Justin Timberlake was back at Super Bowl after 14 years since he caused an uproar with the infamous ‘nipplegate’ controversy and paid a tribute to late American singer-songwriter Prince.
It was a decidedly family-friendly halftime show as Timberlake returned to the Super Bowl on Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday.
The singer performed an energetic medley, expertly combining his most famous hits with newer tracks. But while a slick professional Timberlake got the crowd on their feet, the standard concert-style show left fans at home underwhelmed, lacking the gasp-inducing spectacle of recent years, reports dailymail.co.uk.
Sound problems also plagued the live show, with Timberlake’s audio at times less prominent than his backing singers, even appearing to cut out for brief periods.
One stand-out moment came during a tribute to the late Prince, with Timberlake singing a duet of “I would die 4 U” alongside a projection of the “Purple rain” singer.
The tribute ended with a projection of Prince’s infamous shadow from the 2007 Super Bowl, before an aerial shot showed his hometown Minneapolis turning purple in his honour. A brighter section picked out the icon’s famous symbol within the cityscape.
According to dailymail.co.uk, fans hoping for a cameo from Jackson herself were left disappointed.
For his show, Timberlake kicked off with “Filthy” from his most recent album, then transitioned into a medley of “Rock your body” (the song he dueted on with Jackson back in 2004) and “SexyBack”.
Other tracks included “Suit & Tie”, which he performed on a raised white platform backed by a tuxedo-clad marching band. Taking things down a notch he then took a seat at a white grand piano to perform “Until the end of time”, before launching into a cover of Prince’s “I would die 4 U”.
The show concluded with Timberlake’s mega-hit “Can’t stop the feeling, from the soundtrack to the children’s movie “Trolls”.
Back in 2004 Timberlake was Janet Jackson’s special guest when he infamously ripped off a piece of her clothing, revealing her nipple, beneath a star shaped sticker. Timberlake later described it as an unintended ‘wardrobe malfunction’.
The hashtags #JusticeforJanet and #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay became trending topics on Twitter days before Timberlake’s gig.