BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 12: Usher attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)
Ahead of his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, Usher has revealed how he was able to add two minutes to his set.
If you regularly watch the halftime show, you’d know this is a pretty big deal. Every year, the halftime performer gets 13 minutes to put on a show for millions.
But the ‘OMG’ singer wasn’t just handed the extra minutes. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Usher explained how the move to extend his set happened.
According to Mr. Raymond, it was a “huge strategic thing” that he and his team worked on tirelessly.
“I can’t explain why, but it’s a funny thing that I was able to do and craft,” he told the publication. “That was a huge strategic thing that happened between me and my agency.”
For the most part, the NFL and the entire production keep the details about the halftime show a secret. Hardly anything ever gets leaked.
But, this year there are talks of Lil’ Jon possibly joining Usher to perform their 2004 hit song, ‘Yeah.’
See what one roommate had to say about the unconfirmed performance.
Needless to say, the Super Bowl halftime show is not just another performance for Usher. It also marks the end of his time in Vegas following his two-year residency, which concluded in December.
Usher had been wowing audiences — and plenty of celebs — in Las Vegas for 100 shows. The Super Bowl will be his 101st show before he leaves Vegas and readies up for his upcoming Past, Present, Future tour, which he announced earlier this week.
The halftime show is more or less a moment for the R&B icon to celebrate all that he has achieved throughout his career, including his stint in Sin City.
With so many great artists having graced the Super Bowl stage in the past, it’s hard not to draw inspiration from previous performances.
And in Usher’s case, he’s no different. The Atlanta native said he took notes from Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl LVII in 2023, saying her show felt like a “concert.”
“Rihanna’s [show] was fire because of the choreography and the way they did something that felt like a concert,” he explained. “It actually was a great deal of inspiration [for] how I began to think of my show. If you ever came to my residency, it was all about being immersed — being immersed in an experience that is all of these things that wouldn’t necessarily go together.”
The Super Bowl airs this Sunday at 6:30 pm on CBS.
