Super Bowl Half-Time Show: Offensive or Empowering?

LiteraryLark · Feb 03, 2020, 07:02 PM

What are your thoughts on the Super Bowl Half Time Show with J. Lo and Shakira? What was your initial reaction?

Feb 03, 2020, 07:15 PM

This review of the halftime show is spot-on. It honored Latin culture and was fun to watch. Both ladies sang snippets of their best hit-singles over the years.

Quote:

The N.F.L.’s pregame publicity had announced that there would be more songs than in any previous halftime show — but not more time than the allotted 12 minutes. With two headliners, that meant cramming a whole career into six minutes: more like greatest hooks than greatest hits.

The upside was that each segment — Shakira first, then Lopez, then together — was a kaleidoscope of rhythms, a demonstration of how much Latin (and Afro-Latin) music has contributed to American pop. The downside was that individual songs barely registered, though Shakira let herself linger over two of her best blockbusters: “Whenever, Wherever” and “Hips Don’t Lie.” She showed off the interconnections of Latin music by turning “Chantaje,” a reggaeton song, into an old-school rumba and pushing “Hips Don’t Lie” toward samba; she dared to crowd-surf without missing a cue. She also invoked Arabic and later African rhythms, unwilling to confine herself to one hemisphere.

Lopez placed herself as a New Yorker from the start, arriving on a skyscraper spire to sing “Jenny From the Block” and working through strenuous dance routines and wearing skintight leather and then even less. She perched on a pole, probably to remind fans of her role in “Hustlers” (for which she was snubbed by the Oscars); she did a slide on her knees that rivaled Bruce Springsteen’s stunt in 2009; she flaunted her famous rump. Lopez leaned on the dance-club part of her catalog of hits — a reminder that disco, too, has Latin roots.

And “Let’s Get Loud” — mingled with Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” some Congolese guitar and some New York mambo — reached out to a wider world and more serious concerns than a one-night party. This halftime show was euphoria with a purpose.

unaluna · Feb 03, 2020, 07:36 PM

I thought it was kind of naked.

bpcyclist · Feb 04, 2020, 01:45 AM

I loved it. And it was obviously perfectly suited to that city. It might not have really flown in Houston, but in Miami, perfecto.

*Beth* · Feb 04, 2020, 07:15 AM

I thought it was trashy and displayed no true talent.

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Super Bowl Half-Time Show: Offensive or Empowering?

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