Beyoncé turns NFL Christmas Halftime Show into a ‘Cowboy Carter’ party with Post Malone cameo

CNN
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Hope your Santa hat was strapped on because Beyoncé gave us the ultimate “Cowboy Carter” gift this Christmas.

The superstar spread Christmas cheer during Wednesday’s Halftime Show at the Christmas Day Texans-Ravens NFL game in her hometown of Houston, Texas, marking the first time Beyoncé performed songs from her 2024 hit album “Cowboy Carter” in front of a live audience.

Beyoncé began her iconic performance on horseback, literally riding in while singing “16 Carriages.” After disembarking with classic cars arranged in the background, she began her cover of The Beatles’ classic hit “Blackbird”, accompanied by country singers Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, with whom she collaborated on the song.

Post Malone made a surprise cameo to perform their collaboration “Levii’s Jeans,” following Bey’s duet with country singer Shaboozey.

Backed by a full marching band, Beyoncé also performed “Ya Ya” and was joined on the court by her daughter Blue Ivy, who danced alongside her mother during the song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

“Merry Christmas, God bless you,” Beyoncé said at the end of the set as she was raised high above the field on a white platform.

Beyoncé is no stranger to major NFL-related events. The Grammy winner headlined the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans and joined Coldplay and Bruno Mars on the field during the 2016 Super Bowl show.

She also used a commercial that aired during the 2024 Super Bowl to announce “Cowboy Carter,” the highly anticipated “Act II” follow-up to her 2023 album “Renaissance.”

“Cowboy Carter” was released in March and has earned 11 Grammy nods.

Queen Bey teased this week’s performance on Tuesday with a cheeky video of herself stopping a rolling football with her sky-high heels while finger-picking a banjo along with her hit song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

The video is made to look like it’s buffering at one point – with a red spinning circle on Beyoncé’s nose – and pokes fun at Netflix’s previous lagging live stream issues, which many pointed out during the slightly glitchy live stream of Mike Tyson- The Jake Paul match. After the fake ‘mistake’, Beyoncé is heard giggling and winking at the camera.

A representative for Netflix previously told CNN that they have made additional optimizations to their systems to improve viewing quality and better handle the large viewership they expect the Christmas Day NFL game to draw.

Netflix streamed both the Chiefs-Steelers game – which was played earlier in the day – and the Texans-Ravens game on Christmas Day.

Mariah Carey, the so-called Queen of Christmas herself, also made a splashy appearance during Netflix’s NFL games on Christmas Day, appearing in a pre-recorded video of her classic Christmas hit “All I Want For Christmas is You,” which was streamed prior to both games .

Carey’s performance marked the song’s 30th anniversary and featured the Grammy-winning singer performing on a Los Angeles rooftop. Surrounded by dancers and children in Christmas-themed costumes, Carey sang amid a fake snowfall.