Beyoncé brought her album “Cowboy Carter” to life for the first time in a halftime performance at an NFL game on Christmas Day in her hometown of Houston.
The show, which came midway through the Baltimore Ravens’ rout of the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, was designed to entice viewers to Netflix as the streaming goliath inaugurated a new pact with America’s most popular professional sports league. It also was a way to bring attention to Beyoncé’s latest LP — a detailed excursion into country music that plays up the singer’s Southern roots — just as Recording Academy members cast their votes for February’s Grammy Awards, where “Cowboy Carter” is nominated for album of the year.
Immediately following her performance, Beyoncé posted a brief video on X that suggested she’ll announce something on Jan. 14 — something, whatever it is, that many more fans now are likely to be looking forward to.
For all its cross-promotional synergy, though, Wednesday’s halftime show was a reminder that whatever lures Beyoncé from her superstar cocoon is worth celebrating: As usual for pop music’s greatest live performer, this 13-minute production — a “ho ho ho-down,” as she called it — was a thrill from top to bottom.
The show began with Beyoncé astride a white horse sauntering down a hallway in NRG’s bowels as she sang “16 Carriages,” her ballad about a youth spent on the road chasing showbiz dreams. Soon she was joined by a quartet of Black female country singers — Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts — for a moving rendition of the Beatles’ “Blackbird.”
Beyoncé emerged onto the stadium field to sing a blistering “Ya Ya,” her version of a classic Tina Turner rave-up, accompanied by a small electric rock band and a huge horn section arrayed on bleachers that called to mind her presentation at the Coachella festival in 2018. Then she did the clubby “My House” before welcoming Shaboozey to join her for “Sweet Honey Buckiin’” and Post Malone for their “Levii’s Jeans” (which they did in front of a pickup truck wrapped in denim).
Beyoncé sang her cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” while riding in a car cruising down the field — not unlike her Coachella tribute to HBCU tradition, this was a loving embodiment of Black rodeo culture — and finished the show with her chart-topping “Texas Hold ’Em,” which she did on the 50-yard line while dancing next to her 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
Throughout the show, Beyoncé’s vocals were strong and precise, the choreography tough and hard-hitting, the costumes beautifully bedazzled — a Christmas gift to her fans in the form of a marketing opportunity.