Maroon 5 Brought Fans Back To Middle School During The Super Bowl Halftime Show

After months of anticipation and wild speculation about who would headline the Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show, Maroon 5 finally confirmed that they would be taking the infamous stage only a few weeks before the big game. And, based on the Twitter reactions to Maroon 5's 2019 Super Bowl halftime show, people really went on an emotional journey during the show.

Of course, the halftime show wasn't without a bit of controversy. Traditionally, the headliners hold a press conference before the Super Bowl, but this year the press conference was canceled a few days prior. Instead of hearing from the entire band, made up of frontman Adam Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton, and Sam Farrar, fans had to make do with just Levine, who gave an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Thursday, Jan. 31. Responding to the backlash the band received when they took the gig, Levine told ET, "I am not in the right profession if I can't handle a bit of controversy. It is what it is. We would like to move on from it and speak through the music."

The band, which first popped onto the scene in 2002 with their debut album Songs About Jane, kicked off the show by playing a few of their older songs from the early aughts: "This Love" and "Harder to Breathe." The performance of their older hits brought many fans at home back to the early 2000s, with many noting how it transported them back to middle school.

Of course, Maroon 5 also played some of their newer tracks, like "Girl Like You" and "Sugar." But those hits were somewhat overshadowed by a surprise guest appearance by SpongeBob himself! And fans got emotional upon seeing the band's brief, but effective, SpongeBob SquarePants tribute, with @BenCarpowitch tweeting, "The legends actually did it."

As has been tradition the past few years, the headliners shared the stage with a few other major acts. Most notably, Maroon 5 was joined by Big Boi, formerly one half of Outkast, and Travis Scott.

The two rappers put on high-energy performances, but many on Twitter noted after the halftime show ended that Maroon 5's performance was pretty underwhelming. As @Raunchola observed, "Not even Big Boi, Travis Scott AND Squidward could save that #SuperBowl #PepsiHalftime show from being mediocre." And he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Levine also couldn't escape Twitter's hilarious wrath. Or, more specifically, his dance moves couldn't. Though the frontman did his best keeping the crowd entertained and grooving alongside Scott and Big Boi, some viewers were less than impressed by his moves — they were definitely not "like Jagger."

In the end, though, the reaction to Maroon 5's Super Bowl halftime show can really be summed up by one tweet from @CamSlauter: "If you told middle school me that 'Harder to Breathe' by Maroon 5 was going to open the Super Bowl halftime show in 2019 I am fairly confident I wouldn't have believed you." And I think all '90s kids can safely say, "same."