J Hey there it’s Anonymous tea where we spill the tea anonymously hello hello hello hello hello everyone hello YouTubers hope you guys are all having an amazing day today sending Good Vibes sending positivity sending blessings and good energy to each and every single one of you thank you so much for tuning in
So today I am talking Usher I am giving a thorough review that you are not going to get anywhere else on my takes of the halftime performance The Good the Bad and the Ugly uh we are going to get into all of it first we will talk about the
Highlights before we get into the low lights you guys uh and first disclaimer full disclosure if you do not know I am actually a huge day one Usher fan since uh call me a Mac days I I’ve seen Usher plenty of times in concert I was a
Childhood fan I I saw him you know when he opened up for Janet Jackson on the Velvet Rope tour when the MyWay album was out and I was like a pre-teen like I I we go back we go way back as far as the level of expectations and everything else as it
Comes to you know being a fan of Usher seeing him live in concert many times and all of the things so so this is going to come from a perspective of where we’re going to outline the good right and so the good of course uh for
The most part the set list was all right uh seven songs off of confessions were performed uh two songs were performed off of the my my way album and two songs were performed off the 8701 album and um and then there were like a couple other uh
Tracks that were performed on two other albums uh let’s get into uh the best parts for me was the roller skating was one love the roller skating sequence at the Super Bowl I thought it was genius I thought it was really cool and iconic I also love the part where uh Usher also
Skated under will I am I as well uh during the OMG performance as well I I loved the segment the breakdown of all of Usher’s ballots I wish there was a little bit more time spent on it um you know when he went into uh you know nice
And slow uh burn You Got It Bad and then doing the iconic moves from the You Got It Bad video I loved also the guitar solos from her also a nice surprise guys I I felt like that and her playing guitar on badgirl was awesome uh was
Cool as ever I also I feel I also loved of course the last performance yeah uh of course with Little John and and ludicrous and so there were some unique things that took place right there were some unique things that happened so during the performance of yeah I I don’t
Know if you guys caught this but when ludicrous started performing he was rapping on the beat the freaka leak you guys on the beat the freaka leak uh by pety Pablo and I was like what is going on but but I was lit it it was lit and
Then uh towards the end of the Y performance uh what was mixed in was Little John’s Get Low I thought that was genius right then also I a couple of other things you guys didn’t if you didn’t notice uh Usher brought out some kappas you guys uh to do some shimmying
And all of the things uh so shout out to Kappa Alpa side Fraternity Incorporated I know they’re going crazy not sure whether or not Usher is an honorary member or not of the Frat but um but that was slick also shout out to Jackson State University Sonic Boom they were
The HBCU ban uh the best band in the land to uh perform at this Super Bowl uh for Usher I thought it was genius um they killed it on uh loveing this club and when they played uh caught up and then of course at the end with yeah and they spell out
Usher thought that was so awesome uh really enjoyed that as well love that Usher performed you don’t have to call haven’t heard that song performed in ages so I was very happy uh to see that incorporated into the Super Bowl I also uh love the 7:00 on the dot challenge
Where is Usher Incorporated um now I will say I would have loved for Usher to do the rap they call me us h e r r a y m o n d now tell me what you want to do with me got being like JY every time
That you roll with me holding me trying to keep control me nice and slowly now that’s my that’s my cut I love nice and slow off the my way album uh loved also Superstar uh you know I love that love the falsetto at the beginning uh spotlights big stage loved Usher
Shouting out his mom saying mom we made it uh nobody thought I was ever going to be here I was ever going to do this also love that you know he was praising God uh because a lot of these artists uh get to a certain level of Fame and God is
Nowhere in their speeches you guys God is nowhere uh to be found when when they’re reaching the Pinnacle and the Milestone like this right so so these are all of the positive things and I think also with a lot of the special guests Usher wanted to you know show
Homage and pay homage to those that you know have worked with him over the years and helped contribute to some of his most icon PC hits so so I understood you know jine depri being there and part of one of the transitions in which they were celebrating of course the
Confessions album so it made sense they performed seven songs off the album the album is 14 times Platinum the last Diamond album uh by an R&B singer so so so it’s iconic it’s a zeros skips album and even the song My Boo that Usher performed with Alicia Keys that’s on the
Deluxe edition of fashion thought not even on like the original one right I so so so no no issues there um no issues with Will I Am uh coming out cuz I think cuz I really didn’t want to hear OMG at all um however I understand why Usher
Performed it I Al I understand because of the fact that in 2011 of course black IPS when they did the Super Bowl halftime show they brought out Usher so I think Usher was also giving back to W I am which was kind of like a humble
Moment and giving him a little bit of a you know platform and Stage pres also love little John um getting to do one of his songs Turned Down For What to kind of get the crowd a little little hype again thought that was pretty cool loved
Uh you know the touches of Vegas I just felt um and as we get into some of the things that were not so cool in a little while um I just felt there was too much that was happening right um and even with some of the Vegas effects I felt um
You know a little bit could have been incorporated into the set whether it was outfits or different things but when there’s like 10 things going on at once in the stage it’s hard to like concentrate on like what is actually happening um a couple of other positive
Things that I wanted to discuss as well is uh the homage that Usher was paying if you guys did not notice uh the blinged out glove of course the one glove was of course a tribute to Michael Jackson uh the guitar playing the guitar solo by her was an Ode to Prince because
Usher said many times uh how much he loved Michael Jackson and Prince’s Super Bowl halftime performance and wanted to celebrate the past present and future and wanted to do his own version of a tribute to them so that was that and then also when he took off his shirt for
You Got It Bad I noticed he had on these high-waisted pants and immediately I thought oh this is a tribute um you know to to Al Green and and Al Green’s uh greatest his album cover it was I what I immediately thought in my mind um so so
So those were the positives those were the positives that that we’re going to get out of the way right that was you know everything that that I enjoyed about the performance but let’s get into the Bad and the number one bad is Alicia Keys ever since you know this cheating
Scandal with Swiss beats happened her voice has been gone ever since you guys her voice has been gone it has been screeching at octaves that I have never heard her seeing before prior to this affair with Swiss beats and and ever since God was like you know what no more
Voice no more voice for you uh uh This Is It This Is It Michael Jackson like like real talk uh because what was that that first note when she came out uh with the cape on at the piano of of you know if I ain’t got you one of her most
Iconic songs and I was like what note is that and then uh Usher came over to you know seeing the end of that and then they transitioned over to my boo and of course Usher likes to have you know like a female interest he’s like flirting
With on stage so so none of that bothered me and those of you who’ve seen the video for My Boo that didn’t bother me the song went number one however I said in a previous video I didn’t feel like my boo was like Super Bowl worthy
But I understand it as far as like why Usher wanted to do it but ultimately uh the voice was flat the voice was flat the voice was not where it needed to be right so so I felt Alicia Keys took a little bit of air and momentum out of
The Super Bowl and out of the set list that that Usher gave us and um and so that kind of left me a little bit disappointed I was not happy with that at all uh next what are the sound issues you guys the sound issues were absolutely
Terrible I couldn’t hear Usher I was trying to blast my TV cuz I thought there was something wrong with my TV I was like what was going on with the sound what was going on with the Acoustics it was really bad it was awful absolutely awful um so didn’t like that
I did not like I ushers I I I felt the set was a little overwhelming I felt you know sometimes when people say less is more they mean it and and I feel like in this capacity I understand you want to pay homage to Las Vegas with the Vegas show girls with
Uh the cir Dole uh and then the people in the stripper bowls and and all these things you want all of this activity but the problem is you get distracted when there’s so much going on visually you don’t know what you’re paying attention to and then the dancers they were all in
All various outfits in the very beginning so so it was hard to see like what the vision what the direction was right it would have been better off if you know the dancers were were all uniformed and wore something that was all of like a similar outfit of some
Sort or at least a similar color like it was later on in the set for the other performances and costume changes uh because I felt again it was like another distraction it was almost as if each dancer was dressed as like some tribute of like a Vegas show it’s kind of what
The dancers looked like to me in the beginning of the set and and so so so that was too busy for for me uh the vocals I I love that Usher wanted to sing live I I know a lot of you guys you know drag people who lipsing and all
These things and I know I understand that it’s hard when you are dancing your heart out uh and trying to sing live vocals it is hard when you are sweating up a storm and you are out of breath and all of these things however I think with the excitement of
The Super Bowl halftime performance I think there was a lot more time spent on the production of the Super Bowl halftime performance than there was the actual performance because the vocals told the story and lack they up right um you know Usher is a great singer you know when everything’s on point when
Everything is on however uh a lot of times he was out of breath like he couldn’t even fully sing you don’t have to call which is one of my favorite songs because he was out of breath already he was already out of breath within the first couple of minutes of
The actual halftime performance and I was like uh oh I I see where this is going to go uh you know I was like get this man we like did anybody uh you know did he do any normal regimen does he do like the Mariah regimen with like the
Humidifier and and all these things because I because I need to understand especially Lisa Alicia Keys too like like what was happening with the vocals the vocals uh were not where they needed to be and this is somebody who seen Usher live on tour several times and I’m
Talking about touring all over the world on several dates and not sounding this bad right so so I think like I said uh because you’re focused in on trying to make make a Super Bowl memorable a halftime show performance memorable you’re trying to incorporate all of
These things for the culture but if the performance itself is not getting any attention then this is what’s going to happen at the final product right uh but ultimately because so many of us are nostalgic about Usher and uh you know all the hits that he gave us you know
And the and the early 2000s in the end of the 90s and so forth a lot of you are giving him a pass on on the vocals and and we need to be honest that the vocals were not where I preferred them to be uh coming from somebody who’s an
Usher fan uh because I know what he’s capable of and and this wasn’t it uh vocally right there were times of course where his vocals came together when he did like the interlude of course uh to Superstar and all those things right but then there was just other times like I
Said where he was just flat out of breath and could barely even perform his own songs um glad he left the Diddy shout out out of the performance um Happ about that oh a couple other things I’m happy about too I’m happy there was no Justin Bieber to be found uh despite all
Of the rumors despite TMZ and everybody else trying to make fetch happen and make Justin Bieber be on this uh you know on this bill and then the rumors that Usher was going to do a dance battle with Chris Brown and they’re not even on speaking terms like like let’s
Keep it a buck for for for what uh we’re going to actually you know say is true and isn’t true um I was concerned when it leaked that Alicia Keys was going to be performing but I was happy if of course that a lot of the other special
Guests were not unleaked even though I kind of felt by the interviews and by the promo for the Super Bowl halftime show performance that we were likely going to see Little John and Usher it just didn’t make sense for one of the biggest songs off of the confessions
Album for them not to be there and and you know be a part of that moment um also one thing I didn’t like about the atlet uh my way you know this is a celebration of the my way and the anniversary album and for you to just
Say a couple lyrics off of it at the beginning and then spend more time on caught up I I was floored I was absolutely floored I was like Usher Usher I would have preferred you to sing more of my way than caught up like I
Like caught up do I like caught up more than my way absolutely not absolutely not and it would have been nice to hear a little bit more um of my way um also I feel as though there were some transitions that were a little bit
Rushed um and some of the mixes that I didn’t like um but you know overall I I think that was just kind of the biggest takeaways for me as far as like the negative where where the voal uh you know just already being out of breath a couple minutes in
To where you know you have so much activity you’re trying to be all over the stage or trying to and that was the other thing I didn’t like he was dancing way too much on the turf and and it’s cool that you want to kind of be down on
The actual field and doing performance no problem with that the problem was you were just there too long right and so um due to you know the condition of some of these football turfs that can also impact you know how tired you are and all these things because of you know not
Being is it like a smooth stage that you’re just kind of gliding away on right it’s a little bit different when you’re talking about football turf that uh the NFL players had just played you know a a 30 minute you know first half on right so so so those were things that
You know I felt really could have been tidied up also another thing I felt is we really could have gave more focus in on on the Sonic Boom on the a Jackson State University band uh if you wanted to incorporate the band I understood what Usher was doing to try to highlight
Them for certain songs but I think what happened was it got lost when when you’re seeing like iide all of the Vegas stuff the Vegas show Girls the Vegas C people the the girls on the stripper pools like like when you see all of this other activity it takes away from the
Band because you really don’t hear the band or see the band really for the standouts um when he did caught up and when he did Love in This Club and then when he did yeah other than that I forgot all about the band right uh so so
So those were just kind of my critiques um and I know I’m going to get some push back on this uh I don’t feel and this is somebody who’s a diard Usher fan I don’t feel this was better than Rihanna Super Bowl performance and I don’t feel this
Was better than Dr Dre Super Bowl performance I said it I said it at me I said it you guys cuz people are not going to right uh it was not better though than JLo and Shakira and it was not better of course than the weekend
But it was definitely uh not better than Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime see what I liked about Rihanna Super Bowl halftime show was that it’s the perfect example of less is more all the D dancers were in uniform uh there was appropriate cuts and mixes of the music I felt whoever
Engineered the music did phenomenal and should have been the person to do the music uh you know score for Usher uh I know Jesse Collins produced the show but I felt they should have worked with Adam Blackstone again um who worked last year with Rihanna uh I felt the the music
Itself was seamless and how they just went into all of the hits and you got just enough of each of the hits and and a little bit mixing in of some other stuff right but it wasn’t like it didn’t feel like it was rushed and that was my
Problem I think with Usher was I felt everything was rush I felt there was a rush to get to so many different places on the stage on the turf to do your costume changes to do all of these different things that by the time you’re running all around like a crazy person
You don’t have a have the time to really enjoy your performance you don’t have the time to to give us the vocals that we needed to hear uh so that was my frustration so it was like yeah people wanted to get on Rihanna for being pregnant and stuff but
It actually um turned out to be a blessing because I then there’s less time of all of this other extra that’s taking place uh you really had the dancers working their butt off and you really had time to focus on the music and focus on the songs and I feel like
While we were celebrating Usher songs I felt like there was so much rush you guys cuz here was ultimately all the songs if you guys are not aware uh so cuz it’s not what it’s cuz they’re not reporting it correctly on any article you guys reference um so here’s the set
List coming from the actual fan of Usher uh so he opened up with my way did a couple of lines for my way but ultimately I didn’t sing it uh and performed caught up perform you don’t have to call performed uh the Superstar um song uh just like the beginning
Interlude and things uh performed the original Love in This Club uh performed uh Alicia Keys that’s when she came out and completely just you know the vocals were just not completely there’s like a a a a I think like a why Alicia challenge or or not Alicia challenge
That’s on Twitter right now where people are posting her screeching vocals and other people was screeching vocals like it’s a hot mess uh but nonetheless uh she came in with If I Ain’t Got You and uh Usher came in and kind of sing like a little duet at the end they then
Transitioned into their song Together off the confessions extended edition album my boo then J PR came out um that was another thing I didn’t understand I had on like those little girls like remember when you’re like little girl and you have like those little those dress acts with like the the feathers on
It or like the Ruffles I had no idea what he had on and and like Capri I I I had no idea what was happening I don’t know if he was trying to be like a maestro or something or I don’t know it was just all bad um but nonetheless uh
He’s giving a shout out you know cuz obviously it’s the anniversary of confessions and and all these things and so then we transition into uh confessions the part two version uh we then like I said the one of my favorite parts of course is the transition into
The slow song so we got into nice and slow uh we got into burn and we got into You Got It Bad and then of course like I said her playing the iconic guitar solo that’s in You Got It Bad Usher ripping a shirt off for You Got It Bad and doing
Um you know the iconic move that he does in the music video for You Got It Bad also uh you know she played guitar as well for bad girl however technically Usher didn’t perform it cuz he was still getting changed and to put on his roller
Stig Gates and and change his outfit and all the things uh and so then he came out with Will I Am of course uh as they doing the roller skating for OMG uh and uh then from there uh Usher changed out of his roller skates to to put on uh
Tennis shoes to uh dance for the finale number of yeah uh which Pedic um which prior to like I said earlier in the video was Little John’s turn down for what um and then transitioned into the yeah uh with of course uh mixing in
Freak a leak and and and and get low at the Super Bowl you guys um but I was here for it I was here for it those of you who remember the early 2000 and the club days and how much and how influential uh music from Atlanta was
And just the crunk era in itself uh I I I wasn’t mad at it at all I I wanted more of it to be honest with you I so so so there was that there there is my review of Usher uh the good and the Bad
And the Ugly and what the heck right uh so so there is that so let me know your guys’ thoughts in the com comments and again this is coming from a Die Hard Usher fan like I said I don’t subscribe to Stan mentality if I am a huge fan of
You if I’m a day one A1 day one fan of you I’m going to give it to you raw I’m going to tell you the positive that you did but I’m also going to drag uh the problems that took place as well because it’s important to point them out
Otherwise uh you’re not being honest with yourself right so there is that let me know your thoughts in the comments please do not forget to like comment and subscribe hit the notification Bell so you’re notified the moment I post new content on my channel and with that
Being said I’ll talk to you guys again very soon
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