Hey what’s up it’s Astra and hanging out with me today we’ve got Chuck Arnold the senior entertainment writer from the New York Post and because we just had Super Bowl 2024 we need to talk about specifically the halftime show absolutely let do it can we just get into this Usher
Absolutely killed it in my opinion yeah I mean I agree I I don’t I don’t know what more one can expect from someone as a Super Bowl Halftime performer right I mean he had the vocals uh the dancing I mean this crazy fancy footwork that he’s he’s always
Yeah known for that and um and the hits I mean there was just a combination of all the three things you want from a Super Bowl Halftime performer plus he had great special guests which I thought was missing last year from Rihanna set as much as I loved her I thought she
Could have used you know one or two special guests I mean she had that one special guest she did she had that one that she surprised baby in the belly yes yes yes yes but yeah with Usher so first I was super excited that he brought out Alicia Keys yeah yeah she looked
Absolutely stunning absolutely stunning I thought that was I mean I think that there were rumors that was going to happen she had been spotted out in Las Vegas and um it made sense right like you definitely want um someone who has collaborated on one of your big hits May
Boo was one of his many number one hits had which you still here on radio today exactly and also like you kind of like to have if you’re a male performer I think you like to have a female performer to play off of at some point you know there’s already a lot of
Testosterone with the football so you want to have a little bit of that you know what’s so funny I almost felt like she was channeling Ranna a little bit wearing the all red yeah I mean she looked great she looked beautiful um and you know I mean it was a song that I
Think a lot of people have a lot of nostalgia attached to and um so it was just a great moment to see those two together together and even when he did she did a little of If I Ain’t Got You which is her own song right and um and
Then it was so nice when he came in for a little Harmony on that at the end I thought that was pretty dope I agree I agree um and then moving forward then we see her come out yeah yeah oh my goodness I was just like I’m not going
To lie and it’s funny because when I was reading some of the comments on social media people thought it was Northwest I said are you kidding I can see it but it’s not Northwest just clear that up well I mean you know what there is she’s
On his new album his brand new album called coming home just came out on Friday great album and um so I think people probably wouldn’t realize that there was a connection between the two of them right um they don’t have like a hit together but they have a great new
Song together on his album It’s called risk it all so I think that’s why they must have a relationship and um a friendship not that other kind of relationship and um and and so I think that that’s why and plus she’s such a great you know as a
Guitarist she brings another element to the whole thing she does she does and she looked fire last night she did no my goodness Germaine Dupri Germaine dpri popped out like wasn’t expecting that at all yeah I mean I think to me that was almost like a family reunion moment
Because uh Jermaine D was one of Usher’s early very early producers um so he’s like family so that was just nice to have him be a little part of it he produced like nice and slow and like you got some of like the early hits that we
All love and he’s from Atlanta which is where like I sure came out of that whole music scene and I’m glad he dropped confessions yes yes you know what was so I was almost afraid he wasn’t going to do any slow songs because I’m like it’s
Going to bring down the tempo it’s going to bring down the the hype that we need for the half time show but I can see that you know to me it’s it it had been anyone else I would have been like that’s too many ballads too many slow
Jams but I think because AER does his slow jams in such a way where he still dances he brings such energy and all the sexy to it that it didn’t slow it down and because he did quite a few like there was you know more slow songs or
Slow jams as I like to call them um more than I’ve ever seen I think in a halftime show you know and it was funny because I was also trying to figure out how he’s going to combine so many of his hits into just such a short amount of
Time which if you notice he was even doing Snippets of songs sometimes even onliners of songs like 7 o’ tricky yeah no it’s really tricky but he hit a lot of notes I do think there is a balance you have to strike but you don’t want to feel like one long medley
And um you know I think it was it was pushing it right up to the edge of too much Medlin for me but um you know cuz you want people to feel like they heard like at least you know two or three songs at most of the song mhm but it’s
Thing 12 minutes it’s not a lot and I wasn’t mad at him getting pretty much undressed on that stage well you know what I had a little something to say about that in my review because it was 20 years ago that Janet Jackson you know had her nipple flash uhhuh uh whether it
Was planned or not that’s what happened and so I thought you know it it obviously men have taken off their shirts I think Adam Lavine did it Super Bowl us should did it last night so it was just kind of like double standard to a certain extent if you want to look at
It that way because obviously she took a lot of heat her career and everything from that so that is true now we got to talk about him on the roller skates taking it back it’s like I feel like roller skates are making a comeback because a lot of people are doing a lot
Of roller ring things the past couple of years he brought it on stage absolutely killed it I mean for a man his age which obviously he’s not that old he’s still got a go on man his age now I feel bad no I’m saying you know normally it’s the
Younger you know the younger generation that wants to get on the roller skates they didn’t grow up in the 80s and the 90s like the rest of us where you know it’s an experience yeah right right and he I thought that that was dope like he’s been doing that in his Las Vegas
Residency so uh if you were lucky enough to go to that you probably already know that that’s something that he does but it’s certainly never been down in the Super Bowl stage before so I think a lot out of America was like wow like this is
Pretty wild and he was still doing all the moves and the only thing I didn’t like was the song choice I am not a fan of OMG oh my God that is like my least favorite Usher hit because it’s played it’s played over and over again in radio
However I thought that was a song that he was going to open up with yeah that’s kind of what I was hoping for I mean I think it’s such a huge hit that he felt like he had to do it but it’s um if you
Look at the Arc of his career um it’s not not like a one of his like R&B Classics it was like sort of a europ pop moment that he was going for when that sound was popular so it doesn’t really fit into the rest of his
Catalog uh but hey it was a hit globally and um and you know I felt like he feel like he had to do it because people were expecting it and one thing I was a little disappointed by rumors were swirling that Justin Bieber be taking the stage with him which I was hoping
For until I saw videos and pictures of him and Haley in the audience and I’m like there’s no way he’s making it down to that stage in time yeah I mean I I was wondering if it was going to happen too I think everyone knew that well if
You were find social media you knew that Justin Bieber was in Vegas and he had performed I think at other events over the weekend uh so that’s always a hint I don’t know if a lot of people understand the link between Justin Bieber and Usher so like early in um Justin Bieber’s
Career Usher basically Co signed on Justin Bieber and um and they worked together on somebody to love and this was when Bieber was like you know I don’t know 13 14 like super young but like Usher was when he started so there was kind of that where he was kind of a
Mentor um so I’m not sure that everyone would get that if unless you were a super hardcore Bieber fan or you were in the industry you might have been like why is Justin Bieber there but um I think it would have been a great moment because it would have brought in a whole
Another generation and a whole another genre and I think that um that would have certainly helped people who didn’t like grow up on those Usher songs those Usher Classics they would have been excited about Justin Bieber being so now I know you did get to speak to Usher right
Before the Super Bowl performance he pretty much divulged a lot of stuff but my question to you is did you have any inkling that he was about to get married I mean I can’t say that I can’t say that he did he pulled me aside and was like
Yo bro this is what happened no but he did that he did uh he did talk about coming home and what that title meant you know his new album and um and for him you know it meant a few things it meant um you know kind of coming home to
This place musically cuz he hadn’t released an album in a solo album in eight years so that’s a long time MH uh coming home to a lot of his uh kind of previous collaborators people like Jermaine ji who he works with on this new album and it me coming home to you
Know his lady you know and and he talked about um the fact that there was not a lot outside for him anymore which you know outside is like out in the clubs out in the bar you know Street the street and he’s had he was like you know
I’ve done it um and he talked about being in inside um you know with his family with his partner then partner um and how you know they have a beautiful family and they can have their own parties at home and like everything he needs is right at home uh so I mean in
Retrospect in hindsight it definitely he was saying you know I’m this is locked down so um whether that meant it was going to be a wedding putting a ring on it I didn’t know about that but I certainly like he was a man who was at a
Point in his life he’s ready to settle down he was ready to settle down and he’s ready to put that out there there you know let it that it be known and his music that Usher is off the market well what’s funny is he obtained his marriage
License the day after you guys spoke yeah yeah yeah and basically got married we’re trying to figure out if it was which I’m assuming right after the halftime show I mean he did a stellar performance why not just you’re Vegas right why not just run to like the white
Wedding chapel or something I guess that’s what he did I mean he cuz he showed up to his Afterparty and that’s when they congratulated the newly W I mean it’s kind of insane to imagine that all of that was being planned uh at once but you know um I will say there
Was a certain like it was a very Serene quality to him when I interviewed him he seemed so censor in that piece um which I thought was amazing that he could be so present and calm with all the noise that must have been happening around him
At Super Bowl week to lead up to it in addition to the rehearsals there’s so many commitments you know promo publicity all of that that I was just amazed that he seemed at such a peaceful place um that I was almost like he it didn’t feel like he wanted to stop
Talking like he was just like you know in a really chill place that it seemed as if you know as he said when we was talking about uh you know coming home that it’s just about coming home to a place of being happy um at home and you
Know everything I’ve got he knows what he’s what matters and um and it obviously was a crescendo to the performance right so and of course up next for Usher of course his tour that he’s going to be going on we definitely can’t wait to see him when he hits the
Road well I mean that’s the thing like you know in the past um the Super Bowl halftime show it’s almost like a big long come on our show for your tour and now everybody wants to like like Beyonce like and like formation and then like the tour and that it’s right after like
The before so similarly user will be heading out on the road um later this year and it it of course it makes people more hyped to see him well of course we can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it after you get to see the tour I
Will Chuck Arnold thank you so much for joining us here at P six to break everything down and of course we’ve got more Super Bowl coverage up at page six.com
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