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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Lifestyle
William Mata

What will Kendrick Lamar perform at the Super Bowl half-time show? His setlist and guest star speculation

Kendrick Lamar has been confirmed as the performer for the Super Bowl halftime show in 2025, which will be held in New Orleans

The Compton rapper was announced by Roc Nation, Apple Music, and the NFL on Sunday as the centrepiece act for one of the biggest stages on Earth. 

Lamar has previously guested alongside Dr Dre in 2022 but will have the stage to himself when he performs on February 9. 

"Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date," Lamar said. "And I'll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one."

Lamar has been busy of late, releasing several songs in a back and forth feud with Canadian rapper Drake that climaxed in May. 

Whether his Super Bowl announcement will mean there will be another album to follow-up Mr Morale and the Big Steppers – which came out in 2022 – is unclear. 

Whatever he performs, fans will be hoping it will live up to his five-star rated performance in November 2022 at the O2 Arena.  

Here’s what fans can expect. 

Kendrick Lamar performing in 2022 (Yuki Iwamura / AFP via Getty Images)

What will Kendrick Lamar perform at the Super Bowl half-time show? 

K Dot will have 12 to 15 minutes on stage during half-time – and performers in years gone by have fought to make the most of it. 

Some artists, such as U2 in 2002, have played just three songs in full whereas, this year, Usher joined a tradition of performing medleys and cramming as many songs in as possible.

As Lamar knows, the performance can often see several special guests appear alongside the main performer. 

Having worked with a number of collaborators over the years, there is a long list of names that he could bring out – but Dr Dre, Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and even Taylor Swift are just four possibilities. 

One name very unlikely to be considered a guest act is Drake, who featured on Lamar’s 2013 song Poetic Justice. 

Lamar is more likely to perform Not Like Us, a diss track aimed at his friend turned rival, that he played five times in a row at the end of a recent show in Los Angeles.

According to Setlist, the rest of that set consisted of: 

  1. Euphoria

  2. DNA

  3. Element

  4. Alright

  5. Swimming Pools (Drank)

  6. Money Trees

  7. WIN

  8. King’s Dead

  9. 6:16 in LA

  10. Collard Greens

  11. THat Part

  12. King Kunta

  13. MAAD City

  14. Humble

  15. Like That

At that gig, he was joined by Dre and the pair performed Still DRE and California Luv together to end the first act before he performed Not Like Us five times. 

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