Justin Timberlake is the headliner at the Super Bowl halftime show but he has two tough acts to follow — Leslie Odom Jr. and Pink.

Before Sunday's game, Odom sang "America the Beautiful," backed by Minneapolis-area singers from the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choir and Communication program.

Pink sang "The Star Spangled Banner," after taking what appeared to be gum out of her mouth. It wasn't clear if she sang to a pre-recorded track as the performance had an orchestra accompaniment, but there wasn't an orchestra on the field.

No players from New England and Philadelphia kneeled or sat during the national anthem.

Pink had been ill with the flu earlier this week but still performed at a  concert Friday in Minnesota.

Singer Kelly Clarkson, when asked if she would fill in for Pink if needed, said, "I don't think Pink will need anybody to fill in for her. Even Pink with the flu is still hands down one of the best vocalists of our generation."

Clarkson was one of the tailgate performances Sunday at Nomadic Live at The Armory.

As for the halftime show, Timberlake had reportedly planned to use a hologram of Prince during his set. But after drawing fire for the decision, he scrapped the idea.

Sheila E. said he reached out to her after she tweeted that Prince didn't want to be turned into a hologram and said she has been assured there will be no hologram of the late superstar at Sunday's Super Bowl.

"Prince had told me ... don't let anybody do a hologram of him for religious reasons, so I just posted that if this happened it's kind of messed up and not cool," the Grammy-nominated performer said.

"And then Justin's people reached out to my manager and wanted to talk to me about it and we had a great conversation," she added. "And I felt that it was OK to respond and let the fans know he said great things about Prince and the fans and how important they are. So it was a good conversation."

Sheila E. made the comments ahead of her tailgate performance at Nomadic Live at The Armory in Minnesota.