Usher, one of the best-selling Pop and R&B artists of the 2000’s, made a mark at the 2024 Super Bowl. After spending nearly 30 years on his work for the music industry, everything led up to this moment.
With Usher having over 18 Top 10 billboard songs, he had a huge impact on the number of spectators during the Super Bowl this year. Although he had performed with the Black Eyed Peas during their halftime show at the 2011 Super Bowl held at the Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas, the location for his headliner was near and dear to his heart.
During an interview prior to the super bowl, Usher explained, “Vegas has always been a place where entertainers find passion and connection [with] their fans. So for the Super Bowl to have made its way to Vegas…Wow.”
Usher has had 101 shows in Vegas with 100 of them being completely sold out. His investment in the city goes to show how much the performance meant to him.
With many dreams to headline one of the biggest performance stages, Usher continued by saying, “I’m happy to join a shortlist of legacy artists from my genre who deserve this moment, and that JAY-Z and Roc Nation made certain that the entire world understands our culture, understands where we come from, understands entertainment the way that they do.”
While being a highly viewed artist, Usher admitted to having to drop and also gain some habits just for his Super Bowl performance. This includes things such as eating gluten, drinking alcohol, he cut out sugars, started working out again, and stopped smoking cigars.
“He looked really good,” Quintilla Howard, the LINKS advisor said.
For his big show, Usher recreated many moments from his past performances and music videos. For example, he did his famous “glitch bounce dance” that was first done in the music video for his feature in Chris Brown’s song, New Flame (featuring both Usher and Rick Ross). He also brought out a group of roller skaters, along with himself, which he had done during his Vegas performance back in 2022.
As far as the set list goes, it was filled with 16 of his top songs: “My Way”, “Caught Up”, “U Don’t Have to Call”, “Superstar” (Confessions Special Edition Version), “Love In This Club” (Main Version), “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys, “My Boo” (feat. Alicia Keys), “Confessions, Pt. ll” (Confessions Special Edition Version), “Nice & Slow”, “Burn” (Confession Special Edition Version), “U Got It Bad”, “Bad Girl”, “Omg” (feat. will.i.am), “Turn Down for What” by DJ Snake & Lil Jon, “Yeah!” (feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris), “Get Low” (feat. Ying Yang Twins) by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. (Songs were performed in the order listed).
The Apple Music Administration broadcasted an “advisory” before the halftime performance saying it may cause: singing, dancing, sweating, gyrating, and possible relationship issues.
Usher started his act with a snippet from his song “My Way” as the camera panned to him, followed by “Caught Up” where he was joined by a hefty marching band, distinct dancers, and intricate outfits. A few songs later, Usher was joined by Jermaine Dupri, a rapper and singer, who helped celebrate the 20th anniversary of Usher’s 2004 album, “Confessions”.
For a notable mention, Usher was joined by Alicia Keys as she got to perform her hit song, “If I Ain’t Got You”, followed by a duet between the two artists singing their Top 10 billboard song, “My Boo”. During this performance, Usher and Keys shared a warm embrace as Usher smiled, wrapping his arms around Keys’s waist while singing.
The 14-time Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Alicia Keys was only the first of the six guest appearances. During Usher’s performance of his 2004’s “Bad Girl”, the broadcasting camera panned to H.E.R, a R&B singer/songwriter. Although H.E.R is a gifted singer, she did not help Usher in that aspect. She joined on stage to play her electric guitar as the beat for the song “Bad Girl”.
Soon after, Will.i.am came out for the 2010’s “OMG” and the audience going wild as Lil Jon and Ludacris joined the roller skating party on stage, surrounded by a mosh pit, for their worldwide hit “Yeah!” followed by their performance of Lil Jon’s 2013 billboard single, “Turn Down for What”.
As Usher soloed his song “U Got It Bad”, the Grammy Award winner showed off his Super Bowl preparation progress by taking off his shirt, making the crowd get the hots for Usher.
Usher closed off his once in a lifetime, headlining Super Bowl performance with Lil Jon’s 2002 song “Get Low”, joined by Lil Jon, Will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, and Ludacris.
