(NEXSTAR) – Millions watched Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance closely at Super Bowl LX. Some were looking for political statements or surprise guests. Others were looking for signs he’s lip syncing.
If the Puerto Rican superstar lip synced at the Super Bowl, he wouldn’t have been the first. Some performers choose to lip sync to ensure a good show, especially during high-action and high-pressure situations.
Sometimes lip syncing is plainly obvious, like when you can tell the singer’s mouth isn’t moving in time with the lyrics. But sometimes it’s more subtle.
How can you tell if someone is lip syncing?
One thing you can look for is the positioning of the performer’s microphone. If it moves closer and further away from their face, but their voice remains constant, they’re probably lip syncing to a track. With live vocals, you’d expect the singer’s voice to sound quieter or louder depending on the position of the microphone.
A singer’s vocal cords can also reveal signs they might be lip syncing. If a singer is belting out a note with lots of vibrato, Slate suggests looking to their throat for signs of strain. If they’re really giving it their all, you should see some sign the vocal cords are working.
You can also look for mismatches between the choreography and the sound. If someone is running around the stage and dancing intensely, but they’re not even the slightest bit out of breath, you can probably bet it’s a lip sync.
Let’s look at the last time Bad Bunny was on stage at the Super Bowl, for example, when he was a special guest during Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s halftime show. Some people watching noted that Shakira’s voice was surprisingly steady during her opening songs, despite her incredibly aerobic dance moves. Plus, when she moved the microphone around while dancing, the volume of her singing remained steady.
Bad Bunny’s portion of the performance of “I Like It,” on the other hand, sounded a little less perfect, with small variations from the pre-recorded version of the song you’ve heard before.
Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
If you’re trying to spot lip syncing, listen for those tiny imperfections, like slurred syllables or notes cutting off before they’re supposed to. If the song sounds exactly like the version you’ve streamed a million times, it probably is the exact same track.
Lip syncing doesn’t mean a bad performance, experts say. Sometimes it’s the right move to ensure a flawless show.
“There’s too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance,” Rickey Minor, who has produced multiple Super Bowl performances, once told the Associated Press.
Katy Perry admitted some of her vocal tracks were recorded for her 2015 performance, telling Reuters ahead of the show, “I think a lot of it will be live.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers said they did the opposite in 2014: singing live, but using pre-recorded instrumentals. Their guitars weren’t even plugged in on stage, CNN reported.
Beyoncé didn’t lip-sync during her memorable Super Bowl performance in 2013, but she did admit to lip-syncing just a few weeks prior during another high-profile televised event: The singer said she decided to rely on a vocal track while performing the national anthem on President Obama’s Inauguration Day.
Whitney Houston also lip synced at the Super Bowl, but not during the halftime show. Her 1991 rendition of the National Anthem (often cited as one of the best ever) was pre-recorded.
