On February 9, 2025, hip-hop and rap artist Kendrick Lamar performed the halftime show Superbowl LIX, where the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs faced off during America’s most anticipated football game of the year. Around 133.5 million viewers watched the halftime show, making Lamar’s performance the most-watched halftime show of all time.

The set list consisted of ten songs, two of which featured SZA, who appeared during the halftime show as Lamar’s special guest (see graphic of songs to the side). This iconic duo is currently preparing to go on a world tour, which will commence in April of this year.

During the halftime performance, Lamar and his backup dancers displayed unique visuals. The visuals that were performed were to show a message to the audience. Some viewers didn’t catch the political pieces of the show, while others instantly caught onto it.

As people tuned in all around the country to watch, students from Lincoln East High School also got their fair share of the viewing experience.

“I thought that the halftime show was very good,” sophomore Elijah Richter said. “It was better than some of the older ones, and there was a lot of symbolism during it that Kendrick showed with the backup dancers.”

During my watch of the Superbowl, the visuals, along with the messages that were shown really stuck out. Samuel L. Jackson played the character of Uncle Sam; was depicted to represent America when Lamar was performing. Jackson said words along the lines of describing the music as “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.”

Other pieces of symbolism were shown throughout the performance: all of the dancers came from the same car, but ended up separated. The dancers came together to form an American flag. Only the people in the inner circle ‘survived.’

The performance overall was very enjoyable, but taking a further look inside of the visualities of the performance would prove to show that it goes deeper than what was originally thought.