On Feb. 2, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl LIV at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The halftime show featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, and students shared their reactions to the performance.
Shakira opened the performance with “She Wolf.” She showed off her dance moves while performing “Whenever, Wherever,” a cover of Cardi B’s hit “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and concluded with her signature song “Hips Don’t Lie.”
The show then transitioned to Lopez, who kicked it off with “Jenny from the Block.” She also did some pole work and included her songs “Waiting for Tonight,” “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” and “On the Floor.”
Many students said they were amazed at Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s ability to dance and move so well despite their age.
Lopez brought out J Balvin to perform his hit song “Mi Gente.” Lopez’s 11-year-old daughter, Emme, also made a special appearance with a chorus of girls, singing “Let’s Get Loud,” to which Shakira accompanied by playing the drums.
Andi-Kaye Walters, a junior biology major, said she was very impressed by Shakira.
“She made good use of her stage; the performance was very engaging and everyone who was in the audience seemed to have really enjoyed themselves,” she said.
Walters also noticed that many clips of the performance found its way onto Twitter.
“On Twitter, there was a meme where they included her doing the ‘tongue thing,’” Walters said.
Many recognized Shakira’s ululation as a common expression made by women in the Middle East and North Africa to express joy or strong emotion.
According to Time.com, Shakira and Lopez were the first Latin artists to co-headline America’s mostwatched annual event and the first pair of females to share the stage.
“I think that that’s really great in that they’re getting a more diverse set of performers to come and highlight what would be considered one of the most popular nights for Americans,” Walters said. “We’ve always had people like Beyonce or other white people. But we don’t have that many Asian or Latino performers that come. It’s nice to have different cultures come together to highlight something that’s important for Americans.”
Ishani Sachdeva, a junior economics major, said, “I think it’s great because considering how diversity and inclusion is the topic of the hour, they are representing and achieving such a big step at such a big platform.”
She added, “Not only are they representing LatinX, they’re also representing young, strong women with perfect bodies. And that women can achieve whatever they want to achieve.”
Many students shared similar amazement at both stars’ ability to dance and move so well despite their age.
“I’m jealous of both of them. How do they have such great bodies at 43 and 50?” Sachdeva said.
“I was so impressed that they were so old, but they still have the energy to dance and make those movements,” Rachel Yip, a senior criminal justice major, said. “I think that they can probably show people that even though they’re old, they can still do a lot. They probably trained really hard and controlled their diet.”
Kristel Domingo can be reached at kristel.domingo@student.shu.edu.
