Usher Dances Through His Greatest Hits at the Superbowl LVII Halftime Show

R&B icon Usher pulled out all the stops at his Viva Las Vegas-esque Apple Music Superbowl LVII Halftime Performance. Between high-flying stunts, rollerskating, and several special guests, Usher had us screaming, “Yeah.”

Before the performance, the Apple Music Administration put up a disclaimer stating, “The following performance may cause singing, dancing, sweating, gyrating, and possible relationship issues.” They did not tell a lie.

Usher chose to open with his 2004 Confessions song, “Caught Up.” Immediately, a frenzy of contortionists, showgirls, and stuntmen surrounded the singer with captivating tricks. After all, it is Las Vegas, the home of Cirque du Soleil, and Usher perfectly embodied the Vegas nightlife.

After shouting out his mother, he transitioned to “Love in This Club” by himself before tossing it over to his first guest, Alicia Keys, as she sat at the piano. She performed “If I Ain’t Got You” before taking off her cape, revealing her red sequined jumpsuit, and joining Usher for “My Boo.”

Coming out to hype the crowd was rapper Jermaine Dupri. Usher stepped out to perform “Confessions Pt. II” and “U Got It Bad.” It’s not Usher if he’s not dancing, so of course, while his mic stand spun, he started with some isolations that had us questioning, “How does one move like that?”

usher got so many hits and these songs keep changing every five seconds it’s hard to keep up pic.twitter.com/UKXUwbTfnv

— ً (@westsiriss) February 12, 2024

Usher headed backstage while H.E.R. came out, looking as stunning as ever, with an electric guitar solo, and shouting out all her “bad girls.” On the horizon was the most debated song of the setlist, “OMG,” featuring will. i.am, which was a Y2K classic, and leaving it out would’ve been a disservice. 

For the final quarter of the performance, Usher came back in an outfit reminiscent of his 2011 Grammy performance. Again, it’s not Usher without some kind of spectacle, so he came back out on rollerskates, joining in with the slew of skaters around him.

Immediately, the camera pans over to Lil Jon hanging out with the crowd performing “Turn Down For What?” and into the last song of the night, “Yeah,” also garnering an appearance from Ludacris.

usher & lil Jon: “YEAH… YEAH”

me: pic.twitter.com/kvmOJeUS7A

— lunarboy (@lvnarboymusic) February 12, 2024

Usher ended his performance just as fun and extravagant as he started with the entire crew of performers behind him, cheering him on as he sang, “I took the world to the ‘A’” before letting out one final “Yeah.”

Fans were disappointed by the exclusion of songs like “Daddy’s Home,” “More,” “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love,” etc., but with a discography as lengthy as Usher’s, you can only fit so much into 13 minutes. 

Now, the excluded songs weren’t the only thing fans missed. Amongst the list of guests, fans expected Justin Bieber to make an appearance. All week, fans speculated that Usher’s mentee would join him on stage for a performance of “Somebody to Love.” So imagine their faces when the Apple Music logo appeared on the screen, signifying the performance was over.

justin bieber sitting in his chair knowing everyone is expecting him to jump onto that stage with his purple supras pic.twitter.com/hduRClSIXa

— jojo (@helllojojo) February 12, 2024

Nonetheless, Usher’s Superbowl Halftime was everything a spectacular performance is: great vocals, insane choreography, surprises to get viewers out of their mid-game slump, and a bank of nostalgic songs that led the whole room in celebration. For that, Usher succeeded and proved why he is here today, even though many people told him he couldn’t do it.

Check out Usher’s superb performance here.