Usher to perform 2024 Super Bowl halftime show

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

The artist for the halftime show has been chosen.

Apple Music, the official sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show announced that Usher would be performing at the big game this year in a rather confusing video featuring Kim Kardashian.

It’s unclear why Kim K was involved in this at all, but the apparent conceit is that she knows everything that’s happening in the world of entertainment and had inside information that Usher had been chosen. I guess it was supposed to be a rumor that Usher was in the running, but literally nobody predicted this — because all the discussion leading up to the announcement was that the NFL and Apple were trying to convince Taylor Swift to do the show.

Usher is a solid choice though. It does what the halftime show is supposed to do by having mass appeal and a solid hit of nostalgia. Last year Rihanna blew the roof off the Super Bowl, and the year before featured one of the most iconic shows in recent memory with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar playing in Los Angeles.

It’s been seven years since Usher released a studio album, but continued to be a household name thanks to being a coach on The Voice. It’s a safe bet he’ll play the hits on Super Bowl Sunday like Yeah!, Burn — with a good chance we’ll get an Alicia Keys cameo for My Boo.

Usher’s got a tough act to follow, and we’ll see how it pans out in February.