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Many Halftime performers prerecord their vocals and mostly lip sync through their Halftime performances. Not Usher – he was singing live, Alicia Keys was singing live, and it definitely felt like Ludacris and Lil Jon were doing it live. The one exception was probably H.E.R., who came out with her electric guitar for “Bad Girl” – that was prerecorded, I’m sure. In any case, we knew ahead of time that Alicia would come out with Usher, but Ludacris, H.E.R., Lil Jon, Will.i.am and Jermaine Dupri were surprises, or at least they were not announced ahead of time.

Usher was given more time than previous Halftime acts and he used it well, showcasing his decades-long catalog and putting on a real show – colorful, full of dancing, roller skating, stripper poles, costume changes and so much energy. Here’s the video:

Random, but I loved Usher’s first outfit, the white and silver ensemble which he gradually removed. The black-and-blue ensemble was really cool too, especially since he got Luda and Lil Jon to coordinate. Honestly, this whole thing was Usher reminding everyone that he’s a Beyonce-level entertainer – the live vocals, the dancing, the catalog, the setpieces. It was all really well done and so much fun. My one complaint is that I wish we heard more of “My Boo” and “Bad Girl,” but seeing the whole show, I understand how he wanted to organize the flow. Also: the Alicia Keys tweets were so funny – her voice broke on the very first note!

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.