Usher to perform at Super Bowl 2024 halftime show: full lineup and setlist
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The most-watched global sporting event of the year is back, and eight-time Grammy winner Usher has been chosen as the performer for the halftime show. The Super Bowl decides the NFL Champions and marks an explosive end to the season, in front of millions of viewers in the US, and around the world.
The American Football event has become the biggest sporting stage in the world, with advertisers spending big bucks to get screen time for bizarre, star-studded commercials, and huge musicians delivering blockbuster performances at halftime. Rihanna’s halftime show in 2023 was the most-watched of all time. Will this year be even bigger? And what will be in the setlist?
Super Bowl LVIII fact file
The match between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will be broadcast on ITV1 from 11:30pm on Sunday, February 11, live from Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada (home to the Las Vegas Raiders). It can be streamed live and on catch-up on ITVX. In the US the game will be shown on CBS.
What will be in Usher’s setlist?
Usher broke out onto the music scene at 15, and now he’s landed the biggest stage in the world. He appeared once before, as a guest to sing OMG with the Black Eyed Peas during their Super Bowl performance in 2011. This time, he has the stage to himself, calling the coveted halftime slot the “honour of a lifetime”.
Performers have about 12 to 14 minutes to perform their biggest songs on a stage of fireworks and fanfare. With hits including You Make Me Wanna, Pop Ya Collar, DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love, Yeah!, and Confessions Part II, Usher says “the hardest part is figuring out how to squeeze it all in”.
The slot garners such attention that performers often turn down a fee so they can play. Like Rihanna before him, Usher will not be paid, though he will be getting (likely considerable) expenses. Artists go all out on this major stage, and often take the opportunity to make big statements. Last year Rihanna used her performance to announce her pregnancy to more than 121 million viewers. This year, Usher will drop a new album – Coming Home, a follow-up to his 2016 album Hard II Love – on the day of the Super Bowl
The NFL have partnered with Jay-Z’s entertainment agency Roc Nation since 2019, to up the ante on halftime shows. They delivered performances including Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in 2020, The Weeknd in 2021, the dream team line-up of Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J Blige, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent in 2022, and of course Rihanna in 2023. “Usher is the ultimate artist and showman,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “I can’t wait to see the magic.”
Who are the special guests?
The Weeknd and Rihanna did not bring any guests out for their halftime shows, but whatever Usher has up his sleeve, it appears he may not be alone. “I am a man of collaborations,” he told Las Vegas Review Journal. His show will “remind the world that when you do collaborate, something amazing does happen.” In the past, Usher’s superstar collaborators have included Alicia Keys (My Boo), Justin Timberlake (Someone to Love), Jay-Z (Best Things), Lil Wayne (Love in This Club), Beyoncé (Love in This Club), Justin Bieber (Somebody to Love), and Diddy (I Need a Girl).
Country music icon Reba McEntire will lead pre-game performances, along with Post Malone and Andra Day. Day will perform Lift Every Voice and Sing, which is known as “the Black national anthem”, and has been a pregame entertainment staple since 2011. Tiësto will perform as the Super Bowl’s first ever in-game DJ.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Taylor Swift will be in the audience supporting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The Super Bowl will be broadcast on ITV1 from 11.30pm on Sunday, February 11
