Super Bowl: the ads, Usher’s half-time show, Taylor Swift and everything but the football – live

Amid the rampant speculation about Usher’s halftime performance, there’s this much to take with you to the bank: He’ll roller skate (as he’s done during his Vegas residency), and he’ll take off his shirt. The R&B superstar revealed this in a recent CBS interview with Gayle King. He went on to say that despite winning eight Grammys, he has never been able to express his immense gratitude to his global fan base. “The categories I played in were never televised,” he said, to King’s shock. That’s why tonight’s performance, he said, will be “a celebration of those records that meant something to the fans, those records that meant something to my life.”

Ads are estimated to cost companies around $7 million for a 30-second period this year, which seems pretty reasonable when you figure out how much celebrities get paid to star in them.

Last year, Ben Affleck reportedly made $10 million for his Dunkins ad (he’ll be teaming up with them again tonight for a commercial), while Larry David also made $10 million for his damned FTX ad a year earlier. “Part of my salary was in crypto – so I lost a lot of money,” he has since said.

According to CNNat least two stars received more than $5 million tonight for ads in which they each starred for less than 20 seconds.

Benjamin Lee

Will Beyoncé return to the Super Bowl tonight in the form of a Verizon commercial? The phone company teases that she could do this with her silver Renaissance horse, along with Tony Hale:

Benjamin Lee

Are Travis and Taylor really our new Ross and Rachel? If so, tonight would be a great season finale. Here’s Elle Hunt on the couple:

Benjamin Lee

In a preview of Usher’s big appearance, some of the star’s nearest and dearest celeb friends (and a totally comfortable Tim Cook) have teamed up for this surprisingly elaborate Apple mini-movie:

Adrian Horton

One big question of the evening has already been answered: Taylor is here!

Dressed in black with a red Chiefs jacket, she was accompanied by her mother, Andrea Swift, and friends Blake Lively, Ice Spice and Ashley Avignone.

There was much speculation about Swift’s performance, but this was recently confirmed, despite the Japanese embassy’s attempt to reassure fans that she would be back from her concert in Tokyo on time: “Despite the 12-hour flight and the time difference of 17 hours, the embassy can speak with confidence “To now say that if she leaves Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should arrive comfortably in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl starts,” the embassy said in a statement. Good luck to Taylor in dealing with a super dose of jet lag and time zone changes.

Lead us in

Benjamin Lee

It is that time again. Not to, you know, pay attention to all that kicking and running, but to marvel at the many cultural treats surrounding the event. The Super Bowl is here, which means the biggest and shortest concert of the year, some big-budget star-studded commercials, a bunch of first-run movie trailers and, this year, the potential of a real romantic comedy playout. before our eyes.

Usher is the halftime artist, which means that for those of us who grew up next to him, there will be a paralyzing rush of nostalgia around 7:45/8-ish, thinking of tipsy, overly emphatic club dance moves and serious mirror ballads At home. The singer has promised an “event” and given his recent experience with an 18-month residency in Vegas, one can expect a trigger for the occasion.

Big stars in ads include Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and, ummm, Kris Jenner, while new trailers should include Twisters and Deadpool 3. Verizon is also teasing that it might have the biggest celebrity of them all – Beyoncé – but let’s wait and see.

Then there’s the Taylor of it all. Recent Grammy record breaker Travis Kelce’s team is playing tonight, leading many to wonder if she will be in attendance. Since yesterday the singer was in Japan for her huge Eras tour, but she is officially there, together with famous friends. That means now it’s time to find out which of her songs will be the soundtrack to the final act’s big kiss. Stay tuned.