During his highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, February 11, Usher welcomed a parade of famous friends to the stage including Alicia Keys, Lil John, and Ludacris in an epic medley of his many (many) hits.
The show itself was predictably a sight to behold, complete with jeweled thrones, armies of backup dancers, costume changes, roller skates, and—at one point—a very shirtless Usher gyrating as only Usher can.
As for Keys, she and Usher looked like the closest of friends during their sweet duet on “My Boo,” which came after she sang a bit of her hit “If I Ain’t Got You” at the piano wearing a bedazzled red catsuit custom-made by Dolce&Gabbana. (Usher did hint before the show that someone special would be joining him on stage, and we can only assume that he meant Keys.)
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“It will definitely be an event,” he told Billboard in the lead-up to the big game. “There are special guests.” He also basically guaranteed that we would be hearing “Yeah!”—one of his most iconic hits—which made Lil Jon and Ludacris, who appear on the track, prime contenders for a cameo.
“I would be a fool to not play ‘Yeah!,’ let’s just start there,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “It would be foolish to make it all the way to Las Vegas, Jon is here, Luda’s here, and not play ‘Yeah!’”
Both came out and (obviously) delighted fans with their rendition of the 2004 party-starting song that somehow never seems to get old.
In addition to more well-known collaborators, singer and musician H.E.R. also took the stage to play the electric guitar, alongside Usher, which was a welcome surprise.
Usher also said he was having trouble figuring out how to pick which songs to highlight from his nearly 30-year career.
“You know, it’s 12 to 15 minutes,” he told Billboard. “So it’s really hard to determine what moment matters more than others, especially with a new song. But there’s the dance, the wardrobe, the lighting, how long you stay in a song, the fact that the audience may sing along…It’s a lot. So I’m trying my hardest not to overthink it.”
So what songs made the cut? “Caught Up,” “Love in This Club,” “Confessions,” “Don’t Have to Call,” “Number One,” “You Got It Bad,” “O.M.G.,” and more.