The singer performed on the big stage during the Apple Music halftime show on Sunday.
If there's one undeniable fact about Usher, it's that he knows how to put on a performance! The R&B crooner, 45, pulled out all the stops for his Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show on Sunday, giving fans all he's promised before and more.
Usher showed off his acclaimed showmanship by kicking off his performance from a mirrored throne, and belting the classic banger "Caught Up."
Dancing across the field flanked by backup dancers and acrobats, Usher sang an epic medley of some of his biggest hits, including "Don't Have to Call," Number One," and "Love in This Club."
All this before welcoming Alicia Keys as a surprise guest on the piano, singing "If I Ain’t Got You" before she and Usher performed their steamy duet, "My Boo," each in their own custom Dolce & Gabbana looks.
As the halftime show continued, Usher's clothes inevitably began to come off until he was shirtless and crooning "U Got It Bad" to a slew of screaming fans. After a guitar interlude from H.E.R., Usher hit the stage on skates for a performance of "O.M.G." with will.i.am.
Usher then made sure to give the people what they wanted (and were looking forward to), welcoming Lil Jon and Ludacris for a roller-skate-clad quasi sci-fi performance of "Yeah!" to close out the show.
Usher has been teasing fans with details about his performance since he was revealed as the halftime show headliner back in September. Speaking with ET ahead of Sunday's big game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, the performer played coy about speculation that he'd be joined by collaborators Ludacris and Lil Jon onstage.
"I would be a fool to not play 'Yeah!' let's just start there," he admitted. "It would be foolish to make it all the way to Las Vegas, Jon is here, Luda's here and not play 'Yeah!'"
However, when it came to any other artists -- J Balvin and BTS' Jungkook were both featured in the trailer released last month -- Usher kept quiet, though he did tease in a recent interview that there would "definitely" be some special guests joining him onstage.
The singer also shared that he "changed a few things" about his day-to-day routine to make sure he was in shape for the epic performance. "In the process of getting ready for the Super Bowl, obviously I wanted to make certain that I was at my healthiest," he noted. "I stopped eating gluten. I did cut sugar, all alcohol, I haven't had a cigar or anything."
While it's been a hectic few months of preparation leading up to the big day, Usher shared that for him, it's "definitely been an amazing time."
"I love all the cameras, I love the energy, I love the people," he marveled. "More than anything. I remind myself to smile. Most of the time you get so caught up in being serious and making certain that everything is perfect and has a certain intensity. Every day I come in, I try to give positive energy. No matter how tired I am, no matter how much the day before me will drain me right, I'm smiling. Because I'm here."
"We work to be here and everybody that is here deserves to be," he continued. "Sometimes we need to be reminded that we deserve to have what we have. And we're so caught up in trying to hold on to it, we don't enjoy it. So I really want to enjoy this moment, smile and enjoy."
As for what he hoped viewers and fans would take away from the show?
"There's more than one way to sustain a career," he noted. "You're never too old, you're never too young, it all works together, but the one thing you need is to believe that you can -- and that's what Las Vegas represents for me."
Usher said that for him, the Super Bowl is the culmination of not only years of work, but the recent months he's spent performing in his headline-making Park MGM residency.
"101 shows done here -- 100 of them sold out," he reflected. "And that next one that I'm about to have in a couple of days is a crescendo of my belief in this city and the celebration of my 30-year career."
It's definitely been worth it!
Super Bowl LVIII – which is airing on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+ – is at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has the Kansas City Chiefs facing off against the San Francisco 49ers. Keep checking ETonline for more from the big game, including photos, exclusive interviews and more.
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