Why Gloria Estefan said ‘no’ to performing at the Super Bowl with JLo and Shakira
The internet is buzzing with news that Gloria Estefan has turned down Jay Z’s offer to appear at Super Bowl LIV with headliners Jennifer Lopez and Shakira when the halftime show dazzles inside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Feb. 2.
Last month, Radar Online stoked suspicions of a feud with an “exclusive” story headlined “Super Bowl Smackdown: Gloria Estefan at War Over Halftime Snub.” The piece said she was going to get “revenge” on JLo and Shakira — two artists with whom Gloria and Emilio Estefan collaborated at the start of their music careers in the 1990s.
Can it be a feud between the leading ladies of Latin pop? A statement against football? Nerves?
¡Oh, por favor!
“Come on, those high-stress things?” Estefan told “Entertainment Tonight” in an exclusive interview Tuesday. “That’s a high-stress thing. I’ve done them. I’ve done two.”
Indeed, Estefan, 62, performed at Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis and sang “Live for Loving You” and “Get On Your Feet” at that halftime show in 1992.
She returned for Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium). There, she sang “Oye,” “Turn the Beat Around” and a medley with Stevie Wonder that included one of her hits, “You’ll Be Mine (Party Time)“ alongside two of his.
And yes, the show’s organizer, rap mogul Jay Z, called Emilio Estefan to inquire as to whether Gloria would make it a trifecta, said Frank Amadeo, president of Estefan Enterprises. There was not a snub.
“Since the ‘ET’ story ran it seems like there are stories that are pitting Jay Z and Gloria against each other and we don’t want to perpetuate that,” Amadeo told the Miami Herald. “It’s as simple as what Gloria said in the piece: She’s done it twice and she wanted to pass the baton to Shakira and JLo to do it. There’s nothing behind that other than the fact she’s got a couple projects that will conflict schedule-wise.”
Among them: Estefan is readying the release of a new album for 2020 in which she’s going to re-imagine some old hits with a Brazilian flavor, along with some new tunes.
Estefan is also among the nominees for induction into the 2020 Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Winners will be inducted in June in a New York ceremony.
This story was originally published November 6, 2019 at 10:19 AM.
