Damini Ogulu, known to the world as Burna Boy, stood inside MetLife Stadium on Sunday night and became the first Nigerian artiste to perform at a FIFA World Cup final halftime show.
He shared the moment with Shakira, and together they performed “Dai Dai,” the tournament’s official anthem, the same song they had opened the World Cup with weeks earlier.
This time Uganda’s Ghetto Kids joined them on stage, adding their choreography to a set watched by millions across the world.
FIFA built the halftime show around a bigger idea this year, borrowing from the Super Bowl playbook rather than sticking to the usual short break between halves. Coldplay’s Chris Martin curated the lineup, which ran past 27 minutes, nearly double the standard interval. Madonna opened the show once the first half ended. Justin Bieber followed later with an acoustic version of “Everything Hallelujah.” Brazilian football veterans Ronaldo Nazário and Ronaldinho also walked out to applause from the crowd.
Backstage, before any of that happened, Burna Boy had a moment with Martin that circulated widely on its own. During rehearsals, Martin turned to him and said his “musical stature is above my level.” Burna Boy waved the compliment off, said “don’t do that, Chris” more than once, then sat down on the floor, with Martin beside him.
Not everyone watching the actual halftime show was convinced by it. Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane said the whole thing felt like “a bit of an anti-climax,” though he admitted it was good to see Shakira again. The extended format itself drew a split reaction from football fans, some glad for the spectacle, others annoyed that a World Cup final now came with a concert attached.
Reno Omokri, Nigeria’s Ambassador Designate to Mexico, posted a photo of Burna Boy and Shakira and called it representation done right. He wrote that he was proud of Burna Boy for giving the world “a performance to remember Nigeria by” and said it was what every patriot should aim for.
However, the post landed differently than he may have expected. A month earlier, Omokri had clashed publicly with Davido over an outfit Davido wore at a FIFA countdown concert in Los Angeles, one that named abducted schoolchildren from Oyo State and carried the words “Bring Them Home.” Several people replying to Omokri’s post read his praise for Burna Boy as a quiet dig at Davido rather than a straightforward compliment, with one commenter writing that both artistes “represented Nigeria well” and didn’t need politics attached.
Reaction on X carried its own mix of pride, teasing, and doubt. Ex-BBNaija Housemate and Guinness World Records holder Tacha joked that anyone typing Burna Boy’s name on the app first needed to bathe, brush their teeth, and dress in white. Others were less playful. One post dismissed the set as “mid” and said Wizkid would have handled it better. Another argued Shakira was the one who carried the performance. Plenty pushed back against that reading, with several calling Burna Boy the GOAT.
Burna Boy has treated the moment as bigger than one night of music. Speaking ahead of the show, he said football and music share the same power, the ability to pull people together across language and nationality, and called it an honour to carry that for Nigeria and for Africa.
