Songs, Guest Stars & More

Usher will headline the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show on Sunday, February 11th. That, along with the fact that the full playlist will be available on sponsor Apple Music immediately following the performance, is all we know so far. Who will join Usher and what songs will you hear? Let’s break down the possibilities.

Here’s the list of Usher songs that reached the Top 5 on the U.S. charts: Nice & Slow, My Way, U Remind Me, U Got It Bad, U Don’t Have to Call, Yeah!, Burn, Confessions Part II, My Boo, Love in the Club, OMG, DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love and David Guetta’s Without You.

Unfortunately for the most hardcore Usher fans who tuned into the halftime show, some of the slow jams will probably not make the cut. This is the Super Bowl and people want to watch the performers dance. If you’re hosting a party, you don’t want people grinding. There would be bleu cheese everywhere.

Two of the last three Super Bowl Halftime Show performers have gone completely solo. A pregnant Rihanna burned through more than a dozen hits last year and The Weeknd did a lights, mirrors and pandemic-inspired solo show at Super Bowl LV. There’s no way Usher doesn’t bring out at least two guests.

The most obvious picks are Ludacris and Lil Jon so they can do Yeah! They could also do Lovers and Friends, which topped out at No. 8 on the charts, but Usher has enough solo slow jams to pick from. So instead he could get really creative and either bring out the rest of the Fast & Furious family (Tyrese Gibson was in the My Way video. See below.) or the Ying Yang Twins to do Get Low with Lil Jon, which force the CBS censors to have a serious conversation about the word “skeet.”

Usher previously joined the Black Eye Peas to perform OMG with will.i.am at Super Bowl XLV so you can probably rule him out. That leaves his other most popular collaborations as Pitbull (DJ Got Us Falling in Love), Young Jeezy (Love in the Club) and Alicia Keys (My Boo). Good stuff to be sure, but that’s old stuff and Usher has a new album coming out days before the Super Bowl.

The first single off the album was Good Good featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage. Seems like a pretty obvious choice if you’re trying to sell downloads. There’s also Risk it All featuring H.E.R. Plus she could play guitar for the entire set, which will certainly help with any budget constraints.

However, there’s another song that will be on new album that could result in a truly groundbreaking guest appearance.

Usher has the opportunity to introduce football fans to K-Pop and make Jungkook the first K-Pop star to appear in a Super Bowl Halftime Show. Just last month he was featured on a remix of the former BTS member’s Standing Next To You, which is listed as a track on Coming Home.

It’s a perfect fit with the rest of the Usher catalog. The NFL must be salivating at the possibility of getting in front of Swifties and K-Pop stans in just one season. Imagine the ratings possibilities!

This is the real long shot. There was a rumor that Usher was trying to get Bieber to join him for the performance, but Bieber is focusing on his health. Biebs hasn’t performed in a year. It could be a triumphant return, but it seems unlikely with so many other options.

If you’re a product placement conspiracy theorist, it seems likely that Usher begins with Confessions, Part II, where he reenacts the start of the music video by putting in his Airpods. I’m just saying. With all that in mind, here is a very ambitious halftime show.

Confessions Part II (feat. Airpods)
Without You (feat. David Guetta)
My Way (feat. Tyrese and a bowler hat)
Love in the Club
Good Good (Feat. Summer Walker, 21 Savage)
Risk It All (feat. H.E.R.)
OMG
DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love
U Remind Me (Feat. Lizzo flute solo)
Standing Next to You (Feat. Jungkook)
Yeah! (feat Lil Jon and Ludacris)