Super Bowl LII Halftime Show: Justin Timberlake’s Prince tribute

The Super Bowl LII Halftime Show had a lot of hype going into it. It was pretty darn easy to understand why! We are talking about a show led by none other than Justin Timberlake, one of the biggest stars in music. There were also all sorts of rumors out there about a number of possible collaborations, but not every rumor ends up becoming reality.

We were obviously interested to see how Timberlake handled what is his second stint performing Super Bowl Halftime, especially given just how controversial his first outing was.

We’ll admit that the start of his performance was a little bit questionable, mostly because 1) we could barely see him because of the lighting. Also, we aren’t familiar with this song. We write this as a minor Timberlake fan, someone who has listened to his songs on the radio but pretty much nowhere else.

Things picked up a little bit for us when Timberlake stepped out on stage in order to perform “Rock Your Body” after the opening took place backstage. This was one of his earliest solo hits, and he transitioned quickly from this over to “Sexy Back.” Basically, we’re not sure that there is a song from Justin that is more popular than this one. One of the other notable songs during this run was “Cry Me a River,” his solo hit that is even older than “Rock Your Body.”

The Prince tribute

We know that there were some people out there who didn’t want a Prince tribute at all. We’re glad that he didn’t use a hologram; instead, we had a projection of some old footage of the legend while Timberlake performed one of hits in his honor.

Following this, Justin then transitioned things back into a performance of “Mirrors,” which is probably our favorite song that he did. By and large, this was a pretty nostalgic set where Timberlake relied mostly on his old hits. He did close with “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” which was a little bit more of a recent hit and one that allowed him a chance to end on a big, celebratory note. (What was with the kid not really paying attention and worrying about the phone?)

The one thing that was strange

For the most part, this was one of the most-intimate performances that we’ve seen during a Super Bowl Halftime Show. The way that it was staged at times didn’t give you a good sense of just how crowded the stage was.

What did you think about the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the comments!

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