SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOWS

Will Taylor Swift Perform With Usher At The 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show?

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Finally, the 2024 Super Bowl match-up has been set, as the San Francisco 49ers will take on Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs, on February 11 in Las Vegas.

Taylor Swift hasn’t confirmed if she’ll be in attendance; She has an Eras Tour concert in Tokyo the day before, but it’s actually possible to make it back to the States for the game. So, Swifties might be wondering:

Will Taylor Swift Perform With Usher At The 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show?

It appears that she won’t.

TMZ, citing “sources with direct knowledge,” reports, “Not only is Taylor not going to pick up a microphone to croon a tune … but we’re hearing there’s no chance T-Swift will go anywhere near the stage, let alone step onto it. In other words, our sources say there are zero plans to have her participate in the Super Bowl whatsoever — outside of her just being there as a fan — and Usher is going to have the spotlight all to himself in terms of live entertainment that day.”

Given that Usher has been planning his show for months, and that Swift probably wasn’t sure she’d be Super Bowl-bound until just a few days ago, it makes that she’s not involved. While Kelce playing in the Super Bowl and Swift performing at the halftime show would have been one of the biggest couple flexes ever, it looks like that’s just not going to happen this year.

Who Is Performing At The 2024 Super Bowl?

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February 11 is a day both sports and music fans have marked on their calendars, as that’s when Super Bowl LVIII is set to go down. There are still a couple NFL playoff match-ups left to determine who will make it to the big game, but what we do know right now is what musical artists are involved in the proceedings.

Aside from the Halftime Show, there are also a handful of pre-game performances, so let’s take a look at who’s doing what.

Who Is Performing The 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show?

This is the question with probably the most obvious answer, as we’ve known for months now that Usher will have the honor of doing the Halftime Show at this year’s Super Bowl. As many probably expected, it appears Usher’s performance will be one that looks back at his storied career, as he indicated in a recent teaser video.

Who Is Performing The 2024 Super Bowl National Anthem?

Before the players take the field, there will be three pre-game performances, it was announced on January 18. As for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” that’ll be sung by Reba McEntire.

Who Is Performing “America The Beautiful” At The 2024 Super Bowl?

Post Malone has been tapped to deliver a rendition of “America The Beautiful.”

Who Is Performing “Lift Every Voice And Sing” At The 2024 Super Bowl?

Actor/singer Andra Day will have the honor of singing “Lift Every Voice And Sing” at this year’s Super Bowl.

Usher Gets Help From LeBron James, J Balvin, And Jung Kook To Tease His Super Bowl Halftime Show In A New Video

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Usher is currently preparing for one of the biggest performances of his storied career: the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show. (It looks like he’s even cut sugar and alcohol from his diet to make sure his body is as ready as possible for the big day.) The Super Bowl is now just under a month away, as kickoff is set for February 11. Ahead of then, Usher has hyped up his performance with a new teaser video.

The video starts with a gospel choir singing, “Peace up, A-Town down,” before the rest of the clip is soundtracked by Usher, Ludacris, and Lil Jon’s 2004 hit “Yeah!.” From there, we’re treated to various clips from throughout the years, of either Usher or other people enjoying him and/or “Yeah!.” The video ends with the tagline, “One performance. 30 years in the making.”

Pay attention and you’ll spot appearances from LeBron James, J Balvin, and Jung Kook. Usher worked with Balvin last year, teaming up with him and DJ Khaled on “Dientes.” A couple months later, he linked up with Jung Kook for a “Standing Next To You” remix. LeBron, meanwhile, was pumped last year when he heard that Usher had landed the coveted halftime gig.

Check out the video above.

Rihanna’s Iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show Pregnancy Reveal Was Actually Unintentional, She Explained

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Rihanna had one of the year’s most iconic pop culture moments with her Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in February. That was both because of the performance itself, and because Rihanna took the stage and revealed she was pregnant. It turns out that wasn’t initially part of the plan, though: Her baby bump just got too big and she couldn’t hide it anymore.

On the red carpet of her new Puma launch on Monday (December 18), Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans asked Rihanna about her halftime look and she explained, “Here’s the thing: I did what I had to do, right? My jumper couldn’t zip up [laughs]. No one knew I was pregnant, I just told my stylist, ‘Make sure it’s stretchy.’ So the under-arm was stretchy and this was baggy, but you know, the zip, it just stopped right there, so it had to be what it had to be!”

Rihanna gave birth to the baby, her and ASAP Rocky’s second, a few months later, in August. The birth certificate surfaced in September, and the document revealed that Rihanna and Rocky named the baby Riot Rose Mayers, and that Riot was born on August 1 at 7:41 a.m. in Los Angeles’ Cedar Sinai Hospital.

Check out the full interview above.

Usher Announced New Album ‘Coming Home,’ Which Will Coincide With His Headlining Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show Performance

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Usher’s Vegas residency may be coming to an end, but Sin City hasn’t seen the last of him. In February 2024, the musician will take the stage as the featured headliner during the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime show. Although fans are looking forward to him playing the hits, Usher wants to give the world a taste of something new.

Following the news of his upcoming performance, Usher’s official Apple Music page revealed the release of his next album, called Coming Home. The site reveals its cover, expected release date, and the number of songs set to appear. So far, the only named track is his single, “Good Good,” which features Summer Walker and 21 Savage.

During an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Usher shared the title’s meaning and talked about the album’s creative vision. “[This album] is a love letter to the legacy of my career. I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways,” he said. “The choice of music. Reconnection to some of the people that I’ve worked with from my past and people who I’ve always wanted to work with… In a sense, I’m coming home because I am in that comfortable space.”

Coming Home is out 2/11/2024 via Mega/Gamma. Find more information here.

Rihanna And Kid Cudi Are Pumped About The 2023 Emmy Nominations They Received

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The nominations for the 2023 Emmy Awards were announced yesterday (July 12), and the music world was well-represented. Kid Cudi’s Netflix series Entergalactic is nominated for Best Animated Program, while Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show picked up five nods. Since then, both artists have shared their reactions to the news.

Rihanna shared a gallery of photos from the performance on Instagram and wrote, “pull up breed up 2 d bashment… 5 EMMY NOMZ is craaaaazzzyyy!!! Im so grateful for every single person involved in creating these memories!” The official account of the NFL commented, “deserve em all [trophy emojis].”

Meanwhile, Cudi justifiably spent pretty much the whole day being excited about the news. His initial reaction was the tweet, “ENTERGALATIC IS EMMY NOMINATED!!!! YES YES YESSSSSSSSS!!! OMG WTF THIS IS INSANE!!!!! [crying emojis] THANK U GOD [folded hand emojis].” He followed that with, “Love to all the homies that hit me and showed love about the emmy nom. Trav [Travis Scott] hit me first before anyone sayin congrats. It feels good to know I got real homies, real family out here that support me always.”

He later tweeted, “THIS IS HUGE!!! CONGRATS TO THE WHOLE TEAM WHO BUSTED THEIR ASSES FOR 3 YEARS AND BROUGHT THIS BAD BOY TO LIFE!! @netflix #entergalactic Now, the big question: What to wear??” He then thanked folks involved with the show: “Kenya Barris, Elizabeth Porter, Mike Moon, Mike Penketh, Fletch Moules, Maurice Williams, Ian Edelman, Karina Manashil, Dennis Cummings. This is the Entergalactic team behind the scenes that made my dream come to life and I am so thankful for each and everyone of these amazing people.”

He concluded, “Thank u for all the love for the emmy nom yall. Really means so much to me [folded hands emoji] #Emmys2023 #entergalactic.”

Jay-Z Could Win An Emmy Thanks To Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Performance

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The recently announced nominations for the upcoming 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards include a very big name from the music world that is rarely associated with TV. Jay-Z, who prefers to operate from behind the scenes rather than in front of the camera, is nominated for Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special for The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna alongside Hamish Hamilton. The special is also nominated for Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Special, Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Variety Special (Live), and Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork For A Special.

The other nominees Jay finds himself up against include Paul Miller for Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love, Joel Gallen for Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, Glenn Weiss for the Oscars, and Linda Mendoza for Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer. It’s Jay’s second nomination for an Emmy; he was nominated as Outstanding Executive Producer/Performer in 2015 for the HBO concert film, Beyonce And JAY Z On The Run.

Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was incredibly successful, reportedly bringing in more viewers than the game itself. The show was notable for revealing Rihanna’s second pregnancy.

The Emmys were originally planned for September 18, but with the ongoing WGA strike — and the impending strike by the SAG — that date will most likely change.

A Group Of Senior Citizens’ Perfect Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime Show Remake TikTok Caught Rihanna And Jay-Z’s Attention

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2023 has already been huge for Rihanna thanks to her kicking the year off by performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Some folks thought the performance was obscene enough to file complaints with the FCC, with at least one viewer likening it to pornography. Residents at Arcadia Senior Living Bowling Green in Kentucky were apparently cool with it, though, so much so that they re-created the performance themselves (and earned the attention of Jay-Z in the process).

A TikTok video shared back in February starts with two rows of white-clad seniors lined up, parting to reveal the Rihanna of the video, wearing all red and enthusiastically mouthing along to Rihanna’s “Rude Boy.” The clip was a viral hit and has since been viewed over 30 million times.

@arcadiasrlivingbg

Our halftime show > Rihanna’s halftime show 💃🪩🏈🤍🎶🎤 #seniorlivingcommunity #halftimeshow #SuperBowl #rihanna #fyp

♬ original sound – Brian Esperon

Jay-Z was apparently tickled by the video, as he sent a bouquet of roses to the Arcadia Senior Living memers. Arcadia resident Sue Evans told Bowling Green’s WNKY, “There’s 100 of them. And they’re from Jay-Z. My granddaughter was worried and she told her mother, ‘I hope she knows who Jay-Z is!’”

Fellow Arcadia resident Dora Martin also said, “My grandchildren and I watched and there were flips and flops and I was standing there thinking, ‘Wow, I wish I could do that,’ and then I did do that.” She added, “I went to the doctor the other day and the nurses, as soon as I walked in there, knew who I was.”

Martin also said of Jay-Z’s gesture, “I thought that was wonderful, very nice of him!”

Rihanna sent flowers as well, according to a post on Arcadia’s Facebook page.

Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Apparently Porn-Like, According To Some Of The 103 FFC Complaints It Received

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Like the passage of time and Pusha T dropping a Cocaine Bear remix, FCC (Federal Communications Commission) complaints about major TV events are an inevitability. So, it turns out that some people out there didn’t particularly care for Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show earlier this month, so much so that they let the FCC know about it (as TMZ reports).

The publication notes that of the 103 FCC complaints made about the Super Bowl broadcast on February 12, “almost all of them” were about Rihanna’s performance. One viewer wrote in their complaint, “This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content.” Another compared it to Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” performance at the 2023 Grammys, writing, “I don’t care what someone worships but children shouldn’t be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don’t wish to see it. […] Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self?”

Others made note of “overtly sexual dancing” in the performance, with one person saying Rihanna’s background dancers had moves that “were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children.” Another person noted of Rihanna, “She spread her ass cheek at the crack. She rubbed her pants where her labia were three times.”

As TMZ notes, though, this is nothing to the infamous Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl, which drew 540,000 complaints at the time.

Here’s How Rihanna’s Levitating Backup Dancers Rehearsed For The Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime show performance still has the world talking (including radio pundit Howard Stern). Whether the public is raving about her pregnancy reveal, the clothes she wore (inspired by the late fashion icon André Leon Talley), the high-energy ASL performer that translated for her, or making memes about her floating set design, the “Work” singer is a trending topic across the internet — not just Spotify’s music charts.

Now, the Oscar nominee’s featured background dancers during Super Bowl LVII are providing fans with a behind-the-scenes look at how they prepared for the elaborate moving set design. One dancer by the name of Siah Helise, took to social media to share raw rehearsal footage with a lengthy caption outlining her personal journal as a dancer as well as how she and others were prepped for Rihanna’s set.

“Week one, I was learning these steps on the ground, and the next week I was told I would be dancing 60 ft in the motherf*cking air on a platform,” wrote the dancer, adding, “This footage is super rough this is one of the first couple of days of being on the platforms. This ish was NOT easy.” Ultimately, Helise was unable to perform at the Super Bowl due to COVID, but she wanted viewers of the big game to know how much work went into the 13-minute mini-concert.

Helise wasn’t the only performer sharing clips. The choreographer Parris Goebel, who’s worked with Rihanna in the past for her annual Fenty Fashion Show, also uploaded clips of rehearsal, thanking Rihanna for tapping her once again for such a major career milestone.

The Kansas City Chief players may not have been banned from watching Rihanna’s set live, but they now have both the full performance clip and behind-the-scenes teasers to look back on.