{"id":1099937,"date":"2026-07-20T04:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T04:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1099937\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T04:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T04:56:16","slug":"world-cup-final-performances-span-shakira-tom-cruise-and-muppets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1099937\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup final performances span Shakira, Tom Cruise and Muppets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madonna<\/a>, Justin Bieber<\/a>, BTS<\/a> and Shakira<\/a> each brought a bit of one of their hits to the World Cup\u2019s first halftime show in a whirlwind performance<\/a> Sunday that also squeezed in Burna Boy, Ted Lasso and many Muppets. <\/p>\n

The show at what\u2019s otherwise known as MetLife Stadium, outside New York, was an attempt to bring Super Bowl vibes to the World Cup, but the 11-minute performance was considerably more packed than the usual one-headliner, 13-minute American football counterpart. Each headliner here spent about two minutes performing. <\/p>\n

Madonna opened the show with her 2000 dance-pop hit \u201cMusic,\u201d joined by star Brazilian soccer players of yesteryear, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. It started with an apparently prerecorded piece in a roller rink before she rode into the stadium on a dune buggy, singing, \u201cMusic, makes the people come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel<\/a> led an orchestra through the White Stripes\u2019 sports anthem \u201cSeven Nation Army,\u201d while the Muppets house band \u2014 including drummer Animal in lieu of Meg White \u2014 provided furry shakes in the background.<\/p>\n

K-pop sensations BTS took to the field in variations of red and black moments later singing \u201cDynamite\u201d following a nod to Norway\u2019s Viking row.<\/a><\/p>\n

Promoting the upcoming season of \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, in character, pumped up Justin Bieber, who changed the tempo with \u201cEverything Hallelujah,\u201d performed with an acoustic guitar and a casual feel. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlright young man, let\u2019s go! It\u2019s your big shot!\u201d Sudeikis said to Bieber. \u201cGo out there, don\u2019t be nervous, nobody\u2019s watching.\u201d <\/p>\n

Shakira and Burna Boy followed with their official World Cup anthem \u201cDai Dai,\u201d<\/a> heard before all 104 kickoffs during this tournament. The Colombian superstar was barefoot, wearing a dress of yellow and pink feathers and surrounded by similarly clad dancers \u2014 including a group of children \u2014 before the Afrobeats icon joined her in the song whose refrain is an Italian version of \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d <\/p>\n

Shakira has virtually made a genre out of World Cup songs,<\/a> including 2010\u2019s \u201cWaka Waka (This Time for Africa).\u201d <\/p>\n

The show wrapped with the PS22 Chorus of elementary-school students from Staten Island, backed by Dudamel and joined by Chris Martin \u2014 the Coldplay singer who curated the performance \u2014 along with Shakira and many more Muppets and \u201cSesame Street\u201d characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy, Count von Count and Cookie Monster. <\/p>\n

Dudamel and about 40 musicians \u2014 about half from the New York Philharmonic and half from Venezuela\u2019s Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Symphony Orchestra \u2014 were on the field, though their music was prerecorded Wednesday at the Manhattan Center. <\/p>\n

Afterward, Javier Bardem was among the Spanish fans at the stadium celebrating their home country\u2019s second World Cup win. Bardem danced and pumped his fist as he celebrated the win. <\/p>\n

Other stars at the game included Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay-Z, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, and Matt Damon, who was having a big weekend with the epic opening of \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d<\/a> He was with his wife, Luciana Barroso Damon, who wore the colors of her native Argentina. <\/p>\n

Jennifer Hudson, Post Malone and Tom Cruise opened with closing ceremony <\/p>\n

Jennifer Hudson<\/a>, Robbie Williams and others performed a slew of anthems, Post Malone<\/a> brought an old hit and a new tune and Tom Cruise<\/a> gave an earnest hype-’em-up speech in the pre-match closing ceremony. <\/p>\n

British singer and former Take That member<\/a> Williams performed his FIFA anthem \u201cDesire,\u201d wearing a blue bedazzled track suit. He was joined by Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger<\/a> and Italian singer Laura Pausini in blue spangled gowns. Williams had released the song a year ago but dropped a new version with the two women earlier in the week. <\/p>\n

The streamer IShowSpeed took the field first to perform his World Cup-themed song \u201cChampions,\u201d atop an image of the Empire State Building. Next was Post Malone, who walked on to the New York\/New Jersey Stadium pitch covered with a tarp showing the New York skyline. He sung a brand new song, \u201cChrome Heartbreaker,\u201d and was joined by Swae Lee to perform their 2018 duet \u201cSunflower\u201d on a hexagon-heavy stage in the center of the field. <\/p>\n

Cruise, who was also part of the Paris Olympics\u2019 closing ceremony<\/a>, followed them with a speech delivered in polo shirt and jeans. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday only two teams remain: Espa\u00f1a!\u201d Cruise said, pausing for cheers before adding, \u201cy Argentina!\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cLet us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Most of the national anthems were piped in during the tournament, but they were performed live on Sunday. EGOT winner and talk show host Jennifer Hudson sang \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d Wearing a white suit with red, white and blue trim, she stood in front of a bank of flags of the world, singing a cappella before being joined by a brass band. <\/p>\n

Spanish Brass played Spain\u2019s instrumental \u201cLa Marcha Real,\u201d followed by Argentina\u2019s \u201cHimno Nacional Argentino,\u201d sung by pop star Mar\u00eda Becerra, clad in a flowing dress reminiscent of the Argentine flag.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS and Shakira each brought a bit of one of their hits to the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1099938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3940],"tags":[10105,19639,287383,300288,73273,4080,4781,18206,16925,77,19560,4179,300286,288111,85170,2544,49715,6538,7299,33394,300069,388,300289,3990,300287,10267,178747,269,6149,4447,8501,132642,29684,2620,53644,10031,79,300074,128113,101246,39544,15763,7143,16,15,263],"class_list":["post-1099937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-argentina","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-brazil-national-soccer-team","tag-brendan-hunt","tag-burna-boy","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity","tag-chris-martin","tag-classical-music","tag-entertainment","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-general-news","tag-gustavo-dudamel","tag-jason-sudeikis","tag-javier-bardem","tag-jay-z","tag-jennifer-hudson","tag-justin-bieber","tag-k-pop","tag-kylie-jenner","tag-laura-pausini","tag-lifestyle","tag-luciana-barroso","tag-madonna","tag-mara-becerra","tag-matt-damon","tag-meg-white","tag-music","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nicole-scherzinger","tag-post-malone","tag-robbie-williams","tag-shakira","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-swae-lee","tag-takefusa-kubo","tag-ted-lasso","tag-timothee-chalamet","tag-tom-cruise","tag-u-s-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1099937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1099937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1099937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1099937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}