Kendrick Lamar Teases 'Storytelling' in Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show

Fresh off a huge night at the 2025 Grammys — he swept his five categories and won Record of the Year and Song of the year — Kendrick Lamar is ready to take on Super Bowl LIX! 

Lamar spoke about his upcoming Apple Music Halftime Show at a press conference with Ebro Darden and Nadeska Alexis in New Orleans on Thursday. 

Kendrick shared how he's picking his setlist from his catalog, laughing, "Mr. Morale was like an hour and 30 minute tour, so it's like, you gotta smack that sh*t down all the way to 13 minutes."

He continued, "It's kinda wild and it's interesting, because it lets you know kinda where you at, your perspective on how you think about catalog and the music. For me, I love being present. I love being present. It's very hard for me to live in the past. I respect the past wholeheartedly, but being in the now and being just locked-in to how I feel and the energy I have now, that’s the L.A. energy for me. That’s something I wanted to carry over to New Orleans and for the world to see. This is me. This is Kendrick Lamar, 37 years old, and I still feel like I’m elevating. I’m still on the journey though, you know? I want that energy to ooze out into the television and to the people that's in that building."

Lamar also teased that we should expect to see "storytelling." He explained, "I think I’ve always been very open about storytelling through all my catalog and my history of music, and I’ve always had a passion about bringing that on whatever stage I’m on, whether it's a world tour or whether it was 500 people at Key Club. I've always had a form of that."

He added he wants to "make people listen, but also see and think a little," to which the hosts replied that fans will be digging up Easter eggs for years to come!

In 2022, Kendrick performed at the halftime show with hip-hop legends Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Eminem. This year, he is making history by being the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the show!

He shared, “It reminds me of the essence and the core response of rap and hip-hop and how far it can go. It puts the culture at the forefront, where it needs to be and not minimized to just a catchy song or verse. This is a true art form, so to represent it on this type of stage is like everything that I’ve worked for and everything that I believe in as far as the culture.”

SZA will be joining him on stage at some point, but other details about the performance are being kept under wraps.

Gushing about SZA, Kendrick said, “Watching her career and where she’s come from, it’s amazing to see. I get to finally see how certain individuals see me come up in the process cause I seen her day one coming in the studio and writing songs… I understand that process though, wanting to be great.”