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One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Usher took center stage at Allegiant Stadium for the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show.
Usher, who released his new album, "Coming Home," on Friday, performed a 14-song set preceded with a short intro of his popular track "My Way." Usher had special guest appearances from Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil Jon and Ludacris.
Additionally, Usher added pieces of his residency from Las Vegas. He used a part of the 13-minute show by showcasing his skating skills. Usher, however, did not perform any of the songs from his new album.
Where does Usher's performance rank among the all-time greats in Super Bowl history?
For all of that and more on the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, follow along for analysis and updates from The Athletic.
Full Usher set list:
Intro: "My Way"
In her “reputation” song “New Year’s Day,” Taylor Swift sang, “I’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town, babe, or if you strike out and you’re crawling home.” Thankfully for Swift — and for Travis Kelce — the Chiefs are the Super Bowl champions.
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I decided to watch the last Kansas City drive on Nickelodeon with my children, because that’s how they’ve been watching the game. I must say, it made the last drive a lot of fun.
Who knew SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star were so entertaining? Well my sons did. The banter between Noah Eagle and the cartoon characters was unexpectedly fun and made the last drive that led to Kansas City’s game-tying field goal more fun than tense.
I’ve watched a Nickelodeon broadcast of an NFL game only one other time. And just for change of pace, I’d do it for an entire game.
Give me SpongeBob over Tony Romo any day.
Taylor Swift was on camera screaming “Oh my God!” as Travis Kelce made a catch to keep the Chiefs in the game with seconds left.
Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl box is filled with big name celebrities and family members, but there was space for one more person: Paul McCartney.
The legend joined Swift’s crew to watch the game, and even met Travis Kelce’s dad, Ed.
Not one of Usher's songs from his new album, "Coming Home," was featured during the Super Bowl halftime show. Slightly odd, considering he released the album on Friday.
Perhaps Usher is hoping that a reminder of his classics can serve as enough return on investment for fans to take a chance on his new album.
The Super Bowl remains the largest single television advertising event of the year. Companies, brands, leagues, films and musicians vie for a shot at becoming the biggest storyline of the night. Beyoncé — a genius at marketing — may have just won the night and the battle for attention with her Verizon Super Bowl commercial, new album announcement AND two new singles. All within an hour!
Move over, Taylor? Queen Bey is in the house!
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(Kevin Mazur / Getty Images)
Levi Weaver ranked the Super Bowl halftime shows from 1991 to the present, and Sunday night, he gave his thoughts on Usher's show.
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Her two tracks, "TEXAS HOLD'EM" and "16 CARRIAGES" dropped on Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music within minutes of each other. It's a big night for Apple Music, who also sponsored Usher's halftime show.
A few members of our editorial team tried testing this by creating new accounts on Tidal to access the two tracks, "TEXAS HOLD'EM" and "16 CARRIAGES," and got an error message: "504 Gateway Time-out."
(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
It feels like, in a game bereft of offensive firepower, that we've seen a decent amount of Jauan Jennings — he threw the TD on San Francisco's trick play and just caught a big third down pass. Sure, he only has nine receiving yards, but there's a whole fourth quarter left, he's a good blocker, and even if Purdy connects with him on a long TD pass, Jennings will still have the same amount of TD passes.
So you want a very weird live bet? One I won't be taking, but hey — maybe you have a bigger imagination, maybe you just want to know — Jennings is 66-to-1 as we enter the fourth quarter to be MVP.
Music.beyonce.com is updated with a black screen and just two track titles:
Her website features a teaser video set in a Texas desert, fading out over sounds of a country riff on guitar.
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Kansas City takes a 13-10 lead with the score.
The fan was contained and escorted off the field.
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Beyonce.com has updated with new imagery and is announcing that "act ii" is coming on March 29!
Usher definitely played the hits. He released a new album, Coming Home, this week. But he did not introduce any of the 20 new tracks to a Super Bowl audience despite it being his first new album in five years (and first solo project in seven).
The live bands Usher performed with during his Super Bowl LVIII halftime set were comprised of members of both the Jackson State University “The Sonic Boom of the South” and the Jonesboro High School band from the superstar’s hometown of Atlanta, Ga.
“I brought the world to the A.”
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(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
That’s how Usher closed his halftime show, referencing his very Atlanta-themed performance.
Atlanta music icons Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris all had parts in the show. There was a marching band on the field, a tribute to the many Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Atlanta area (even though the band was a combo of Jackson State in Mississippi along with Jonesboro High in Atlanta). There were even dancers on poles, a nod to the adult nightlife that is very much synonymous with Atlanta.
Usher’s music catalog is extensive so predicting what we’d see wasn’t easy. But there were no new songs from Usher’s new album, “Coming Home,” which was released on Friday and quickly became the No. 1 played album on iTunes.
But here’s a recap of what we did (and didn’t hear) at halftime with the pregame chances of hearing it. .
What we didn’t hear:
So much happened during the Usher show, but we need to give the Jackson State University marching band its flowers. The "Sonic Boom of the South" put on a show.
Keep your eyes on Spotify, BeyHive! With a Verizon Super Bowl commercial clocking at barely 59 seconds, Beyoncé set the internet ablaze with speculation that new music is about to drop.
The commercial, also starring Tony Hale (of “Arrested Development” and “VEEP”), shows Beyoncé going to increasingly extreme lengths to “break Verizon” with increasingly extreme performances (“How ‘bout the first woman to launch the first rocket for the first performance in space!”).
When none of the attempts break Verizon 5G, we hear her say: “Okay, they ready. Drop the new music.”
