Do you watch the Super Bowl for the game or the music?
This year, it was the halftime show that had people talking the next day, not the game itself.
The halftime headliner for the Super Bowl can affect the crowd size and viewing numbers for the game. This year, the 2025 halftime show was performed by rapper, Kendrick Lamar.
Lamar emerged in the 2010s and has collaborated with other artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and SZA.
The 2025 halftime show attracted more viewers than Michael Jackson in 1993. According to Billboard, Lamar attracted the most-watched halftime show of all time, with 133.5 million viewers. The halftime show attracted more viewers than the Super Bowl itself.
Lamar had a different plan instead of performing his best hits, as most do. Throughout his performance, he used his artistic talents to create a story.
“A lot of older people did not understand the show because they don’t listen to his music. The show was really good and the messages he was trying to tell through his clothing and his overall performance was really good,” says Sophie Best, ‘26.
Beginning with an introduction from actor, Samuel L. Jackson, Lamar performed “Squabble Up,” with comments from Jackson after saying the performance was “too loud, reckless, and ghetto.” Jackson also introduced the show as the “Great American Game,” which suggests that Lamar had to learn how to navigate America as a black individual, and that America is a game.
Jackson’s opening attire pokes fun at the first symbolic message of the show. Jackson, a black man, was dressed as American icon Uncle Sam, a national father figure, and a white man. The commentary on the “loud, reckless, and ghetto performance” being unacceptable was referencing the reality of the U.S. or discriminatory view of the black community.
Lamar included many ad-libs in between his songs. Before performing his hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar uses the phrase “40 acres and a mule,” and adds that “this is bigger than the music.”
“The phrase 40 acres and a mule” comes from the 1800s when slavery was abolished. The formerly enslaved were promised land and a mule from the government as an apology. Lamar is saying that the black community has not been treated fairly or received the equality they had been promised. “This is bigger than the music,” can be interpreted as Lamar’s way of saying that his performance was not just about singing his songs, it’s a message about the lack of progression since this time in history.
Lamar also brought out SZA, a rhythm and blues artist, to perform their collaboration on songs “Luther,” and “All of the Stars.” Including the backup dancers, all performers were dressed in red, white, or blue, representing the American flag. At one point, the dancers created the formation of the American flag, and they split it down the middle. Every dancer was also black, which added to the symbolism of the flag being divided.
Lamar was preaching how America is currently divided because of its political system, and racism, with inequality dividing the country even more.
“Kendrick saying, ‘You picked the right time but the wrong guy,’ for the revolution, was poking at the results of our most recent election. You picked the right time for a revolution for an equal America, but the wrong guy, meaning the president, who has not shown love for equality,” says Zoey Zeballos, ’26.
The media has made many of their own interpretations of the show. The show was a “cultural divide,” as Lamar said in his performance. The Hollywood Reporter was one of many media outlets that provided a description of the show, which you can check out by clicking on the link.
What was your favorite part of the show and how did you interpret it?
