Kendrick Lamar returned to the Super Bowl for another halftime show. After performing in 2022, he was invited back for Super Bowl LIX alongside SZA with brief features from Samuel L. Jackson, Mustard, a popular record producer, and top tennis player Serena Williams. Kendrick had recently been awarded five Grammys for the song “Not Like Us”, which served as a diss track to famous rapper Drake, bringing him to 20 total Grammys. Kendrick’s halftime show broke the record for the most viewed Super Bowl halftime show, previously held by Katy Perry at Super Bowl XLIX, with 133.5 million people watching live and already reaching 76 million views on YouTube. It also surpassed the viewership of the Super Bowl itself, proving to be the best halftime show so far.
Kendrick starts by performing a small portion of an unreleased song, standing on a 1987 Buick GNX. He goes on to perform “Squabble Up”, one of his songs from his most recent album “GNX”. After he finished his song, Samuel L. Jackson appeared as the well-known American figure “Uncle Sam”. He complains about the rowdiness of Kendrick’s music, which transitions to his song “HUMBLE.” with his backup dancers, dressed in white, red, and blue, taking the formation of the American Flag. The backup dancers march forward, yet in an erratic and seemingly panicked fashion the show transitions to his song, “DNA.”, from the same album as “HUMBLE.”. Kendrick makes his way across the stage, meeting with another group of backup dancers to perform “Euphoria”, a song he produced during his conflict with Drake.
After his energized portion of songs, he is seen standing under a street light, singing “man at the garden”. His backup dancers are behind him, around and sitting on the concrete base of the light, singing a cappella. After he finishes, Samuel L. Jackson returns, criticizing Kendrick Lamar deducting “a life” from him like in a video game. We then cut to Kendrick and his backup dancers in the button representing “X”, where he performs “peekaboo”. He then performs a skit with four female backup dancers, teasing his multiple Grammy-winning song “Not Like Us”. The song cuts out before continuing, and instead, he performs “luther” as SZA joins him on the stage. They dance together as they sing, then there is a calm transition to “All The Stars”. The backup dancers begin to march in checkered lines towards Kendrick as he raps his portion of the song. Then, it switches to SZA on her end of the stage, as she closes out the song.
The camera flips back to Samuel L. Jackson, approving of the performance now. He warns Kendrick not to mess up the performance, yet is interrupted by another tease of “Not Like Us”. Four female backup dancers and Kendrick have a small skit debating on whether or not to perform the song until Kendrick starts to sing. He walks towards the center of the stage. Kendrick then walks in a circle formed by the backup dancers around the camera, taunting Drake with the lyrics:: “Say, Drake, I hear you like them young”. As the song reaches the lyric “Tryin’ strike a chord and it’s probably a minor,” the crowd erupted in a chorus of the lyric. During the song, the camera briefly switches to Serena Williams performing the popular dance “C-Walk”. Kendrick ends the song and introduces himself by his many nicknames: K. Dot, Kendrick Lamar, and Mr. Morale. He swiftly begins his song “tv off” produced by Mustard, as Mustard appears on stage with him. He raps the lyrics of the song, ending with the chorus: “Turn his TV off,” in which the lights go out indicating the end of the performance, as only the words “Game Over” are seen on the electronic billboard.
There is a mixed opinion on the performance as some think it was one of the best, yet others did not enjoy the show at all. “I think it’s safe to say that Kendrick Lamar gave us the most thought-provoking Super Bowl halftime show” says Graeme O’Neil in an online interview and even Elmo tweeting “May Elmo just say, Ms. SZA, YOU WERE FANTASTIC!!!” Kendrick Lamar is known for symbolism and hidden meaning in his lyrics, so there is speculation of such in the performance. It is theorized that the color scheme, feature of the American flag formation from the backup dancers, and Samuel L. Jackson posing as Uncle Sam subtly addresses America’s current state. The country is quite divided after the recent election, putting Donald Trump back into office for his second term as president. He has passed many executive orders involving immigrants in the United States, the rights of transgender and homosexual people, and more importantly the still ongoing discrimination towards African Americans. After Kendrick sung the snippet of his unreleased song during his performance, he stated “The revolution is about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” Kendrick wanted to address racial inequality, an issue that affects himself and the people he cares about. The layout of the stage was also crucial to understanding his message. As mentioned before, it was structured to represent a Playstation game controller. Kendrick reveals to the viewers that life is a game for African Americans, and they must play to survive. Discrimination prevents them from following the “story” of the game and taking the regular route to the end. They must find a way to survive with all these challenges and hatred thrown at them. Samuel L. Jackson also had a huge part in the symbolism as he stood as a figure for America. He called Kendrick’s music “too ghetto” at the beginning of his performance. “Uncle Sam” was criticizing a culture, and not just a man. Although this was not recognized at first glance, some people could understand that it was not just a normal show, as Kendrick has always given meaning behind his words.
