The 2025 Super Bowl was a spectacle of high-stakes football, unexpected drama, and headline-grabbing performances, with Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar stealing the spotlight in very different ways. Held at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the night saw the Philadelphia Eagles dominate the Kansas City Chiefs with a 40-22 victory, crushing the Chiefs’ hopes for a historic third consecutive Super Bowl win. But while the action on the field was intense, it was Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, and even President Donald Trump who truly made waves off it.
Taylor Swift, attending to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce, found herself at the centre of controversy when Eagles fans booed as she appeared on the jumbotron. While she laughed it off with Ice Spice by her side, the moment quickly went viral, raising questions and conversations about sports rivalries and celebrity fandoms colliding. Things escalated even further when Donald Trump jumped into the drama. Trump, who has a history of taking jabs at Swift, mocked her and the Chiefs on Truth Social, calling them the night’s “biggest losers.” His comments only added to the online frenzy, with fans fiercely defending Swift while others enjoyed the spectacle.
If the game was a battle on the field, Kendrick Lamar turned the halftime show into a lyrical showdown. Performing a mix of his biggest hits, Lamar also took a not-so-subtle jab at Drake by teasing his diss track "Not Like Us." He even cheekily told the crowd, “I want to play their favourite song, but you know they love to sue,” a clear reference to the ongoing legal drama over the track. Adding to the buzz, Serena Williams made a surprise appearance, dancing on stage, which only fuelled speculation given her past links to Drake. The crowd went wild, and the internet had another Super Bowl moment to dissect.
For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president attended the Super Bowl. Trump walked onto the field for a tribute to victims of a recent terror attack in New Orleans. While some fans cheered, others booed loudly, making his presence as polarising as ever.
From Swift’s unexpected booing to Lamar’s powerhouse performance and even Trump’s appearance, the 2025 Super Bowl proved that the biggest moments don’t always happen on the field. The Eagles may have won the game, but it’s the music, celebrity drama, and political twists that will keep this Super Bowl in the headlines long after the final whistle.
Alia Bhatt at the Red Sea Film Festival where she spoke about the scale of Alpha Getty Images 
