Maroon 5 delivered a surprise-free set with a plethora of career-spanning hits including “This Love,” “Girls Like You,” “Sugar” and “Moves Like Jagger” during the Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show.
The Red Pill Blues band kicked off the show with singer Adam Levine leading a melodic performance of the Songs About Jane singles “Harder To Breathe” and “This Love” flanked by lasers. Levine later picked up steam with “Girls Like You,” backed by a gospel choir and concluded their 13-minute concert by ripping his shirt off mid-gyration during “Moves Like Jagger.”
While Cardi B and Christina Aguilera are featured on “Girls Like You” and “Moves Like Jagger,” respectively, neither artist performed with Maroon 5 at the halftime show.
?? @trvisXX x @Maroon5 ??#SBLIII pic.twitter.com/g1oqTub7Oj
— NFL (@NFL) February 4, 2019
Travis Scott and Big Boi joined Maroon 5 for short performances during the halftime show. Scott ripped through “Sicko Mode” while surrounded by flames and Maroon 5 serving as a backing band. Later Outkast’s Big Boi cruised onto the field in a convertible to perform a smooth rendition of “The Way You Move.” While Andre 3000 was rumored to appear alongside his Outkast bandmate, he did not show up.
ATL. ATL. ATL.@BigBoi rode into the #SBLIII Halftime Show in style ? pic.twitter.com/uvDFnL9mxV
— NFL (@NFL) February 4, 2019
Maroon 5’s decision to perform at the Super Bowl sparked controversy after artists like Rihanna and Cardi had turned down the opportunity in support of Colin Kaepernick.
“No one thought about it harder than I did,” he told ET of the decision to play the Super Bowl. “No one put more thought and love into this than I did.”
He added that the decision “took a lot of looking inward.”
“I thought to myself, ‘What’s my greatest tool, what’s the thing that I can use to express myself and what’s the best way for the band to express themselves, and how are we going to do it this year? What do we owe ourselves? What do we owe the people?’ And that’s what we did. And I’m beyond proud of the finished product and literally, I’ve never been more excited in my entire life to present this to people because I believe that it’s truly a reflection of all of us,” he said.
As the 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show stars, Maroon 5 follows in the footsteps of Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Beyoncé.