As Usher took to the stage at the Super Bowl half time on Sunday, he was joined in a surprise appearance by Alicia Keys, whose appearance received a mixed response.
Many fans criticized the 'Girl On Fire' singer's vocals, and even suggested that the Super Bowl had edited footage afterwards of the half time performance in order to make her sound better than when she'd performed live. As Alicia seemed to take the brunt of the criticism, her husband Kasseem Daoud Dean - best known as producer Swizz Beatz - stepped in to defend her.
Posting to Instagram, Swizz shared a photo of the singer looking incredible during the performance, as she sat at the piano with her bright red dress flowing excessively out to cover the entire stadium. He captioned the photo with a strong defense of his wife.
"Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing !!!! Y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium", he asked with numerous emojis.
© PATRICK T. FALLONHe continued: "Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with 2 amazing Giants ! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys that song is a classic We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history Go see GIANTS at @brooklynmuseum it’s open until July blessings".
Fellow celebrities took to the comments to support Alicia and Swizz against the barrage of criticism.
© Ryan Kang"King talk", Kevin Hart wrote with a sense of admiration for Swizz. DJ Jazzy Jeff added: "If you missed that magic…it wasn’t for you. Amazing Work!" Meanwhile Erykah Badu added a number of hearts below to show some love for the couple.
© Shareif ZiyadatThe couple, who have been together for almost 14 years, have recently presented an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, as Swizz refers to in his caption. The couple have an art collection of thousands of pieces of work which they have decided to spotlight in the New York-based museum which the DJ was previously on the board of.
Alicia and Swizz will show works from esteemed artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kehinde Wiley, Derrick Adams, Amy Sherald, Gordon Parks, Lorna Simpson, and more in the Great Hall. In fact, it'll be the first time some of these works will have been in the same room according to the singer.
"We have never seen all these artworks in one room," she told the New York Times.
The exhibit, which is on view until July 7, will spotlight and celebrate works from Black artists.
