Another Super Bowl Sunday has passed, when people gathered together to, yet again, root for their favorite team and eat their weight in Buffalo chicken dip. Super Bowl LVIII was filled with many new pop culture ties, like with the whole Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance but also with Usher’s big-time halftime performance.
I personally thought that Usher did a great job with this year’s halftime show. As someone who is not a huge football fan — not that I would necessarily call myself a fan at all — I thoroughly enjoy watching the Super Bowl halftime show each year. However, I feel like the performances for the last few years have been slightly disappointing.
Many great artists have headlined the halftime shows in the last couple of years, like Rhianna and Snoop Dogg, but in my opinion, the shows themselves were not particularly great. I am not saying I do not like the artists. I just did not like their shows. However, I think Usher has really turned things around and brought back what the Super Bowl halftime show is really all about.
The Super Bowl halftime show is pop’s biggest stage. It is a great honor and a huge deal to perform for this big event. It is supposed to be spectacular. It is supposed to be the performance of the year, and I think that Usher really brought that energy to this year’s show.
“This halftime show was a blitz of retinal maximalism with a meticulous protagonist at its center, singing and dancing with exactitude and purpose, working hard to cram more than a dozen songs into just as many minutes,” said Chris Richards, a pop music critic at The Washington Post, in his review of the performance.
I had wondered before the game if Swift would have the spotlight over the whole Super Bowl, and Usher’s performance, because of the Swift and Kelce dating drama. I think by no means did her presence overshadow Usher’s. I had a lot of faith in Usher and his showmanship, but I was hesitant since recent halftime shows have not been as spectacular as halftime performances in the past. Thankfully, he made his mark, for sure.
When Usher first began, I already knew the whole performance was going to be great. Usher is already an amazing singer, but he is also known as an amazing dancer. He really brought it with this performance, with all the glitz, glam and high-energy hip-hop. The amount of enthusiasm that Usher brought is nothing less than what I expect of a Super Bowl halftime show.
I was very happy with the songs he played because he played a lot of his older songs rather than his newer ones, and I feel like that made it so much better because more people would know them.
Then, he performed a song with Alicia Keys and recreated a performance with her that he did nearly 20 years ago. When she came out, I thought he had to have Justin Bieber come out too. I was hoping they would recreate their iconic performance of “Somebody to Love,” but by the end, much to my disappointment, I realized it was not to be.
Just when I thought things could not get any better with the music and lights and special guests, Usher comes out in roller skates! When I tell you my jaw dropped, it is not an exaggeration. I was in utter shock and could not have been more pleased. I was dumbfounded for the entire performance. Usher has always been known for his great singing and incredible dancing, but for someone who has come so far in his career and can still do all the things he did 20 years ago and more, it is just astounding.
I watched the whole thing with my mom. She is a big Usher fan, so we were hopeful for a great performance. When it was all over, I said, “YEAH! Usher just killed it at Super Bowl 2024.”
