The pressure was on for Justin Timberlake’s return to the Super Bowl halftime stage for the first time since 2004—a.k.a. his infamous boob-exposing performance with Janet Jackson—and he did not redeem himself, according to most people on Twitter.

Yup, you heard it here first: JT did NOT bring sexy back last night.

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First, people had a lot to say about his wonky outfit. Timberlake hit the stage in a full camouflage suit, a strange button-up with deer on it (presumably a nod to his new album, Man of The Woods) and all-white Air Jordan III sneakers. It was weird.

 

We can’t talk about JT’s Super Bowl show without talking about the tribute to Prince, a Minneapolis-native who died in April 2016 from accidental fentanyl poisoning. The news of Timberlake singing alongside a hologram of Prince dropped to much controversy mere hours before the Super Bowl started, because, before his death, Prince and Justin Timberlake actually had a bit of a feud going.

According to Us Weekly, in 2006, Prince reportedly said, “For whoever is claiming they are bringing sexy back, sexy never left,” which was an obvious jab at Timberlake’s song “Sexyback.” In 2007, Timberlake released “Give It to Me,” which contains the lyric, “We missed you on the charts last week. Damn, that’s right you wasn’t there. Now if sexy never left, then why is everybody on my sh-t. Don’t hate on me just because you didn’t come up with it,” in direct response to Prince.

Not only were Prince and Timberlake quasi-enemies, but Prince expressed his distaste for holograms when he was alive, which is why many Prince fans thought the Super Bowl tribute to be disrespectful. According to The Fader, Prince said, “[Holograms are] the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing … it really is demonic. And I am not a demon.” He continued, “To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.”

Arguably, the only positive thing to come out of the whole performance was the newest internet meme: SELFIE KID. Towards the end of Timberlake’s performance, he jogged up into the crowd, landing next to a young kid who looked totally disinterested in all that the former NSYNC frontrunner had to offer.

As a many clever meme-makers noted, it’s possible the lack of enthusiasm was because the kid didn’t recognize JT, who rose to fame in the early 2000s.

You can watch the full performance for yourself above, but prepare to be underwhelmed.

Filed under: Justin Timberlake