As someone who games, my very first reaction to Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show in Super Bowl LIX Sunday was that it included Playstation symbols, since there was an X, triangle, square and circle on the stage.
But in this show there is a lot more to unpack than just a video game reference.
The show starts with Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam. He appeared in the center of the stage greeting everyone to the show and stating, “This is the great American game.”
The show varies with the amount and the style of dancing, although most of the show Lamar doesn’t dance at all, just standing there while the dancers around him move a lot.
The background dancers and SZA were the most interesting things to me, but I wish there would have been more backup singers. The music was alright but I loved the contrast between Lamar and SZA. Their duet was just amazing, even though I didn’t understand the story at all and couldn’t pick out any words from the lyrics. There were many cool moves that were done such as the American flag or a snake-like move. But overall there wasn’t anything that I said “Wow” to.
The sudden transition between loud and constant to quiet and small was great. They had cool pyrotechnics with Lamar’s head movement, which just added emphasis to that final move of the song. There were lots of little moments that made you get all excited for the next part — the contrast between the unity with the marching to the liquid movements was so good when it matched the song — but then it didn’t quite live up to the expectation. The transitions were great because of the work of the people who did the lighting, but when it comes to Lamar, he just didn’t match.
However, I disliked the times when it was just Lamar and the four girls in white. I didn’t like the idea of going from all these people, down to four back ups. I also had the impression the girls were shown as snobs, which I didn’t like.
There is a lot happening in this halftime show and, as someone who doesn’t really watch sports or like rap, I think it was pretty well done. I personally had a really hard time picking up on what the story is and still can’t figure it out. The camera work and choreography got better throughout the show. I love marching and syncing with the beat and I wanted more. It was a pretty entertaining halftime show and you should definitely go watch it.
