The NBA All-Star Game fell into an unfortunate time slot last night, somewhat competing with the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary, so perhaps fewer folks than usual tuned in for the latter half of the game as well as Ariana Grande's stellar halftime show. It was a (relatively) low-key event, at least compared to the huge gathering of talent that was the 2014 show in New Orleans, but the pop start gave the crowd what it wanted (hits) and brought a little bit of guest flair in the form of Nicki Minaj.
Grande got things started quickly with "Problem," arguably her biggest hit as a solo act. She wore a cheerleader-style uniform not far from her typical fashion oeuvre, while a large troupe of both male and female dancers followed suit. Those hoping for an Iggy Azalea guest spot early were going to be out of luck: It would have been mean for her to do that to boyfriend Nick Young, far from an All-Star selection, on Valentine's Day weekend no less.
Grande continued to rattle through the hits from her debut album, My Everything. Before the seven-minutes mark of her performance had hit she had already gotten through a medley of "Love Me Harder," "The Way" and "One Last Time."
Things turned up a bit for "Bang Bang," the Jessie J song on which Grande realistically takes most of the spotlight. A few well-placed flamethrowers shot their wares, and then a real-life flame-spitter took the stage: Minaj is another guest performer on the track and she (albeit not Jessie) showed up at Madison Square Garden to fill her role. Unfortunately she left the stage as soon as the song was over. The entire performance took just more than 11 minutes, so it would have been nice to see Minaj get a solo spot (although the NBA was probably worried about Minaj's dangerously dirty innuendos during "Bang Bang" as it was).
Grande ended up wrapping up the night with "Break Free" instead.
You can watch video of the full performance below.
