Not Like Us was the undoubted climax, but Lamar took a victory lap on the bouncy West Coast anthem TV Off, where he boasted, “yeah, somebody gotta do it“.
He was joined on stage by the song’s producer, Mustard, who clutched a football while sporting the world’s baggiest jeans – before Lamar pointed an imaginary remote control at the camera and intoned, “Game Over”.
For fans, it was a powerful performance, full of Easter eggs – including a snippet of the unreleased song Bodies.
Casual viewers might have agreed more with Samuel L Jackson’s plea for Lamar to keep it light; especially as some of his more densely-written lyrics were rendered unintelligible by the stadium’s cavernous echo.
And it was noticeable that Lamar omitted to play his civil rights anthem Alright, in a year where the NFL chose to remove the phrase “end racism” from the end zone of the football field.
The phrase had been present at the Super Bowl since 2020, amid the Black Lives Matter protests – for which Alright had become the unofficial soundtrack.
Many had expected Lamar to make a bigger statement, especially with President Donald Trump in attendance, but the star’s performance remained resolutely uncontroversial – unless, of course, your name is Drake.
