Through her dedication to the art of pop music, Lady Gaga has built a strong community with her fans, one that brought her onto the Super Bowl stage Sunday night.
One that gave her the ability to perform songs that came almost exclusively from her older, more popular albums.
One that gave her a crowd that danced and knew every word to all of those chart-toppers.
Her choreography, pyrotechnics and pure stage presence have given her a reputation for fantastic live performances.
I am one of Gaga's adoring fans, and I enjoyed every moment of her performance. As a follower of Gaga since 2008, I felt a wave of wonderful nostalgia hit as she referenced her iconic music videos.
The monster claw from “Bad Romance,” the teeth clench from “Telephone” and the side-to-side hop from “Born This Way” were all there and executed to perfection. She hit every beat, every note, every descent into the crowd — even while simultaneously catching a bedazzled football. Her outfit and makeup even seemed to come out of “The Fame” era.
Although she declined to speak about current events before the halftime show, Gaga did indeed make a political statement through her renditions of “God Bless America” and “This Land is Our Land.” The songs conveyed the simple message that the United States is a country for everyone.
Her chilling performance of “Million Reasons” had an underlying somber feeling to it, almost a message of “Hey America, I know you’re going through tough times right now, but I’m here for you.”
Gaga’s background dancers were men and women of different races and ethnicities, all perfectly in sync and on beat, except for the one dude who fell during "Born This Way."
While I do wish she performed at least one more song from her newest album, “Joanne,” or a song or two from her incredibly underrated album “ARTPOP” , one of my favorite pop albums ever, she performed with such fervor, bringing the crowd to its feet and joy to her fans all over the world.
Gaga is cemented in my mind as an artist and activist in the truest form. Her music has shaped pop culture for almost a decade now because she has invariably supported LGBT rights and in turn created a community of accepting music lovers.
The bond she has forged with her fans seems to be unbreakable, with last night’s performance as proof. The music took center stage, Gaga’s talent was on display in its full capacity, and I assure you the U.S. will never forget when Mother Monster took the Super Bowl stage.
