The Super Bowl is highly anticipated as we begin the year with football fans wanting to know what teams will be playing and who will win. For those of us who know nothing about football or don’t care for the teams playing, what we look forward to most is the halftime show. If you’re anything like me, as soon as you find out who’s performing you go on a deep dive through their music and try to predict what they will open with. This year the Super Bowl halftime performer was Usher and it’s safe to say he did not disappoint.
As it got closer to Super Bowl Sunday, the Twitter timeline was full of predictions of his setlist, the guests he would invite, and what iconic dance moves he would pull out. Some of us were surprised to hear “Caught Up” as the first song and not “OMG” or “Yeah!”. Regardless of our predictions being incorrect he still came through with a mashup of some of the Usher essentials. From “Confessions Pt. II” to “U Don’t Have To Call” to my personal favorite “Love In This Club,” he definitely went into the vault for this performance. Many special guests joined him onstage such as Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, H.E.R., Jermain Dupree, Ludacris, Lil Jon, and even a few men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated to stroll to “Superstar”.
From the elaborate dancers to the Jackson State marching band, to the iconic glitch/bounce dance move from the “New Flame” music video Usher definitely put his all into this performance. Despite the hits that he performed, we were disappointed to see that songs like “Good Kisser”, “Lovers and Friends”, “DJ Got Us Falling Love” or even the classic “There Goes My Baby.” Still, with about a 15-minute time slot he still managed to put on a great performance. Not only was it entertaining, but it’s also always a great addition to Black History Month to have a black artist perform at the halftime show. The past three years we’ve had Rihanna, Usher, Dr. Dre, and The Weekend; Let’s hope we can keep this trend going.