Serena Williams explains why she decided to appear at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show

Kendrick Lamar was the star of the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. The rapper promised to “tell stories” with his performance, and he delivered. Additionally, he became the artist with the most-watched Halftime Show.

According to official figures from Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s company and part of the Halftime Show production team, Kendrick Lamar’s performance gathered 133.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched halftime show of all time.

In addition to dozens of dancers and multiple stages, Lamar performed two of his collaborations with SZA, Luther and All The Stars, and had two major guests: Samuel L. Jackson and Serena Williams.

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Why did Serena Williams decide to appear in the Halftime Show with Kendrick Lamar?

Expectations for Kendrick’s show were high. Many hoped the beef with Drake would continue and that he would perform Not Like Us—and he did. He even brought out Serena Williams, who is also a Compton, California native, where the Crip Walk is a well-known dance move.

“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this? We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal.’ ” Williams shared on Instagram alongside a video documenting her Super Bowl performance process.

“I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious? When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it! I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day. End of story.” she added.

Williams' dance was familiar to many, as she explained in her post—it recreated the celebration she did when she became the Olympic women’s singles champion at London 2012.

Beyond the meaning of the Crip Walk, several social media users speculated that Serena’s presence during Not Like Us was also linked to her past romance with Drake in the 2010s.

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*This article was written in Spanish and translated with the help of AI.

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