Well, one thing’s certain. There’s no one quite like Gaga. The Interscope icon brought a whole lotta energy (and a ton of catalog classics) to her Superbowl LI halftime show.
Many thought the controversial songstress, who's typically never afraid to stir things up, was going to use her stage to make some loud political statement.
“I have an opportunity with this performance to show a different part of this country that those who think that they are so different from me and my fans—to see that our hearts are really the same… It’s like the mecca for performers. We have 13 minutes with the world,” she had told Michael Strahan in an interview before the big game.
Instead, the songstress kept things classy, sharing her opinions simply with her art and putting everything she had into one hell of a performance.
She was ablaze, belting “This Land Is Your Land” from the roof in front of a lit-up American flag, before diving into the air and launching into “Poker Face.” And it's worth noting that those mid-air acrobatics were beyond admirable.
She then launched into underdog anthem “Born This Way,” chanting its lyrics proudly: "No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track baby; I was born to survive. No matter black, white or beige, Chola or orient made, I'm on the right track, baby; I was born to be brave.”
Then there was a highly choreographed routine for “Telephone” before she strutted into the crowd for a bit of “Just Dance.”
“America, World… How you doin’ tonight? We’re here to make you feel good,” she uttered sweetly, as she hopped on a piano bench for the emotional Joanne ballad, “Million Reasons,” which prompted members of the audience to bust out lighters and iPhones alike.
Gaga switched from a bedazzled leotard to even brighter booty shorts and football shoulder pads for a ridiculously intense delivery of “Bad Romance,” complete with pyro and a very reactive crowd.
According to Katie Nolan at Fox, there were 41k tweets per minute using the word "Gaga" and 396k people on per minute on Facebook were talking about the performance, which ended with the star dropping the mic and jumping off a flight of stairs. Would you expect anything less?
BTW: Gaga had four albums in the Top 15 at iTunes; three in the Top 10 a half-hour prior to kickoff. At 7:30pm PT, she had five albums in the Top 10, and "Million Reasons" was at #1 on the singles chart.
DANIEL NIGRO:
CRACKING THE CODE The co-writer-producer of the moment, in his own words (12/12a)
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