In a few, very few, betting lists of, let’s say, the 100 most important, powerful, and most listened to American artists of recent times who could be in the 58th Super Bowl, Usher’s name was mentioned. When his presence was announced last September, many dusted off the CDs from the 2000s to look for the music of the 45-year-old from Dallas. He, who has been in this business for 30 years, is not stupid: no one expected him and, precisely for that reason, he had a lot to give. Expectations, as we know, are the enemy of fun. Perhaps after Rihanna, Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez or Eminem, few trusted the show that Usher could present and whether it would move the masses. They were wrong. He gave himself and his show was intense, agile, loaded with guests and very visual. Perfect for its 13 minutes. As he himself said as soon as he started: “No one believed I was going to be here. Mom, we did it.”
Usher began singing surrounded by backup singers, dancers and acrobats directly on the field, before moving to a platform or stage. From the first moment he showed that he had a super production (the American football league, the NFL, does not pay the artists, but bears all the expenses), although the sound was not so perfect: at first you could see him executing passes dancing better than singing, until he finally got on stage and grabbed a handheld microphone. There he discovered one of his great guests: Alicia Keys. In front of an immense red piano he made the stands of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and the game spectators at his home roar. She started with a little piece of hers I Ai n’t Got You and then went on to My boo, her song with Usher, to end up both of them holding each other, laughing.
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On stage Usher sang into the microphone and brought out all the machinery of his career: dancing, friends, backup singers and even his own body, by taking off his shirt and dancing bare-chested. Before disappearing for a few seconds, he left HER playing the guitar, alone. Then he went out again with new clothes (look changes are almost mandatory in the intermission although his predecessor, Rihanna, decided not to do them) and he not only danced: he skated. Skating is not just a hobby, but one of his businesses – he has several rinks in the United States – and in some interviews he has said that he is inspired by Gene Kelly to do it, and that dancing and skating at the same time is very complex, technical and artistically. He overcame the challenge without breaking a sweat.
Usher had already said that black musical culture was going to be very present in his show and it was. In addition to Keys and HER, the singer raised in Chattanooga (Tennessee) by his mother, Jonetta Patton, who managed his career for years, has always valued his community; In fact, he was one of the artists who actively advocated for June 19 (called Juneteenth), the day on which the liberation from slavery is commemorated, to become a national holiday, as was achieved a couple of years ago. . Hence, he brought out some of the most recognized figures in black music, especially from the 2000s.
One of the first was Jermaine Dupri, one of the most important producers of that time, who opted for Usher for his first and most famous album, Confessions (2004, the only one of his career to have been nominated for a Grammy, eight in total. ). Shortly after, will.i.am, singer of The Black Eyed Peas, arrived; Curiously, both already sang together in a Super Bowl, 13 years ago, when Usher was one of the band’s guests at the 2011 intermission in Texas to perform OMG. Lil Jon and Ludacris could not be missing from his complete roster, with whom he achieved what is probably his greatest success, Yeah! (from 2004, the only one of their songs that exceeds one billion views on Spotify), which they performed together. Neither Pitbull (with whom he sang DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love, in 2010), nor his protégé and whom he discovered 15 years ago, Justin Bieber, who danced to him from the stands, sang with him.
With Lil Jon he also performed a piece of Turn down for what, one of the songs that, when played in a lounge or a bar in the United States, are an indication of: “There’s a party here.” That made many lounges, bars and, in this case, a stadium, start moving their bones. Perhaps Usher is not the most remembered or recognized artist, but he has those half-dozen identifiable songs that, especially in his native country, move the community and get them out on the dance floor.
In any case, more than for the music, Usher shone for a show that attracted a lot of people, seeing faces, flooding everything with movement. As if it were a carnival, he filled the stadium and the stage not with uniformed and perfect dancers, but with atmosphere, with feathers, glitter, somersaults, groups of people hoisting Lil Jon on their shoulders, a live band and, basically, that light fun that requires many hours of rehearsal, yes, but that sometimes seems forgotten among so many perfectly coordinated and choreographed moments.
Usher, at the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 11, 2024.CAROLINE BREHMAN (EFE)
On its round stage you could see the noise of the band, the people, and also the very favorable and immense media noise that this Super Bowl show generates; There are millions who obviously watch the game for the game’s sake, but many millions also see it for what the game is not: the advertisements, the tweets full of irony, the meal with friends and, of course, the intermission. Usher, who had not released an album in six years, released Coming Home on Friday. He has given interviews, press conferences, and there have been advertisements for him on television and billboards across the country. For an artist who had his peak of fame more than a decade ago (even two), it is no small thing.
But, in case something was missing or you thought you weren’t going to get enough media attention, there was twice as much, expected and unexpected. First he had the biggest star of the moment, Taylor Swift, in the stands, having just landed from Japan and being frequently focused on by the NFL while watching the game supporting the Kansas City Chiefs, where his partner, tight end Travis Kelce, plays. And then to one of the greatest artists of the century, Beyoncé, who also went to Allegiant Stadium with her husband, Jay Z (whose company, Rock Nation, produces the intermission show), and their children, and who took the opportunity to launch not only an announcement (something very unusual for her) but also, and by surprise, an entire album, the second part of Renaissance, which will arrive on March 29, and she released two songs, Texas Hold Em and 16 Carriages. If Usher feared oblivion or contempt, he can rest assured.
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2024-02-12 05:19:59
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