JT’s Super Bowl Performance

Justin Timberlake performed the famous halftime concert at Super Bowl 52 which hosted the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots. It was a very exciting first half of football, but it was followed by a dull intermission. Also, there was one antic in particular that did not sit well with Prince fans.

            From the crowd’s reaction, viewers could tell that there was not a lot of excitement inside of the stadium. The volume was low in the stadium, which also played a part in the low energy and caused twitter to erupt following the performance. Some people considered the performance a waste of 15 minutes even with the colorfulness and antics that were used to draw in viewers. The image of the color waves going through the stadium and city was a beautiful sight, but the performance negated them.

            During the performance, Timberlake used a projector to pay homage to Prince in his home town of Minneapolis, MN. The problem was that Prince did not want to be depicted as a hologram before his death. Timberlake covered Prince “I Would Die For You” with a projector of Prince performing on it.

           Prince fans have a reason to be upset with Timberlake following the performance. Prince’s personal request could have been honored all of the way. No matter the stakes of the popularity of the Super Bowl, it was unjust for the Timberlake to overlook his wishes. 

Timberlakes last performance at Super Bowl 38 featured Janet Jackson in the song “ Rock Your Body”. The two danced around the stage until Jackson experienced a wardrobe malfunction due to Timberlake’s antics . After that year, the Super Bowl had been very cautious about choosing a guest for the future.

He definitely impacted the Super Bowl that year making it the one of the most talked about halftime performances of all time. For this year’s Super Bowl, he chose “Rock Your Body” as his introduction for his halftime performance. There is no doubt that Timberlake is a good performer, but was he the right choice for the Super Bowl considering prior reputation?