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Super Bowl 2024: Watch Usher’s full halftime show performance
Usher's halftime show performance was a crowning achievement for the undisputed king of R&B.
For his decades-spanning Super Bowl 2024 halftime show performance, Usher brought a bit of Atlanta — and a bunch of his A-Town friends — to Las Vegas.
Following an entertaining first half of action between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco in Super Bowl LVIII, Usher took the stage at Allegiant Stadium for a 13-minute tour de force, taking fans through a medley of his greatest hits.
Surprisingly, Usher didn’t play a single song from his new album “Coming Home,” which was released just ahead of Super Bowl LVIII on February 9.
Instead, as producer Jermaine Dupri informed the audience, Usher’s halftime show focused heavily on the 20th anniversary of “Confessions,” the singer’s 2004 hit album.
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Clad in a white suit and rhinestone gloves that evoked Michael Jackson, Usher busted out dance moves emblematic of the King of Pop while singing hits like “Caught Up,” “You Don’t Have To Call,” and “Love In This Club.”
Shortly after, Usher brought out his first big guest of the night, Alicia Keys. Resplendent in a billowing red cape and seated at a matching ornate piano, Keys belted out the opening of her hit “If I Ain’t Got You.”
Usher quickly joined Keys to perform their 2004 duet “My Boo.” The aughts were back in full force as the pair shimmied on stage in sparkling outfits.
Following an interlude from Dupri, Usher launched into “Burn,” a hit he co-wrote with Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. Usher was clearly perspiring from the effort, which heightened the effect of the massive video screen of flames beneath his feet.
With the crowd already eating out of his hand, Usher took it to another level with “U Got It Bad,” slowly peeling off layers in a striptease that would make Magic Mike proud. Behind him, pop star H.E.R. played along on guitar, marking her first return to the Super Bowl stage since her performance of “America the Beautiful” in 2021.
The star power on display was so plentiful that it was easy to miss some of the quicker cameo appearances. Singer will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, clad in a “Tron”-esque mask, joined Usher for their hit “OMG,” but was soon upstaged by Lil Jon, who crowd-surfed from the side of the stage while singing his hit “Turn Down For What.”
In a fitting finale filled with rollerskating, back-flipping backup dancers, Usher was joined by both Lil Jon and Ludacris for “Yeah!” the biggest hit of Usher’s career and arguably the most popular song of 2004. As Usher was rejoined on stage by his many halftime show collaborators, the singer’s status as the long-reigning king of R&B was made abundantly clear.
Usher’s halftime show performance was arguably an overdue showcase for the city of Atlanta. When the city hosted the Super Bowl in 2019, several Black artists reportedly declined invitations to perform in solidarity with quarterback Colin Kaepernick. With Usher, Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri, and Ludacris doing the A-Town stomp on the world’s biggest stage, ATL was representing.
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