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Usher’s Super Bowl Triumph Caps One of the Decade’s Greatest Pop Comebacks

Usher's triumphant Super Bowl XLVIII performance was a culmination of a half-decade of him returning to the spotlight.

Really, for a performance billed as the longest in Super Bowl history, the set was still perhaps most notable for its efficiency: expertly plotted transitions like the opening verse to “Nice & Slow” seamlessly igniting the hissing intro of “Burn” minimized downtime, while guests Alicia Keys, H.E.R., will.i.am and Lil Jon were smartly all given their own brief spotlight moments while Usher executed his costume changes and caught his changes. But it was such a rich production that you could’ve missed some of the best details, like the marching band that punctuated set closer “Yeah!” spelling out U-S-H-E-R in the bottom-left corner of your screen, or the wrist-watch graphic projected onto the stage below him during “Nice & Slow” highlighting a 7:00 (on the dot) time. And Usher certainly showcased some of his more unique skills as a performer, turning the stage into a roller-rink (and skating between will.i.am’s legs) on “OMG” and tearing his top off during the climactic “U Got It Bad,” flaunting a still-chiseled physique that should make him the seething envy of 45-year-old males worldwide.

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