Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: Super Bowl
Steph Perlman
While I stand firmly in my belief that Beyoncé should’ve been the last Super Bowl halftime performance ever (because it’s only downhill from there), Usher really had me dancing (read: gyrating like a middle schooler in a grindline) in my living room. It was Rated U for a good reason. It had everything… circus performers, a marching bad, a mosh pit, Usher slowly losing items of clothing. A success by any standard. The memes and tweets about Usher’s half-time performance are nearly as entertaining as the performance and significantly more entertaining than the actual game.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Usher promised we’d be getting a surprise during his performance. He told Billboard “It will definitely be an event. There are special guests. And I’ve considered new songs. But you know, it’s 12 to 15 minutes. So it’s really hard to determine what moment matters more than others, especially with a new song. But there’s the dance, the wardrobe, the lighting, how long you stay in a song, the fact that the audience may sing along … It’s a lot. So I’m trying my hardest not to overthink it.”
And special guests there were! Alicia Keys performed “If I Ain’t Got You” in a sickening red outfit on a sickening red piano and then went into “My Boo” with Usher. JD introduced “Confessions,” H.E.R. took the stage, and, obviously, Lil Jon and Ludacris joined in.