Justin Bieber, Madonna, and Shakira Made FIFA’s First-Ever World Cup Halftime Show a True Spectacle

More than ever, the pressure has been on the games to deliver something—a last gasp of monoculture, as so many observers have put it—and more than ever, they are delivering. A recent CNBC survey found that around 50% of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, viewed at least one World Cup match, and ticket resale prices spiked to about $10,000 the day before the final. Whether it was the social media antics of Norway’s giant viking of a striker, Erling Haaland, or the TikTok…