This was a halftime show split in half, almost at war with itself. For the first part, the great whirling Shakira kept low to the ground and close to the body. The year-old Colombian phenom appeared on a platform but quickly descended to the level of her dancers, where tassels and hips swayed by gravity-bound logic: side to side, forward then back. It showcases tangible instruments: brass, violins, a guitar she shredded so theatrically that her orchestra answered with a snatch of Led Zeppelin. Red—fire and blood and sex—washed across her staging. It was a celebration of flash but not glitz, and of pulsation rather than pounding.
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It was televised in the U. On September 26, , the selection of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez to headline the show was announced; [3] according to reports, their selection was intended to reflect the Latin culture of the host city Miami. Ricky Kirshner served as the show's executive producer. Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo served as the creative directors and choreographers for Lopez's section of the show, [9] [11] which included approximately dancers.
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Yet in the months leading up to the show, both fans and detractors came down on the pop stars for even accepting a gig from the NFL. Citing the coerced resignation of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — best known for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality through — several black performers, including Rihanna and Cardi B, had declined the coveted halftime slot. So long as Kaepernick remained jobless for exercising his right to free speech, according to some critics, performing the halftime show would be tantamount to crossing the picket line. In solidarity with Kaepernick, the rapper-turned-entertainment mogul Jay-Z had counted himself among those boycotting the NFL. That is until , when the NFL proposed a partnership with his agency, Roc Nation, to help rehab their reputation by curating a diverse lineup of performers for its Miami edition of the Super Bowl. Lo and Shakira. Online, both Latinos and non-Latinos spent the days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday mired in intellectual skirmishes. And for many, enjoying the uptick in Latinx representation felt like a betrayal to black communities — the tension more intensely felt among black Latinos. Was this new, inclusive halftime show a cynical way to silence black activists?
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