Mother-daughter night
THE headline makers at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show were a 50-year-old pole-dancing mum and her talented tween offspring.
Jennifer Lopez’s 11-yearold daughter Emme showed she could have a big future in the singing business, joining her mother on stage to nail a version of Born in the USA.
During the song Lopez was wrapped in a doublesided flag — with the US Stars and Stripes on one side and the banner of her parents’ birthplace of Puerto Rico on the other.
It was a symbol of the American dream according to Lopez and a touching moment in what was a sizzling Latin American themed show in Miami full of bootylicious twerking and gravity-defying pole-dancing, jointly headlined by fellow pop princess Shakira.
The stars took the opportunity to make a political statement to a world audience of hundreds of millions with a symbolic protest against detention of immigrants at the start of Let’s Get Loud, also featuring Emme, with children in cages of light.
Both artists assembled a dizzying medley of their signature songs for the show with Shakira covering two decades of hits from Whenever, Wherever and Hips Don’t Lie through to She Wolf and Chantaje. Wearing two slashes of red material resembling a skirt and top, Shakira’s performance was big on shaking those truthful hips and belly dancing, and less about props.
She did score bonus points for putting her trust in the mosh and pulled off the tricky stunt of singing while crowd surfing to the next stage.
When the concert moved into J.Lo’s half, it pumped up the cheer squad vibe but with added stripper pole (pictured) in a nod to her acclaimed performance in recent film Hustlers.
The degree of difficulty was considerably higher than on the film set considering the pole was held by a couple of dancers rather than anchored to the floor.
J.Lo also drew heavily from her early career, kicking off with Jenny From The Block and recreating the green lasers for Waiting For Tonight. Guests included favoured Latin pop collaborators Bad Bunny and J. Balvin and dozens of dancers, with the women declaring ahead of the show they wanted to celebrate Latin culture. Their girl power extravaganza was celebrated by peers including Pink and Lady Gaga for its feel-good, joyous explosion of dance.
“@JLo and @shakira and all the special guests were so incredible!!! What a fun halftime show I danced and smiled the whole time. Such powerful sexy women!!!! On camera and off!!!!! Love you beautiful sexy talented women,” Gaga posted.
Pink said: “Yes! Halftime was JOY!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!! @shakira @JLo everything that’s yes.”