Usher said, “Yeah!” to performing at the Super Bowl.
“It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list. I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before,” Usher, 44, said in a Sunday, September 24, statement. “Thank you to the fans and everyone who made this opportunity happen. I’ll see you real soon.”
Super Bowl LVIII will take place on Sunday, February 11, 2024, at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. While it is not known which two teams will face off on the field, Usher was tapped to steal the show during halftime.
“Usher is the ultimate artist and showman. Ever since his debut at the age of 15, he’s been charting his own unique course. Beyond his flawless singing and exceptional choreography, Usher bares his soul,” Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is one of the Super Bowl halftime show’s sponsors, said in his own statement on Sunday. “His remarkable journey has propelled him to one of the grandest stages in the world. I can’t wait to see the magic.”
Usher also confirmed the news via his Instagram, tapping Kim Kardashian to help share the news.
“I have the answers to the rumors,” Kardashian, 42, said during a phone call with the singer. “It’s not about me, it’s about you. You’re doing the Super Bowl.”
He replied: “Who playing with me, man?”
The Kardashians star further pressed that Usher will play “the Apple Music Halftime Show in Vegas.” She quipped: “I know everything. I’ve seen you in Vegas twice, but this one’s gotta be different.”
Similar promos starring Odell Beckham Jr., Deion Sanders and Marshawn Lynch were also released.
Usher is currently headlining a residency in Sin City at the Dolby Live at Park MGM, which he balances with raising his four children.
“The biggest challenge, period, is balance — trying to make enough time for it all and still have enough for yourself,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in February. “Because you don’t have personal balance and you can’t balance it out for them. I really want to be at every recital, [I] wanna be at every basketball game. I want to be at every step.”
He added at the time: “And God willing, I’m able to instill very incredible valuable things, lessons that’ll help assist them when I’m not around, believe it or not, that’s when it actually applies. And it matters more than anything.”
While Usher was having fun making “something special” during his “My Way” residency, he was unsure if he’d ever tackle the Super Bowl stage.
“Would I do the Super Bowl? Let me think. Uh, no [because] that moment is intended to go down in history. It’s a bucket list moment [and] everybody wants to have that one performance moment,” he sarcastically told Us in February. “I was talking to LA Reid about this year’s yesterday. He was like, ‘No, you know, to have that moment and how to make a moment that people will remember forever, you have to have a catalog that services it.’ But how do you get it right and what songs do you select?”
He added: “So, if I ever do a performance on the Super Bowl, [I’ll go through] the agony of having to go through my entire catalog and find the perfect songs that are [people can] sing along [to] ‘cause you have to give people a little bit of the fantasy and excitement. So, hey, there’s more than enough time for it to happen and if it does, then I’ll definitely work with it.”
