On Feb. 11, the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the San Francisco 49ers for Super Bowl LVIII. During the game’s halftime, Usher performed for the crowd—and those watching the game from the comfort of their own home.
Usher was joined by Alicia Keys, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil John, Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri. There were many hopes for an appearance by Justin Bieber; however, Bieber did not make an appearance during the performance.
A week before the Super Bowl, the possibility of Justin Bieber joining Usher for the Super Bowl halftime show was a trending story on social media.
Usher and Bieber have been close for a long time. They collaborated for songs before, and Usher also helped Bieber get signed when he [Bieber] was younger.
“I honor and recognize that my brother … I think it might’ve been the fact that he was just wanting to tell a different story right now and I understand that,” Usher said in an interview with the New York Post.
Lil John also spoke out about the possibility of Beiber performing.
“We wanted to put Justin in the show, so we had the idea of doing a version of the show with Justin in it, But I think Justin just wasn’t really ready,” Lil John said, according to US magazine.
Although Bieber did not perform, he made an appearance at the Super Bowl with his wife Hailey Bieber and still supported the performers and praised Usher for putting on a great show.
“Love you, my brother! No one can sing and dance the way you do,” Bieber posted on social media, according to US magazine. “Love you from the depths of my heart. Brought the ‘A’ to the world, only you, baby.”
Usher has high hopes for Bieber to perform a Super Bowl show of his own in the future.
“He’s gonna play the Super Bowl,” Usher told The Breakfast Club. “I’ll go ahead and give you that in the future. I’ll profess that over his life. He has a career that deserves it. It just didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to.”
The Super Bowl was hosted at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Usher’s performance ended up being the most-watched halftime show in history, with an average of 129.3 million views.
Not only did Usher bring out many different artists, but he also surprised the crowd with multiple stunts such as roller skating dancers and a marching band that assembled to spell his name.
The performance included the songs: “Caught Up”, “U Don’t Have to Call”, “Superstar”, “Love in this club”, “Ain’t Got You”, “My Boo”, “Confessions Part II”, “Nice & Slow”, “Burn”, “Bad Girl”, “U Got It Bad”, “OMG” and “Turn Down for What”.
To say the least, Usher pulled through with an iconic performance that was a special experience for many Super Bowl viewers.
Ushers’ performance is now on YouTube and on Apple Music. He also recently released his new album “Coming Home,” which is now available to stream on most major music streaming platforms.