The halftime show came with much hype, as rapper Kendrick Lamar graced the stage after a banner year. Lamar, SZA and actor Samuel L. Jackson made appearances in the performance, which comprised of about eight songs. We’re going to break down the performance, based on things I liked and didn’t like.
Watch Kendrick Lamar’s full 2025 Super Bowl halftime performance here:
Like: The song selection
I think this was a great part of the show, with Lamar choosing some of the most popular songs off his newest mixtape “GNX” combined with some classics. Because he performed M.A.A.D City and Alright in 2022, we knew there was a low chance we get those two. However, we got DNA and Humble as the classics, plus the collaborations with SZA on Luther and All the Stars. The stadium almost blew off the hinges on Not Like Us, with almost 80,000 people singing along to “A MINOR”. Like, I think that’s insane, if it were me that song was about I would go into hiding. On top of that, we got another extended version of the snippet Lamar used to promote “GNX”, which I need him to release IMMEDIATELY.
Overall, the song choice was really good, nice mix of features and fun songs to vibe to.
Dislike: The audio
Was it just me, or was the audio kinda low during the performance? It sounded like Lamar and SZA’s mic was really low throughout the entire performance. I turned my tv up multiple times, but I legitimately think it was just a low mic and it made the performance a little hard to hear in the beginning of the show. That was really my only gripe of the entire thing, otherwise it was awesome.
Like: Samuel L. Jackson
You can put Samuel L. Jackson in anything and I would watch, but making him Uncle Sam? Heck yeah.
Like: Being a hater
The year of the hater continues into 2025 with Lamar’s performance. Let’s start with the chain he was wearing, which was a lowercase A. Literally, a minor.
On top of that, when Lamar performed Not Like Us, he looked DIRECTLY into the camera on the line talking about Drake, which is absolutely diabolical work. Just dancing on the grave.
ON TOP OF THAT, Serena Williams (who dated Drake and her husband, Alexis Ohanian has been called out by Drake on a song), was dancing on stage with Lamar as he performed Not Like Us.
Lamar thoroughly blasted Drake during their beef, and this halftime show was the icing on the cake.
Overall, I thought the show was really good. Was it an all-timer? Probably not, but I had fun and enjoyed listening to it.
