Older generations called it too flashy or boring, younger generations saw a political statement and deep-seated message.
In a record-breaking halftime show in Super Bowl history, Kendrick Lamar racked in 133.5 million views, attracting more eyes than the biggest game of the year itself. That’s about a 7.5 million difference in how many people tuned in to see the Birds and Chiefs play with 126 million views.
K.Dot is revered as a poet in his own right, lyricism meticulously crafted, always incorporating a deeper meaning. The internet pondered in the days leading up to Super Bowl 59 what themes or symbolism he might center his performance around, what songs he’d choose. There is truly something to reflect on in every minute detail in this show. The show heightened my attention even more knowing the president was in attendance.
- The “American Game”
-
“The Revolution is about to be televised: you picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
Off the bat, viewers are met with a playstation controller-modeled stage and a countdown to 100 illuminated across the stands. For “squabble up,” a song off of last year’s “GNX,” Kendrick and dancers molded into the American flag which he immediately planted himself down the middle of, never becoming one with it, insinuating the political polarization the US is no stranger to along with an ever-persisting cultural divide.
At one point, “Warning wrong way” was legible across the audience as well, something that lasts for a split few seconds and you’d have to rewatch to catch a better glimpse of. The innuendo seemed like an applicable message to the state of US politics and a divided democracy as told from Kendrick’s point of view. TikTokers, primarily Gen Z has taken to the app to deconstruct Lamar’s messaging and every little thing implied.
In teasing “Not Like Us,” Kendrick delivers more lyrical innuendos from, “Its a cultural divide and I’ma get it on the floor,” to “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music” and “…They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” I’ve never before seen a bigger indicator that every word and every track sung transcend the music industry. Granting a promised 40 acres and a mule was an 1865 attempt to assist formerly enslaved people in moving ahead in the US with a land grant as per William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15; the General later added that the US army could lend out their mules to assist the settlers, hence the phrase “40 acres and a mule.”
Kendrick closed his halftime with “tv off,” another single off of GNX about balancing societal expectations on the individual and industry authenticity amongst other themes.
The message “game over” read across the stands before going dark, and essentially, shutting the television off.
- Uncle sam
-
Uncle Sam is a renowned motif of America, the face of the land. And in the same breath, his caricature was first referenced in 1812 and formally illustrated in the 1830s. There was no coincidence in Kendrick’s selection of Samuel L. Jackson to model the face and costume of Uncle Sam — someone who personifies American law and government — seeing as Jackson is someone who has witnessed adversities throughout his life and stood up for civil rights at the height of the movement in the mid to late 1960s. In character, “Uncle Sam” comments on Kendrick’s every move, critically deeming his performance “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” and asks if Kendrick “knows how to play the game.” Right after, Kendrick sings short verses from “man at the garden” a song that accounts for self-affirming personal and cultural reflection, to which Uncle Sam refers to a scorekeeper in the “game” to “deduct one life,” opposed to one ‘point.’
Jackson makes intermittent, brief yet striking critiques on Kendrick’s presentation of himself and what he is standing for. What was most striking to me was that immediately following “All the Stars,” Uncle Sam returned to applaud Kendrick for a change – celebrating that he conformed for a moment to sing a more relaxed track. He added that “that’s what America wants – nice and calm,” before warning Kendrick not to mess things up, but is interjected mid-sentence by the intro of “Not Like Us.”
- Wardrobe
-
It is no coincidence how every dancer wore red, white and blue, but what caught my eye in retrospect was that nearly every female dancer (especially in the opening number) was dressed in red, something in my eyes was reminiscent of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” SZA was even donned in complete shades of red even down to her curly locks, no hint of another shade. I thought her look was stunning second to her ethereal vocals in “Luther” and “All the Stars.” The wardrobe exception of every female in red was Serena Williams, who was not a uniform dancer, but was featured crip-walking on-stage, something she’s been criticized for in the past.
My hairstylist pointed out to me mid hair in the shampoo bowl that both Williams and SZA formerly went out with Drake — another non-coincidence.
Kendrick’s artistry, lyricism, and production can be compared to watching a movie the second time over, experiencing that “ah-ha” moment of a clue you missed the first time around. I know that the more I watch this performance the more there is to uncover. Lamar stands alone in today’s industry, the “poet laureate” dissimilar to those in the modern rap and hip-hop world as a simple word can stray amiss if not paying attention to the bigger picture he’s demonstrating.