Justin Timberlake returned to the Super Bowl Halftime Show for the first time since his faux pas in 2004, and the show has been deemed forgettable.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE HALFTIME SHOW REVIEWS

Timberlake appeared wearing a strange camouflage suit over a printed long-sleeve shirt with the image of a buck in the woods. He added a leather jacket with fringe, a red bandana around the neck, and crips white sneakers. He danced out to the stage to his new single “Filthy” off of his subpar new album, Man of the Woods.

Once he got to the main stage from the basement-like labyrinth in the stadium, he broke into some of his early-2000s hits. He sang “Rock Your Body,” “Señorita” and “SexyBack” before he really hit his stride. His voice and dancing skills never faltered, but he didn’t add any special effects or memorable moments.

He then ran to a piano in the middle of the field, beside which stood a large sheet where they projected an image of the late rocker Prince, who hailed from Minneapolis. JT sang a cover of “I Would Die 4 U” by the legend, while a scene from Purple Rain projected onto the sheet. They ended that segment by panning out of the stadium and showing the Minneapolis skyline drenched in Prince’s Pantone purple color.

Following this, Timberlake went into “Suit & Tie” and “Mirrors” accompanied, of course, but a mirror show in the center of the football field. He ended the show with “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from the movie Trolls, and the singer ran up into the stands to pose for a selfie with a teenager.

When all was said and done, Timberlake gave an exciting yet tame performance for 12 minutes of stage-time in an evening where more people seemed to care about the actual football game than the entertainment. Twitter counted about 1.8 million tweets with the hashtag #PepsiHalftimeShow during JT’s 30 minutes of airtime. “I miss left shark,” was one comment, as well as “Couldn’t Start the Feeling!”

Most of the tweets, however, were about the awkward 13-year-old boy who snapped a selfie with the singer when he hit the stands. “Hey Siri, who is #JustinTimberlake?” joked one user.

But still, it seems the biggest critique of the performance was the inclusion of a Prince tribute. Rumors swirled weeks before the show that there would be some sort of hologram, which during Prince’s life he once said was the worst type of tribute. Thankfully, no hologram showed up, but many still criticized JT’s choice to include the clip from Purple Rain.

On the Tonight Show, Timberlake explained to Jimmy Fallon why he made the decision to honor Prince. “It’s a moment for me if I’m being quite honest, because he’s always been the pinnacle of musicianship for me,” the singer said. “And when we decided that we would be in Minneapolis and that he’s such a special thing here, aside from what he is all over the world, I just felt like I wanted to do something for this city and something for him that would just be the ultimate homage to what I consider the G.O.A. T. of musicians.”

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