Pink And Justin Timberlake Make Headlines For Their Controversial Super Bowl 2018 Performances
Dressed in beige and white with matching platinum blonde hair, the three-time Grammy winner Pink brought the house down with her performance of the US national anthem at the Super Bowl 52 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots held at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Flanked with members of the Joint Service Color Guard from the Military District of Washington and President's Own United States Marine Band, she sang pretty well considering she had the flu. Her performance also featured Alexandra Wailes, who was with Pink doing American Sign Language for the National Association of the Deaf. However, she was criticized for her performance, and one netizen tweeted that she "sucked." Before her performance, she was seen spitting out what seemed like a gum. On Twitter, Pink said it was actually a throat lozenge. As a reply to the mean tweet, Pink tweeted:
Yeah but altleast I suck while singing our countries national anthem, and you just suck by yourself on a dirty couch. #winning https://t.co/SfLQr9hVTq
— P!nk (@Pink) February 5, 2018
Despite the negative feedback, Pink was happy to have been given the opportunity to perform. “I have been wanting to sing this song since 1991 when I saw my idol Whitney Houston own this song,” Pink said on Instagram. “This is one of the biggest honors of my life.”
Pink released her album Beautiful Trauma last October 2017. The record debuted at No. 1 at the Billboard 200. She will go on "Beautiful Trauma" tour starting March 1 in Phoenix Arizona.
Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake performed at Super Bowl halftime show with a high-energy performance medley of his top hits “Mirrors," “Filthy," “Can’t Stop the Feeling," and “Cry Me A River."
Justin’s Super Bowl performance was clearly one of the most anticipated performances this year (mainly due to Janet Jackson’s "Nipplegate" wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl back in 2004, when Justin ripped off part of Janet’s costume, revealing more than what was really necessary).
But what really got the crowd of more than 60,000 people going was the tribute to Prince, a native of Minneapolis where the game was held, where Justin sang “I Would Die 4 U” with the image of the late pop star projected beside him as the stadium glowed in purple light.
It was a well-meaning tribute, but fans of Prince quickly took to Twitter to express their dismay over this performance, because of the feud Justin and Prince had in the past.
When Justin released his "Sexy Back" hit in 2006, Prince reportedly commented on it, saying, "For whoever is claiming that they are bringing sexy back, sexy never left!"
As a response to this, Justin dissed Prince through Timbaland's "Give It to Me" song, with the following lyrics:
"Could you speak up and stop mu-mumbling?
I don't think you came in clear
When you're sittin' on the top
It's hard to hear you from way up here
Now I saw you tryin' to act cute on TV
Just let me clear the air...
We missed you on the charts last week
Damn, that's right you wasn't there
Now if se-sexy never left, then why is everybody on my shi-i-it?
Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it
So if you see us in the club, go on and walk the other way
'Cause our run will never be over, not at least until we say"
The high-energy yet somewhat underwhelming performance featured Justin's band “The Tennessee Kids and the University of Minnesota Marching Band.
For the first time since Super Bowl XLVI halftime show in Indianapolis in 2012, no pyrotechnics were used throughout the performance. The performance mostly relied on video screens, lasers, and other lights for visual effects.
Photos from @justintimberlake and @pinkfan.de
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