

But the institutions tasked with representing music fans are increasingly shirking the opportunities to feature actual music. This is one of the reasons there was such a backlash to Beyoncé’s Best Country Album win for Cowboy Carter. It’s not that if you select out certain songs, they don’t sound similar to what you might hear on country radio. It’s that ultimately Cowboy Carter was music that still leaned on electronic instrumentation, drum loops, samples, and other inorganic matter. That is why country radio is increasingly losing relevance, along with the Grammy Awards.

Country fans and pundits have been complaining about the lack of representation at the Super Bowl for years now. At least at past Super Bowls, country artists were selected for National Anthem performances (this year it was Jon Batiste). But now others are beginning to take note. Believe it or not, The New York Times recently asked the question, “The Super Bowl Finally Embraced Rap. Is There Also Room for Country?”

The article quotes the chief executive of Roc Nation, Desiree Perez, who says she “can’t wait until we get some country music” and follows up, “That’s definitely something we are working on — to make sure that we’re covering all kinds of music.”

It will be interesting to see how long the partnership between the NFL and Roc Nation continues itself. But it would be even more interesting to see a country artist get an opportunity at the 50 yard line. And not just because it would finally mean country music got its opportunity. It will also likely mean actual instrumentation, and live vocals. Or at least, it should.

Sure, with such a wide, mainstream audience tuning into the Super Bowl, you want to present something that is sensible. But don’t discount the sensibilities of the American music consumer in 2025. It’s the same population that has turned Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan into arena and stadium performers, and seen uncharacteristic superstars like Luke Combs do the same. After all, it’s not like Kendrick Lamar was safe for primetime. But that was kind of the point.

Just like football that’s played between the numbers by living and breathing humans where all digital enhancements and trickery are relegated to the sidelines, country music is that one last touch of the real world. All the more reason to finally showcase it on America’s biggest stage.

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