How Usher Paid Loving Tribute to Late Drummer Aaron Spears During 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Performance

Usher's Super Bowl Halftime Show had everything - roller skating, acrobatics, a striptease Lil Jon and even a subtle nod to Usher's friend and collaborator, Aaron Spears.

Four months after Spears died at 47, Usher ensured his longtime drummer was a part of the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show. As Usher, 45, performed with a full backing band on the stage in the middle of Las Vegas's Allegiant Field, two drum kits were sitting in the back. One, colored gold, sat empty as Usher continued to deliver one of the best halftime shows in recent memory.

While it was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Rolling Stone later confirmed that this was Usher's intentional tribute to Spears.

Spears worked with Usher for decades, serving as a producer on the R&B singer's landmark 2004 album, Confessions (which earned Spears a Grammy nomination.) I Spears went on to work with stars like Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Usher's protégé Justin Bieber.