Super Bowl Halftime Performance Review

By Makenyze O'Dell

The 2024 Super Bowl showed the San Francisco 49ers facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs. A lot of people wanted the 49ers to win because people say “they deserved it'' due to the Chiefs’ win last year. Still, some people do have other reasons as to why the 49ers deserved it. People say that the game was “scripted” in the Chiefs’ favor because the woman Travis Kelce is dating, Taylor Swift, was supporting the Chiefs. In a Newsweek article titled “Super Bowl 'Rigged' Rumors Take Internet By Storm After Chiefs Win,” it quotes Adin Ross, who said, “Chiefs you guys got so lucky Taylor Swift bailed you out.” Others have stated that the game was rigged so Taylor Swift could have an endorsement from Biden. Many spectators claim that at every chance the NFL got, they would put the camera on Taylor Swift. 

Despite the game allegedly being rigged in the Chiefs’ favor, the 49ers were up the whole game until the end of the 4th quarter, where they went into overtime with a tie of 19. In overtime, Jake Moody got a field goal, which got the 49ers with 22 points and the Chiefs with 19 points. Then, at the very end, Mecole Hardman Jr. got a three-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes that ended in a touchdown, which was the game-winning point in overtime. You could tell how bad the 49ers wanted the win, but you could also see that the Chiefs were right there with them. The 49ers have gone to the Super Bowl eight times and won five, and the Chiefs have been to the Super Bowl six times and won four. 

The halftime show for this year's 2024 Super Bowl was Usher. A lot of people loved this performance, but many were upset he didn’t bring out Justin Bieber. He did bring out a lot of people that made the performance even better, featuring Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Post Malone, Ludacris, Lil Jon, and others. The night of the Super Bowl, people were posting all over TikTok about their predictions, such as who they thought Usher would bring out. 

A couple of people’s opinions on the halftime show performance were that he should have opened up to the song “Yeah!” by Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris. People were also in love with his performance and the people he brought out. People generally said there was nothing wrong with the halftime show, they were just hoping for Justin Bieber to sing “Somebody to Love.” 

Brooke Schofield, a YouTuber and the cohost of the “Canceled With Tana Mongeau” podcast says, “You can’t bring out somebody more famous than you. You get one chance to do the biggest gig in the entire world; you can’t bring out somebody who everyone wanted.” 

I agree with Brooke because if Usher were to bring Justin out, that would be the main focus of the halftime show because he hasn’t performed in a year besides a private show earlier in February. 

In my mother’s opinion, “The performance was amazing, he had me on the edge of my seat. [I loved] how he had everyone engaged, loved the way he played almost all of his songs, and I even felt like I was there. The last thing I loved was the surprise artists he brought out. My favorite guest was Ludacris.” 

I feel as if the halftime show was catering towards an older audience, specifically people who have grown up with Usher or grown up listening to him, but as someone who doesn’t listen to Usher, I didn’t find it that interesting. I do agree that if Justin was to come out with Usher I would have been more into this performance, but my attention was only engaged when Alicia Keys came out. Once she left the stage, I kept watching it, but not listening and paying attention to what was happening. 

For the next Super Bowl halftime show in 2025, I'm hoping the halftime performer to be someone not as famous as everyone else. A performance from Frank Ocean would be very cool because there hasn’t been an artist in that kind of genre of music yet in the Super Bowl. There could be a reason behind that due to that genre generally producing slower music, but I think the younger generation would have a fun time watching him perform. Overall, this year's halftime show was good, but it could've been great.