Lady Gaga plays it safe, shoots for the roof at halftime show
To the roof, Gaga! As rumoured, Lady Gaga, dressed in a silver spacesuit-like outfit and matching boots, opened her Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night on the top of Houston’s NRG stadium.
The vibe was patriotic and, yes, even political, without directly mentioning polarizing U.S. President Donald Trump, as the 30-year-old singer began her 13-minute, reportedly $10-million performance with a mash-up of God Bless America/This Land is Your Land.
The latter is a protest song (apparently used by antiTrump protesters more recently) by folky Woody Guthrie as a response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America, which he disliked.
Then Gaga quoted from the Pledge of Allegiance: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Get it? Gaga then descended from the roof on cables and into the stadium, where she sang a snippet from The Edge of Glory, leading into Poker Face.
In other words, it was a fairly safe performance, without any star collaborations — both Beyoncé and Elton John had been rumoured — but made its political points in a more subtle way.
For example, Gaga flew through the air a second time to land on the stage to join her dancers for Born This Way as two towers lit up with flames in the background.
That song’s lyrics celebrate people of all sexuality and race at a time when some appear to be under attack in Trump-era Washington.
“Don’t be drag, just be a queen/Whether you’re broke or evergreen/You’re black, white, beige, chola descent/You’re Lebanese, you’re orient,” she sang in one verse.
In another, she sang, “No matter gay, straight or bi/Lesbian, transgendered life/ I’m on the right track, baby, I was born to survive.”