Super Bowl LIV open thread: Waiting for “Waiting for Tonight”

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, which should answer the “What time is the Super Bowl?” question that no one who typed that query into Google was going to have answered by coming to this blog, and airs on Fox, which frankly makes its joint Jennifer Lopez and Shakira halftime show make more sense — I’ve never trusted Fox’s sports division to consistently do things that make sense.

Shakira, after all, is one of the world’s biggest musical acts — to this day, some 29 years after her first album was released while she was just a teenager, she hasn’t gone four years without releasing an album, and has had a song hit the U.S. Latin charts every year since 2014. She still makes interesting, well-written pop-rock songs, and has had her career rejuvenated by her judging stint on The Voice.

Jennifer Lopez, who appear on American Idol in its death throes before its plug was first pulled, has not released an album since 2014, and is very unlikely to play a song from that album. She might perform just one from this decade — 2011’s “On the Floor” — but seems more likely to perform hits like “Waiting for Tonight” — which became an anthem in 1999 partly because it was construed as a anxious pre-2000 tale.

The duo, who have no known duets and probably won’t debut one at the Super Bowl, will also be joined by J. Balvin and Bad Bunny, each budding megastars in their own right. Bad Bunny, in particular, has adopted Miami as a second hometown of sorts, and it would not be surprising for him to get the largest cheers of the night.

There will also be a football game played on either side of halftime. If you would like to talk about that — or the game itself or halftime, or whatever — feel free to do it here.

I’m picking the Chiefs, and thus projecting that Demarcus Robinson will receive a Super Bowl ring this offseason. That would sure be something!