The Super Bowl featured a halftime performance by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira that was anticipated and delivered the goods.
The performance also brought loads of comments on social media that were positive and some not so much. The two stars each performed their stage sets heavy on sparkly costuming, energetic dancing, Vegas-level spectacle, and even a shot of Latin pride on Sunday.
Amidst flack from viewers about last night’s Pepsi sponsored LatinX halftime starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, 43 and 50 respectively, they showed they could move, groove, and perform with the best of them.
Their performance was boisterous and a patriotic send-up that had the American flag and the Puerto Rican flag worn by JLo.
Shakira’s hips did not lie, as she and JLo showed off their pre-game show training and shaking to irrepressible global rhythms and a melange mix of their greatest hits, in a sexy, rhythm and melody extravaganza that gave people in the stadium and at home bang for the buck.
And not only did they sing and dance, but Shakira also busted out her lead guitar to a sample of Led Zeppelin as she opened the halftime event.
Latin Miami Heat
There was a markedly all-female feel to the extravaganza as the backup singers and musicians were all women too. Except for Bad Bunny, the man in the silver suit.
Colombian singer Shakira and Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performed together during the event.
Who is Bad Bunny?
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is the silver “Bad Bunny.” The Puerto Rican performer is huge, with billions tuning into his videos on YouTube.
He appeared on Cardi B’s I Like It track Which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 2019.
He was also nominated for two Grammy’s in 2020 for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album for collaboration with J Balvin and Oasis, as well as for his LP, X100PRE.
How are fans reacting to JLo and Shakira’s appearance?
Fans are loving Shakira’s opener, and Jennifer Lopez was showing off the mad skills she learned to make the award-nominated film Hustlers, where she stars as a business-minded pole dancer.
The superstar from the Bronx (JLo) to the pride of Barranquilla, Colombia’s fourth-largest city, Shakira, gave the all-American pastime of football a heavy dose of Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican, Reggaeton and even some Carnaval touches (the tongue bit).
It also was a powerful reminder that the USA is home to a great many people from these regions and more. The poignant finale saw Lopez with her stage scene-stealing daughter, Emme Maribel Muñiz, and more children, some in cages, to a mosh of Let’s Get Loud and Bruce Springsteen’s classic Born in the U.S.A.
Lopez revealed her feathered American flag cape which reversed to a Puerto Rican flag.
The official full-length half-time event starring Shakira and JLo:
The halftime show was a celebration of movement and showed the influence of Jay-Z and his Roc Nation influence on the tone of the half time. Shakira is also part of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation stable of talent too.
And fans took notice of all of this. The two women, both mothers, performed such amazing physical moves and exhibited stamina that belied their chronological ages and showed that aging well and moving to the beat go hand in hand.