Maroon 5 'to play Super Bowl 2019 halftime show'

Los Angeles based pop band to perform in Atlanta

Pop band Maroon 5 are set to perform the halftime show at the 2019 Super Bowl, according to a report in Variety which cited "multiple sources".

Adam Levine and bandmates, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, James Valentine, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton, and Sam Farrar will take the stage in Atlanta, Georgia, on 3 February.

After recent collaborations with Cardi B, SZA, Future, and Kendrick Lamar, speculation is rife about who, if anyone, the California band might collaborate with.

“We very actively want to play the Super Bowl,” Levine said in a 2015 interview, via the Hollywood Reporter.

In February 2015, Katy Perry set the halftime viewership record when 120.7 million people tuned-in during Super Bowl XLIX. At Super Bowl LI, Lady Gaga almost topped that number when she drew 117.5 viewers for her show, which was the second-most viewed halftime show of all-time.

Maroon 5 would join recent halftime performers including Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Bruce Springsteen and Prince. Prince's performance is arguably the most revered, as it saw the late musical icon perform "Purple Rain" in a dramatic rainstorm.

However, the most controversial performance without a doubt was by Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson in 2004, who raised eyebrows with a “wardrobe malfunction” which left her nipple exposed on the live broadcast of the event. It was quickly edited out, but Jackson was blacklisted from MTV and had her invitation to appear at the 46th Grammy awards rescinded.

Timblerlake later returned to perform at last year's Super Bowl, which was considered controversial because Jackson did not appear with him, prompting a debate over how the two had been treated differently since the scandal.

Los Angeles based Maroon 5 which started in the mid-1990s, are likely to be less controversial.

Adam Levine, who currently appears as a judge on NBC's The Voice, previously told The Independent: “I don’t even know what the f*** Maroon 5 are anymore, we occupy a weird space. But I’m so tired of ‘you shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that’. I wish a band would come out and be genuinely in pursuit in the biggest amount of fame”.

Rumours had circulated last year that Jay-Z had turned down the chance to perform during the NFL championship game and television spectacle event.

He all but confirmed it in his lyrics to his song “Apes***”: “I said no to the Super Bowl: you need me, I don’t need you.”

It was around the same time controversy with the league was in full swing over the issue of players kneeling during the singing of the national anthem ahead of games as a peaceful protest against police-involved shooting deaths of young black children and men.

“It's a Super Bowl tradition to speculate about the performers for the Pepsi Halftime Show,” the league said in a statement. “We are continuing to work with Pepsi on our plans but do not have any announcements to make on what will be another epic show.”