Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime show will be remembered for what he didn’t do

The Ringer

"The plain fact is that we won’t remember much of anything Justin Timberlake did," says Rob Harvilla. “‘He closed with that doofy disco song from the Trolls soundtrack’ is likely as specific as you’ll be able to get 24 hours from now. Rather, (Sunday night) is the tale of what he didn’t do. Prince did not appear in some technologically marvelous but morally repugnant form: That’s the good news. But Janet Jackson, who figured catastrophically in Timberlake’s last Super Bowl appearance, and to whom JT specifically and our nation as a whole owes a huge apology, did not appear in any form, either, and that is every bit as disappointing as the no-hologram thing is relieving. (We also knew the Janet thing was a no-go far in advance.) In the end, Timberlake just skated by, playing his typically charismatic hit songs in his typically charismatic way, taking no chances and allowing for no guest stars. It was fine. He did fine. He had no aspirations beyond fine. He was determined not to go viral. And in that, if nothing much else, he succeeded.”

ALSO:

• It was a total disaster, from the cringe-worthy Prince duet to the ugliest suit you’ve ever seen
• Timberlake shouldn’t have revived “Rock Your Body” without acknowledging Nipplegate
• At least his performance ended better than it started
• Compared to recent Super Bowl halftime shows, this one was pure vanilla
• Timberlake suffered filthy audio problems during his performance
• Timberlake explained the inspiration for his Prince tribute to Jimmy Fallon — without addressing criticism
• #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay was trending all day on Twitter to counter Timberlake’s performance
• “I just went for it”: Meet the 13-year-old who took a selfie with Timberlake