2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show
Taylor Swift isn’t the only one who’s expert at sprinkling Easter eggs all over the place. In an interview with The Breakfast Club on Monday, Usher said that his Super Bowl LVIII halftime performance was packed with subtle nods to a number of his R&B favorites, many of which you may have missed.
While you probably spotted the empty drum kit that served as an homage to late drummer Aaron Spears, Usher said there were many more subtle nods. “What you don’t realize is that there are so many gems you have yet to unlock. You only caught one,” Usher told Charlamagne Tha God after the co-host noted that Ush paid homage to Michael Jackson’s dance moves during the 13-minute career retrospective.
“You caught Michael. Did you catch Marvin [Gaye]? Did you catch the back leg pop for James Brown?,” Usher asked, adding that his shirtless bit was a nod to Bobby Brown and his tank top was a tribute to R&B icon Teddy Pendergrass. Among the other superstars Usher said he alluded to were Luther Vandross and a “piano moment” that was a tip to Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.
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“I’m delivering in all things that I do when I bring the culture of what I am and what has made me who I am everywhere I go, even right now,” Usher said, adding that he also slipped in allusions to Ron Isley, the Gap Band, the Jackson 5, Zapp and Earth, Wind & Fire. “If you go back, it’s an entire education that’s happening right in front of your eyes.”
Before the Super Bowl set, Usher, 45, told GMA that he planned to use his time on the biggest night in TV to pay homage to Black artists who paved the way for him. “I think about what our country has kind of represented for Black artists, you know, having to at some point go through kitchens to even be able to perform for an audience, but they had to leave back through that same door, fear for their lives as they went to the next state to do the same thing,” he said. “So I’m coming through the front door with this one.”
The singer told GMA that he was well-aware that he didn’t start where he is now and didn’t get to the Super Bowl stage by himself. “So, everybody that has been a part of it, I’m carrying them with me. All of my fans, my loved ones, the people who may have felt like they have been forgotten, they haven’t. I’m carrying you right with me when I walk on that stage that night,” he said before taking the stage during the break in what became the Kansas City Chiefs’ third Super Bowl win in the past five years.
See Usher’s Breakfast Club interview below.
Following Usher’s 2024 Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 11, four of his catalog albums surge on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Feb. 24), alongside the debut of his new release, Coming Home, at No. 2.
Coming Home arrives on the list with 91,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 15, according to Luminate. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000 – making it the top-selling album of the week, and the largest sales week for any R&B album in more than four years.
Four more Usher albums dot the Billboard 200: his former No. 1 Confessions, released in 2004, flies 92-15 with 33,500 units (up 199%), 2010’s chart-topping Raymond V Raymond re-enters at No. 68 (14,000; up 154%), 2001’s 8701 re-enters at No. 122 (10,000; up 187%) and 1997’s My Way re-enters at No. 197 (8,000; up 175%). The four albums house songs that Usher performed during his halftime show.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
In total, Usher’s catalog of albums, including Coming Home, earned 145,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 15 – up 428% compared to the previous week (27,500 units). Removing Coming Home from the equation, his albums earned 54,500 units for the week – up 98% compared to the previous week (27,500 units).
Meanwhile, Usher’s halftime closer, “Yeah!,” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, re-enters the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart at No. 20 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 8. It’s the single’s first appearance on either chart since 2004, when the Confessions’ smash spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100 and eight weeks leading the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs tally. In the week ending Feb. 15, “Yeah!” earned 13.4 million official streams (up 142%), 8.7 million in airplay audience (up 66%) and sold 11,000 downloads (up 636%).
Usher pulls back the curtain on the intense prep he did for his 2024 Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII halftime show in a new mini-doc that dropped over the weekend. The nearly 11-minute black and white film was shot entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro by director Mike Carson. “I think everybody is blessed with […]
Justin Bieber sent a heartfelt congrats to his longtime pal and early supporter Usher after the singer brought down the house during his electrifying Super Bowl LVIII halftime show on Sunday. The all-caps Instagram post featured an iconic image of Usher in his blue and black glittery stage attire at the end of the performance […]
Conservative talking head Megyn Kelly was counting her blessings while watching Usher‘s glitzy halftime show during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The former Fox News staffer and current podcast host weighed in on the “Yeah!” singer’s high-energy performance during the championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in a pointed tweet just as Ush was wrapping things up.
“Not into Usher or this halftime show,” wrote Kelly, mother to three children, Edward Yates (14), daughter Yardley Evans (11) and youngest son Thatcher Bray (10). “However I do appreciate that my kids haven’t had anyone’s vag exposed to them on screen as they innocently wait for the football to start. (Hi J-Lo, Shakira.)”
While the former was the personal takeaway from the host of the daily SiriusXM Megyn Kelly Show, the latter appeared to be an erroneous reference to Jennifer Lopez and Shakira‘s historic 2020 Super Bowl halftime show — during the Chiefs and 49er’s last championship showdown — which drew more than 1,300 complaints to the FCC from parents, many of whom thought the suggestive dancing was inappropriate for children.
While some of the complaints about the first all-Latin SB halftime performance mentioned twerking and skimpy costumes, at no point did either singer — both of who were wearing nude hose and bikini-style bottoms — expose any private parts during the joint set that featured Hustlers star Lopez spinning on a stripper pole while wearing a skin-colored bodysuit with strategically placed strips of sparkling gems.
The responses to Kelly’s tweet seemed to suggest the that a number of commenters didn’t agree with the right wing talker, with one saying, “I’m glad my kids aren’t exposed to you” and another explaining, “J Lo & Shakira were wearing nude bodysuits. Do you also shame figure skaters & gymnasts this way? Do you not let your kids watch those sports? They’re wearing the same thing that J Lo & Shakira wore.”
One even wondered, “So you knew it was a possibility after the J.Lo and Shakira show, and you subjected your kids to the Halftime Show anyway? Sounds like bad parenting to me.”
Usher’s career-spanning set included the singer running through a glamorous, Vegas-themed set of hits, with assistance from Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., Ludacris and Lil Jon.
Check out Kelly’s tweet below.
Not into Usher or this halftime show – however I do appreciate that my kids haven’t had anyone’s vag exposed to them on screen as they innocently wait for the football to start. (Hi J-Lo, Shakira.)— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 12, 2024
The last time Will.i.am shared the stage with Usher during the Super Bowl was when the Black Eyed Peas headlined the halftime show in 2011. But on Sunday (Feb. 11), it was Will’s turn to be the special guest, when he hit the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as Usher’s special guest during […]
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