Tonight was Justin Timberlake’s third Super Bowl performance and he was being backed up by his longtime band The Tennessee Kids. Opening up the halftime show was a pre-taped video of Timberlake’s buddy Jimmy Fallon drinking a Pepsi on a Pepsi Cola sign. Timberlake then opened the show with his song “Filthy”. He was surrounded by laser lights and fans holding up their phones to get pics and video footage of the singer. Timberlake started off the performance backstage and appeared to be in a club-like atmosphere, surrounded by female dancers. He then made his way out into the crowd to sing “Rock Your Body” with a group of male and female dancers. Timberlake made his way down to the field from a lit up catwalk. Timberlake took his performance to center field with a mix of his song “Senorita,” followed by “Sexy Back.”
Next up was a short musical moment that took the background music of “Cry Me a River” to “Be My Love”. Then, the song transitioned back into “Cry Me a River”. Timberlake then stopped singing for a choreographed dance routine over the NFL logo on the field.
.@JTimberlake kicks off the #SB52 halftime show t.co/AnoevlnJIt
Backed by an entire marching band, Timberlake used a flexible microphone stand to perform his song “Suit and Tie.” He then moved over to a white piano where he performed “Until the End of Time,” before being joined by a video of Prince, singing “I Would Die 4 U.” Everything lit up purple, even surrounding the stadium.
When they showed this live I didn’t catch it… Clever..well done! #Prince #JustinTimberlake
After being joined by the hologram, Timberlake performed his hit song “Mirrors,” before pumping the energy back up for “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” Colorful dancers hit the field and Timberlake made his way up into the crowd inside the stadium. He jumped up and down, dancing with fans and taking selfies, along with videos for fans.
According to People, Timberlake said that he was not going to incorporate any surprise guests. He said that, “To be honest, I had a ton of grand ideas about special guests. There’s a whole list. I think Vegas has a lot of odds on it, from ‘NSYNC to Jay [JAY-Z] to Chris Stapleton to Janet.” But, he said that he really just wants to showcase his band and rock the stage. So, a surprise guest doesn’t really vibe with his vision.
In 2004, Timberlake made headlines with Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl when the two performed his song “Rock Your Body”. At the end of the performance, Timberlake removed a piece of Jackson’s costume, revealing her bare breast. The performance was aired live on CBS, so the network was fined $500,000 for the controversial moment. A media storm followed, with both Timberlake and Jackson issuing apologies, but Jackson appeared to get the most heat for the “wardrobe malfunction”. Because of this moment, fans have been tweeting that they wanted Jackson to get a second chance and join Timberlake as a special guest during his halftime show tonight. Unfortunately, Jackson revealed that she would not appear.
With the help of his BFF, Jimmy Fallon, Timberlake announced his solo Super Bowl gig. Check out the tweet of encouragement from Fallon for his bud prior to tonight’s halftime show.
Go get ‘em Justin. #PepsiHalftime #SBLII #JustinTimberlake