Was Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl LIV performance political? The choreographers reveal the real message
By now you've probably heard everything about JLo and Shakira's halftime show at the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 2.
From amazing sets and hotly-debated costumes to amazing choreography and a host of throwbacks from both pop divas — and even some fun guest appearances to top it all off including JLo's daughter Emme — the show was electrifying.
But most were also quick to notice subtle political references sprinkled throughout JLo's performance, particularly Puerto Rican pride and children in cages.
Shakira's 'Ojos Asi' marked the first time a Latinx singer performed a song in Spanish at the Super Bowl, and this year's show saw more Latinos than ever with performances from Pitbull and J Balvin and the National Anthem being sung by Demi Lovato.
But it was JLo's part of the performance that had people talking. Her set started out with children inside what appeared to be metal cages.
It went on to include an American flag that unfurled to reveal the Puerto Rican flag, draped across the singer's shoulders like wings as she sang a medley featuring 'Born in the USA' with her daughter, Emme.
Needless to say, the subtle yet not-so-subtle message was very clearly a jab at Trump's America and what it is currently doing to its own citizens as part of the border crisis. It was a reminder that innocent children did not belong in cages and that Latinos were just as American as anyone else.
Lopez might not be the only artiste making that statement, but having a Latina on one of the biggest stages in the world affirming her identity as an American and passing that legacy on to her daughter is certainly the most powerful version of that statement.
Speaking about how it all came together, choreographers and creative directors for Lopez's halftime show Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo, known to fans as "NappyTabs" said they weren't about to let the opportunity to make a statement pass them by.
"What is it that we’re going to say? What is that we can do to just leave an impact? This is the biggest stage in the world...I think every little girl looks at the Super Bowl their whole life and dreams of touching that stage and performing, so we wanted it to really count and mean something," Tabitha said in an interview.
With an estimated 102 million viewers, Lopez and Shakira's halftime show is the 10th most-watched Super Bowl show in history.
It will go down as a show that managed to get people up on their feet and pumped up for the rest of the game while also showing the world that it was possible to affirm one's pride in being both American and Latino amid a political climate that thinks it acceptable to put their 'babies in cages'.
