Will You Be Going ‘Gaga’ For This Year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Many people can and will admit that they don’t really enjoy football, but they’ll make sure to watch the Super Bowl for the halftime show. Over the years, the halftime show has turned into one of television’s biggest events. I will never forget the chills that crawled up my arms as I watched Prince play “Purple Rain” in a torrential downpour in 2007, or the nostalgia that I experienced when Destiny’s Child reunited briefly during Beyoncé’s performance in 2013.
This past year’s Super Bowl halftime performer was Coldplay, with appearances from Bruno Mars and Beyoncé. After singing and clapping along to Coldplay and dancing as if I was one of Beyoncé’s background dancers, I logged onto Twitter to find that several people were raving about Lady Gaga’s national anthem performance. At first, I completely agreed, she sounded amazing. However, after a few minutes, I immediately panicked because I realized there was a chance Lady Gaga could potentially be a performer for next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
On Sept. 30 Lady Gaga tweeted, “It’s not an illusion. The rumors are true. This year the SUPER BOWL goes GAGA! @nfl @FOXTV @pepsi #PERFECTILLUSION #GAGASUPERBOWL.” My heart sank immediately. I was kind of hoping for a performer who doesn’t make me nervous every time I watch her perform. Lady Gaga has an incredible voice, and she’s extremely talented when she’s not bleeding on stage or showing up to an event covered in meat, seafood, or poultry. Gaga’s last album ARTPOP didn’t do as well as her previous albums, and now she is in the midst of promoting her new album, Joanne, which is set to release on Oct. 21. Her newest single “Perfect Illusion” was released on Sep. 9, and has already dropped from No. 15 to No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.
So what can Gaga do to make sure that things go smoothly for her come February? In the past, performers have surprised us with incredible guest performers. In 2014, Bruno Mars surprised us with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and in 2015, Katy Perry surprised us with Missy Elliott. Here is a list of artists that could potentially help Lady Gaga’s performance:
- R. Kelly – Lady Gaga and R. Kelly collaborated on “Do What U Want” for Gaga’s last album, and the song was not too bad. R. Kelly hasn’t had a huge hit in quite a few years, so maybe this could spice up Gaga’s performance and revive Kelly’s career as well.
- Beyoncé – Alright, so there’s no way that this would actually happen. There’s no way that Queen B is going to perform three times in the past four years, but, I will not give up hope. Remember when Lady Gaga and Beyoncé teamed up for “Telephone” in 2010? Catchy song, even better music video.
- Alanis Morissette – This may seem like a strange combination, and you may be wondering who this is. Morissette was most popular in the 90s with songs like, “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know.” If these two team up, it could be a pretty powerful, girl power moment on stage, and it would be awesome to see Alanis perform again.
If I had one wish, it would be that the Buffalo Bills make it to the Super Bowl and possibly even win. Unfortunately, that is pretty unrealistic, so my next wish would be that Lady Gaga proves me wrong and delivers an incredible halftime performance. I’m rooting for you, Gaga. Give us a great show WITHOUT incorporating anything from your stint on American Horror Story!