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sza lip sync
sza lip sync
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Culture > Entertainment

Fans Have 1 Big Question About SZA’s Halftime Show Performance

I’m not gonna lie, I’m totally not OK after Kendrick Lamar’s explosive LIX Super Bowl Halftime Show. There was *so* much going on, from Samuel L. Jackson’s narration, to the references to Compton, to Lamar’s necklace, to the whole “Not Like Us” section. But one part of the show many fans are stuck on was SZA’s performance singing “Luther” and “All The Stars” with the halftime headliner. Namely, they’re asking the question: Was SZA lip syncing?

With the fast-paced nature of the halftime show, some believed that SZA may have leaned on the long-beloved industry tool of lip-syncing at various points of her performance. Namely, during the “All The Stars” section of the show, fans began to notice that the audio may have sounded pre-recorded. There were other moments throughout the “Luthor” performance that may have shown signs of lip-syncing, as fans caught onto small moments when the microphone placement may have looked a bit off, and others when SZA’s lips may not have exactly matched the music.

Of course, these could have just been coincidences, but that didn’t stop fans from posting about their theories. (Also, it’s worth nothing that these types of performances are super intense, and extremely physically demanding, and it’s not at all uncommon for even a very talented vocalist to lip sync during the Super Bowl.)

Others, however, weren’t convinced that SZA wasn’t singing live. In fact, some were sure that mic was *on* the whole time, honey.

But even if fans believed SZA may have been lip-syncing, many fans also took the opportunity to acknowledge her performance during the halftime show — and rightfully so, because she absolutely killed it.

Lip syncing or not, this night was a big one for SZA. The weekend before, at the 2025 Grammys, SZA voiced her excitement about performing with “King Kendrick” Lamar. “What I can say is that he’s worked really hard on it, and I’m so honored to be a part of it,” the singer said to People.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m definitely going to be blasting “All The Stars” for the foreseeable future.

Leia Mendoza

TX State '24

Leia Mendoza is a national entertainment & culture correspondent and writer at Her Campus, where she writes and talks about the latest entertainment news and pop culture updates. As well as updating timely news, she covers a broad aspect of film, television and music for Her Campus Media. She is also a contributor to Offscreen Central, where she covers award shows and future Oscar contenders. In 2024, she created Director Brat, a website centered around film and television reviews and exclusive industry interviews for the next generation of creatives.

In addition, she is a Film Production and Fashion Merchandising student at Texas State University. In the past, she has covered events conducted by Texas State University, Austin Film Festival's On Story, & SXSW. She has conducted interviews for Paramount, MGM, and A24. You can find her in her spare time talking about bridging the worlds of film and fashion together, cinema preservation, indie darlings, and fabulous shopping sequences.