Usher hit the stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show in Las Vegas last Sunday. Usher previously appeared as a guest on the halftime stage in 2011 during the Black Eyed Peas’ performance. His performance was announced in September, and he teased what fans can expect from his set, confirming the appearance of a few special guests during a press conference hosted by Apple Music in Las Vegas the Thursday morning before the Superbowl.
Fans had high expectations from him, with a lot of people speculating he would perform certain songs and bring out certain guests. With an artist as iconic as Usher, it’s hard to hear every song you want. He opened with his 2004 hit “Caught Up”, “U Don’t Have To Call”, then after shouting out his mom in a heartfelt moment, he performed “Superstar” and “Love In This Club”.
Alicia Keys was his first guest to grace the stage, performing her hit “If I Ain’t Got You” at the piano before transitioning into their 2004 duet “My Boo”. Usher transitioned into “Confessions Pt. II”, then performed “Nice & Slow” / “Burn” before giving us a shirtless performance of “U Got It Bad”.
His next guest, H.E.R, joined Usher to play a guitar solo during “Burn,” as well as on “Bad Girl”. Will.i.am joined him onstage shortly after while Usher performed “Omg” on roller skates. Lil Jon joined Usher onstage with “Turn Down For What” before transitioning into “Yeah!” with Ludacris. He closed the show with “Get Low” while Ludacris, Lil Jon, and Wil.i.am danced alongside him.
Many fans were missing guests like Justin Beiber and Pitbull, and songs like “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love”, but Usher still did an impressive job at squeezing 30 years of music into a high energy 13 minute performance.
Usher addressed questions about Justin Bieber in “The Breakfast Club” interview the next day, explaining that they had “a brief conversation” and are “going to do something else in the future”. Bieber took to Instagram after the halftime show, writing “Love you, my brother. No one can sing and dance the way you do. Love you from the depths of my heart. Brought the ‘A’ to the world. Only you, baby.” Even though many people had their doubts since he hadn’t performed in public on a huge stage for a while, Usher absolutely blew the crowds away and reminded everyone why he ruled the music scene in the 2000s.
