I remember being four-years old and having a cassette tape with Colombian superstar Shakira's "Whenever Wherever" on repeat on the radio of my mom's 1997 Toyota Camry. My sisters would beg my dad to take it out, but being the psycho that I am, I would throw a tantrum if anyone DARED to touch my cassette.
While growing up, Bronx's finest Jennifer Lopez also had a major part in my life. Being the cinephile that I am, I grew up watching movies such as Selena, Enough, Monster in Law, and, what led to my eventual severe phobia, Anaconda. There were also hits such as "Let's Get Loud," and "Get Right" that played out throughout my young days and little Vanessa would perform her dance routines.
When the NFL announced who would be performing for this year's halftime show, my heart flipped five times and dropped from the over excitement. I had never been more excited for a show in the short years of my life, I set my phone on "Do Not Disturb" for the entire duration. Four-year old Vanessa had risen once more.
Before I go on to talk about the flaws from the uncultured Twitter crowd that I came across, I want to talk about how amazing and jaw-dropping this performance was. Shakira starting off the show on her and her partner Gerard Piqué's birthday was a cherry on top itself. Her first outfit was obviously a tribute to her Zootopia character and all of you can eat my shorts if you don't think so. Songs like "Hip Don't Lie","Waka Waka(This Time For Africa)", and "Whenever, Wherever" were performed followed by Cardi B's "I Like It" with Puerto Rican Latin trapstar, Bad Bunny's verse.
For any of you who do not know me, I am an overly obsessive Bad Bunny fan. Seeing him on stage with Shakira was the best surprise that could have come with my experience with Super Bowl Halftime shows. After his verse, there was a mix of his "Callaita" with Shakira's salsa version of "Chantaje." Although the first half of the show was phenomenal, I was upset that Bad Bunny didn't do a verse of "Otra Noche en Miami" while performing in Miami. I still love him with all my heart however.
We shift to JLo's half of the show, which went increasingly beyond my expectations. Although I am a fan of her performances, I thought that JLo's half of the show was not going to be as great, but obviously I was wrong because WOW.
There was an immense flare of her Bronx roots and Puerto Rican culture that blew up beautifully. At one point during the show, I wish that I had JLo's energy now. I hope to be like her by the time I'm 50-years old. JLo stunned the audience, but the best part was when her daughter, Emme Maribel Muñiz, also sung for the first time. To my surprise, Muñiz sounded exactly like her father Marc Anthony, which made my heart melt. Later on in the show, Colombian artist J Balvin appeared on the stage, which hyped the crowd even more. The whole show felt like a party and I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to.
The show itself made me feel proud of my Latina roots. Seeing representation like that was a game changer for my view of the media in the US and how we really people perceive all Latinx people in the country. I know that I said this before, but never in my short years have I seen a performance like this one in my entire life.
Like all great performances, now it's time for the downside of it.
I do not believe that there was anything wrong with the performance besides the one Bad Bunny song that I would have liked to hear. While the event was held in Miami, I believe that Pitbull should have been a part of the show as JLo did perform "On The Floor." You can't have a Miami performance without a Miami native such as Mr. 305. Hopefully the NFL will take this into consideration the next time they hold the Super Bowl in Florida.
Aside from what I would have wanted to see, I would like to share a little something that I did NOT want to see. There was an uproar on Twitter about cultural appropriation during Shakira's half of the performance. There were jokes and memes about her doing a ululation, or zaghrouta in Arabic, in the middle of her performance. Zaghrouta is a joyful sound that Arabic speakers make when there is a celebration. For those of you who do not know, Shakira is Colombian-Lebanese; her father and grandparents emigrated from Lebanon to the U.S. when he was five-years old. He then emigrated to Colombia, where he met her mother, thus leading to the birth of Shakira. There is always a hint of Arabian flare in her music and that is why she always belly danced in all of her performances.
Then we move on to her "Waka Waka" performance. This song was originally for the 2010 FIFA World Cup that was held in South Africa. Everyone wanted to dance the way she did in the music video and everyone who loves soccer or Shakira loved the song. The pop star performs it again at the halftime show, and Twitter was ready to crucify her for performing what they believe is an African dance style. The dance style, in fact, is NOT African, but is a Champeta that originated in Shakira's hometown of Baranquilla, Colombia.
A later claim was that JLo's pole dancing was unacceptable and should not be a part of the show. Parents on twitter expressed how the media is exploiting sex appeal to young girls and immoral standards. If you think about it, sex appeal has been exposed to young girls since Disney Princesses. Children today are already exposed to drugs, sex, and dangerous crimes because the media has approved this kinds of things to be shown to the world. I am not saying that it is okay for girls to think that performing like JLo did is okay for kids to be seeing, but think about everything else that has popped up on television before you mention JLo.
The final thing that I do want to bring up into discussion is the fact that Bad Bunny wore a durag. There is absolutely no reason as to why people are complaining about this, but I believe that people seeing this have not done thorough research on one or have properly used one. The purpose of a durag to for waves to form in one's hair. It is a hair care procedure and not a cultural aspect.
Some of you may agree with what I said and others might not. I do, however, want to hear what you believe about my downsides of the show. Feel free to comment below on what you think and, depending on how much feedback I receive, there will be a follow-up post.