The NFL set their sights on pop star Bruno Mars for the upcoming 2016 Super Bowl, Entertainment Weekly reported. The "Locked Out of Heaven" crooner was asked to return to the primetime slot at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. Mars performed during the 2014 halftime show and was joined by rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"Mars pulled off his highly choreographed performance without any noticeable slip-ups. Blame his polish, but there were also no surprises," Vulture wrote in a review of the 2012 halftime show. "Mars played by the rules, checked all the boxes and undoubtedly caused quite a few Americans to log on to iTunes to purchase his album, Unorthodox Jukebox."
The 2012 performance was one of the most-watched halftime show ever with 115 million viewers, Billboard reported. Mars held the top spot until pop star Katy Perry took the throne with her performance at this year's event.
Representatives for Mars and the NFL have not confirmed the news yet but Sarah Moll, NFL Director of Media Events, gushed about Mars in a December 2014 interview.
"Myself and our producer, Ricky Kirshner, were both personal fans of Bruno and had seen him in concert and knew what he could do," she told Billboard. "And it was a lot of just telling folks here and getting folks excited about Bruno and taking them to shows and letting them see what he could do. And that's kind of what got it going."
