HALFTIME SPOTLIGHT

Katy Perry, the pop star with more Twitter followers than anyone on Earth, is set to take the halftime stage for 12½ minutes.

The singer told reporters at a news conference Thursday that her performance today will include “a lion and sharks.”

“It’s going to be wild out there,” Perry teased.

Perry, 30, said she feels blessed to perform on the Super Bowl stage “at such a young age.” She said she enjoyed past Super Bowl performances from Beyoncé and Madonna, and what she adds “is some lightheartedness.”

Lenny Kravitz will join the pop star at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Perry said her performance will include an “old school” female singer whom she declined to identify but said would be instantly familiar from the get-go.

“When you hear the first ring of the chord, I think jaws will drop and faces will melt,” she said.

Later Thursday, a person familiar with the plans for the halftime show said that the surprise guest is slated to be Grammy winner Missy Elliott, who was featured on a remix of Perry’s song “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).”

Perry said the audience can expect to hear two of her hits, “Roar” and “Firework.” Her performance would be a visual feast in the tradition of Madonna and will celebrate “female empowerment,” she said.

Perry said one element of the show is the unfurling of a giant screen that will go on the field for visual effects, and she’ll also change her outfit several times.

She said the logistics of the performance will be difficult, and she plans to sing through much of it. “A lot of it will be live,” she said.

Perry said she’s been closely involved in planning the extravaganza. “There is not a diamond on the shoe that has not gone past my eyes,” she said. “I feel that in some ways it’s a spiritual experience for me.

“I just hope that at the end of the day, over 100 million people are all smiling in unison.”