As families crowd around their televisions, eagerly watching another year of an intense football game, where a winner would soon be crowned, they are prepared for a highly anticipated break and performance from some iconic artists. 

A stage appears, seemingly out of thin air, and everyone begins to hear a steady beat and the echoing ring of Snoop Dog’s infamous hook, “la da da da da” from Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode.”  

The crowd goes absolutely wild. This song was a very wise choice to begin the show with, as it is incredibly well known and well liked. Things could only go up from here. 

Once the song ends, it slowly blends in with the beginning of yet another banger, “California Love” by Tupac, featuring Dr. Dre. Dancers can be seen below them on the set of a large, white house. 

Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre continue to bounce off the crowd’s energy, as well as each other’s. They both end the song early and take a bow. Two of the best songs for them to sing, performed to perfection. 

“I loved Snoop Dog’s performance, I’ve always liked his music, and hearing him sing again was quite nostalgic,” said senior Payton David.

The camera pans below them to a red room, where 50 Cent is suspended on the ceiling. He is seen with many backup dancers, performing one of his hit songs, “In Da Club.” 

The songs performed this year were definitely targeted for an older audience who grew up on these songs, so some young people were critical of them. 

“To be completely honest, I thought the show was kind of boring. I did not know a lot of the songs, and my parents enjoyed it more than I did,” said senior Sara Fedor.

After 50 Cent, the audience turns its attention to the newest performer standing on the roof of the set, Mary J. Blige. Blige is dressed head to toe in a shimmery, silver bodysuit. Her backup dancers are clothed in a similar fashion. 

Senior Molly Seventko tends to agree with Fedor. “I was underwhelmed this year, I had no idea who Blige even was before she performed her song,” Seventko said.

Blige starts to sing her song, “Family Affair.” The dancers match her energy and she performs a super heartfelt song. Then, she finishes it off with her emotional song, “No More Drama”. Her dancers have left the stage and it is solely her, singing from the heart. 

The camera now moves to a group of brown boxes in the center of the field, labeled, “Dre Day.” 

There appear to be men in black suits crouched inside of each. Kendrick Llamar suddenly pops up from the center box.  Llamar stuck with a classic look in an all black suit and black sunglasses to match. 

The crowd starts to freak out as he begins to sing one of his older songs, “m.A.A.d city”, released in 2012. Llamar always knows how to give the crowd exactly what they want, and his performance at the Superbowl was certainly no exception. 

“Kendrick Llamar is one of my favorites, so seeing him was such a good surprise and made the show ten times better in my opinion,” said senior Caris German.

“Although I am not as familiar with the songs he sang, I still enjoy watching him and seeing his talent shine through.”

Afterwards, Llamar began to sing another one of his songs, “Alright.” He popped out of his box and fluidly moved with his dancers.

As Llamar finished his song, another voice was heard beginning to sing. Suddenly, popping out from within one of the set pieces, came Eminem. 

Eminem sang the classic, “Lose Yourself.” Although it’s an older song, it still went hard. Behind him, a band was playing along with the song. 

All of the previous backup dancers had emerged and gone onto the field, dancing along to the song. Even the previous performers began to jam.

After Eminem’s short lived performance, Dr. Dre started playing the notes to “STILL D.R.E” and Snoop Dog began to sing with Dre eventually joining him. 

The pair worked very well together, considering their long history in the music industry. Soon, the past performers joined them on stage and danced along, hyping them up. They ended the show with a bang. 

Overall, the performances were all very unique, but only continued to get better as the night went on. Each performer brought the heat and it was definitely a halftime show to remember for people of all ages.