{"id":16292,"date":"2025-02-11T22:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T22:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/why-was-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-halftime-show-so-controversial\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T22:30:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T22:30:05","slug":"why-was-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-halftime-show-so-controversial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/why-was-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-halftime-show-so-controversial\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Was Kendrick Lamar&#8217;s Super Bowl Halftime Show So Controversial?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/kendrick-lamar\/\" id=\"auto-tag_kendrick-lamar\" data-tag=\"kendrick-lamar\">Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2018s halftime performance at Sunday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/super-bowl\/\" id=\"auto-tag_super-bowl\" data-tag=\"super-bowl\">Super Bowl<\/a> was the most-watched in history, with more than 133 million people tuning in \u2014 and it also may have been the most uncompromising. In a slot that every previous artist has reserved mostly for greatest hits, Lamar only played bits of two older songs, focusing instead on his excellent new album, <em>GNX<\/em>, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/drake\/\" id=\"auto-tag_drake\" data-tag=\"drake\">Drake<\/a>-eviscerating smash \u201cNot Like Us.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.megaphone.fm\/WWO1661592209\" frameborder=\"no\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tOn the latest episode of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/rolling-stone-music-now\/\" id=\"auto-tag_rolling-stone-music-now\" data-tag=\"rolling-stone-music-now\">Rolling Stone Music Now<\/a><\/em>, Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield join host Brian Hiatt to break down the performance \u2014 and try to figure out why a virtuosic turn from one of the greatest artists of the century stirred up a whole lot of controversy. To hear the whole episode, go<a href=\"https:\/\/link.chtbl.com\/iw8-QbwN\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> here<\/a> for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/rolling-stone-music-now\/id1078431985\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> Apple Podcasts<\/a> or<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0jCfnXfdYhwIM2I4x7SxZx\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above. Here are some highlights from the discussion:<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<strong>Drake became the show\u2019s main character in<\/strong> <strong>absentia<\/strong>. \u201cI can\u2019t think of another time in history that any artist has made an entire Super Bowl halftime show about an artist who has never done the Super Bowl halftime show,\u201d says Sheffield.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<strong>Doing almost all new songs at the Super Bowl proved challenging to some viewers.<\/strong> While the Rolling Stones once slipped in \u201cRough Justice\u201d and Justin Timberlake attempted some <em>Man of the Woods <\/em>material, no one has ever committed so fully to fresh material on this stage.\u00a0\u200a\u201dOur idea of a Super Bowl halftime show has been a highlight reel of a person\u2019s entire career,\u201d says Spanos.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<strong>It was always unlikely that Lamar was going to directly mention Donald Trump, who attended the game.<\/strong> As the panel discusses,\u00a0Lamar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/kendrick-lamar-the-rolling-stone-interview-199817\/\">told<\/a> Hiatt in a 2017 <em>Rolling Stone <\/em>cover story, \u201cI mean, it\u2019s like beating a dead horse. We already know what it is. Are we gonna keep talking about it or are we gonna take action? You just get to a point where you\u2019re tired of talking about it. It weighs you down and it drains your energy when you\u2019re speaking about something or someone that\u2019s completely ridiculous.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<strong>Jon Batiste delivered a soulful national anthem with a message of its own.<\/strong> Batiste repeated the line \u201cland of the free\u201d three times, in what Sheffield calls \u201ca very pointed performance.\u201d The panel tries in vain to figure out why conservative critics who objected to Lamar largely overlooked Batiste\u2019s more explicit statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<strong>Conservatives who seemed outraged by the very existence of Lamar\u2019s performance crystallized America\u2019s cultural divide.<\/strong> Conservative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-news\/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-show-loathed-right-1235262428\/\">critics <\/a>seem to believe \u201cwinning one election means everything they don\u2019t like in the culture is somehow going to go away,\u201d Hiatt says. \u201cYou can win the House, the Senate, and the presidency, but it doesn\u2019t mean you take over the culture.\u201d\u00a0That said, the performance\u2019s political messages (like the moment where Lamar\u2019s dancers formed a human U.S. flag) were subtle enough that some in MAGA-world found themselves debating over whether the show was even worth getting upset over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tDownload and subscribe to <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2018s weekly podcast, <em>Rolling Stone Music Now,<\/em> hosted by Brian Hiatt, on <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/rolling-stone-music-now\/id1078431985\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> or <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0jCfnXfdYhwIM2I4x7SxZx\">Spotify<\/a> (or <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.chtbl.com\/iw8-QbwN\">wherever<\/a> you get your podcasts). Check out six years\u2019 worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with <em>Rolling Stone\u2019<\/em>s critics and reporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-criticism-controversy-conservatives-1235264062\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kendrick Lamar\u2018s halftime performance at Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl was the most-watched in history, with more than 133 million people tuning in \u2014 and it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}