Super Bowl LIX brought many unexpected twists, whether it be the Philadelphia Eagles bringing down the attempted Kansas City Chiefs 3-peat or the wildly depictive halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar and SZA. This halftime show featured many celebrities other than the artists themselves, such as tennis player Serena Williams and actor Samuel L. Jackson.
At the start of the show, Samuel L. Jackson is seen dressed as the infamous United States symbol of nationalism, Uncle Sam. Jackson introduces Lamar and begins the performance with a narration. Lamar begins the performance by standing on a car, singing an unreleased snippet of a song referred to as “Bodies,” by fans. The song then transitions to “Squabble Up,” a hit song on Lamar’s newest album, “GNX.” The stage is shaped as a gaming controller, with dancers performing on the buttons of the controller. This is meant to represent the music industry as a game.
Midway through the performance of “Squabble Up,” Jackson (as Uncle Sam) stops the performance. He is disappointed, and yells,”No, no no! Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto!” Fans have speculated that Jackson is representing the Americans that attempt to tell rappers like Lamar how to behave and what their music should sound like. Going back to the shape of the stage, Lamar is showing that he is not properly playing the game. This message is followed by Lamar standing in between a split American flag, representing a divide in the United States.
Later on during the performance, hit female artist SZA makes her appearance on the stage. SZA and Lamar perform “Luther,” another hit song on “GNX.” After the two of them perform “Luther,” and “All the Stars,” Lamar starts his second to last song, “Not Like Us.” This song set a record by marking its spot at the top of the Billboard charts for 21 consecutive weeks, surpassing Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” “Not Like Us” was re- leased amidst the rap battle between Lamar and another famous rapper, Drake.
On Mar. 22, 2024, an American rapper known as Future released a song titled “Like That” featuring Lamar. In the song, Lamar makes a famous quote, saying, “it’s just big me.” While it may seem small or insignificant, this one lyric started a battle between “The Big Three,” referring to Lamar himself, Drake, and another rapper by the name of J. Cole. While J. Cole eventually dropped out of the battle, Lamar and Drake released multiple songs back and forth, ultimately uncovering each other’s secrets and bringing skeletons to light.
During Lamar’s halftime performance of “Not Like Us,” Serena Williams is seen on the edge of the stage, dancing to Lamar’s song that is known for belittling Drake. Williams being Drake’s ex-girlfriend, this serves as another shot taken at Drake during the performance. Another key piece of the Drake references was Lamar’s diamond chain, shaped as a lowercase letter “a.” Referring to the famous line in Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us,” Lamar is wearing the chain t o symbolize “A minor,” which is another shot at Drake due to allegations of him being in relations with minors.
Lamar closes out the halftime show with another new release on “GNX,” known as “tv off.” At the end of the show, a message in lights appeared, saying, “GAME OVER.” While this is used to mark the end of the show, it also serves as a message from Lamar to Drake by saying their battle is over, and that Lamar had ended it by putting Drake on blast in front of the entire world.
This halftime show differed from past performances due to the fact that Lamar’s show had many hidden meanings behind its tiny details. The mix of songs was near perfection, and the meaning behind those details make the show even better in retrospect. Having a show that leaves the audience questioning its purposeful details is something that separates Super Bowl LIX’s halftime performance from previous performances. While the majority of older viewers were unfamiliar with Lamar, he was able to draw a record breaking audience of 133.5 million viewers. Hopefully in the future, fans will get to see more halftime performances like Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s.
