Super Bowl 2018: the music, commercials, and more
Super Bowl LII is this Sunday (2/4) at Minneapolis' U.S. Bank Stadium, and it's airing live on NBC and streaming on the NBC app. Kickoff is at 6:30 PM Eastern. The New England Patriots are playing the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Eagles revealed that they'll be running out to hometown hero Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares." "If you're going to go with a Philly song, that's the one you're going with," said defensive end Brandon Graham. Update: watch the Eagles run out to Meek Mill:
Justin Timberlake, who just released his new album Man of the Woods (stream it and read our review), will be playing the Halftime Show. It's his first time performing at the game since the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" with Janet Jackson. JT said that he thought about bringing Janet out again, as well as 'NSYNC, Jay-Z and collaborator Chris Stapleton, but it looks like his only guest will be his backing band The Tennessee Kids. "I feel like they're my special guests," he added. UPDATE: TMZ reports that Justin will be joined by a hologram of Prince.
UPDATE 2: Prince's brother Omarr Baker tweeted "🚫 #PrinceHologram," and in response to a reply asking, "does this mean you didn’t authorize it or that it’s not happening?" answered, "both."
Aside from the halftime show, the part we're always looking forward to is THE COMMERCIALS. There's always fun to be had in the Super Bowl commercials from a music point of view, and as usual, a bunch of commercials are already online. Here are some music (and comedy) related highlights:
A lullaby cover of Nirvana's "All Apologies" was featured in a T-Mobile ad starring adorable babies.
The first trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story was released during the Super Bowl, featuring Donald Glover:
--
Cardi B Fills In For Amazon's Alexa
There's a commercial for the Amazon Echo where Alexa loses her voice, and her role gets filled by a handful of celebrities, including Cardi B, as well as Rebel Wilson, Gordan Ramsay, and Anthony Hopkins. Come for the part when Cardi responds to a request for country music by rapping "Bodak Yellow," stay for when Anthony Hopkins creeps an Echo user out in a role similar to his Westworld character. In other news, Cardi is teasing a tour with Bruno Mars.
Missy Elliott Teaches Morgan Freeman To Rap
There's a commercial that puts Doritos Blaze up against Mountain Dew Ice, and the ad for these junk snacks is made way better by Peter Dinklage lip-syncing Busta Rhymes' verses on Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" and Morgan Freeman lip-syncing Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On." Not only can you watch the commercial now, you can also see a behind-the-scenes video where the rappers teach the actors how to rap their bars. The ad is partially generating some hype for the new Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott and Kelly Rowland single.
Run The Jewels and Black Panther Aid Lexus
The new Lexus commercial features King T’Challa from Marvel's upcoming Black Panther movie, and though the commercial doesn't include any music from the upcoming Kendrick Lamar-curated Black Panther soundtrack, but it does include another great rap song, Run the Jewels' "Legend Has It."
Keanu Reeves Rides For Will Powers
Keanu Reeves pokes fun at his own mystique in Squarespace's fun Superbowl ad which is titled "Make it Happen," and has him surfing on his motorcycle while blasting ""Adventures in Success" from 1983 high-concept disco curiosity Dancing for Mental Health by fictional artist Will Powers (in actuality celebrity photographer Lynn Goldsmith, and this song was co-written by... Sting).
Bill Hader Stacks Pringles
Actor, comedian, and Documentary Now! star Bill Hader (who has a new HBO show, Barry, this spring) is basically sure to be funny no matter what he does, and that includes being blown away that you can combine Pringles flavors by stacking different ones on top of each other. Wow!
An M&M Turns Into Danny Devito
The classic walking, talking red M&M should be careful what he wishes for.
Hopper Fakes Us Out With Tide Ad
David Harbour (aka JIm Hopper from Stranger Things) stars in a Super Bowl commercial that's "just your typical Super Bowl car ad"? Or maybe "a hilarious beer ad"? Nope, it's a Tide ad. "What makes it a Tide ad?", you ask? "There are no stains."