Twitter Reacts To The Super Bowl 2020 Halftime Show
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira brought their simmering moves to the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 2, 2020 — which also happened to be Shakira's 43rd birthday. The show opened with Shakira and dancers, all clad in red hot glittering numbers for "She Wolf," complete with requisite panting. After the first chorus, Shakira and an orchestra broke into "Empire," with Shakira playing a glittery black guitar. She transitioned into "Whenever, Wherever," then into Cardi B's "I Like It" with Bad Bunny. Every segue was as seamless and fluid as Shakira's signature moves. She even stage-dived and crowd-surfed during her biggest stateside hit, "Hips Don't Lie," before closing out her section with "No fighting!"
Lopez opened her own segment in leather biker-inspired gear for "Jenny From the Block," followed by a taste of the "Ain't It Funny" remix, then "Get Right," which featured more belting than the world is used to hearing from the megastar. She changed into a glittery silver onesie and ascended a pole surrounded by writhing dancers for "Waiting for Tonight." Fireworks went off before the transition to "Love Don't Cost a Thing," and then J Balvin launching into "On the Floor." J.Lo's daughter, Emme, sang with her mom to introduce "Let's Get Loud," which started as a ballad with Shakira on the drums (and made a pointed reference to call out the Latin community during a brief "Born in the USA" moment.)
The two closed out the show as a united front with a bombastic, dance-heavy "Waka Waka." Whew! The crowd loved it, but ... drum roll, please ... what did Twitter think?
Shakira and Jennifer Lopez left other stars starstruck
Fellow celebrities were agape at Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's performance. "I could watch Shakira + JLo perform this halftime show forever," actor Olivia Munn tweeted. JLo's Hustlers director Lorene Scafaria captioned a moment from the halftime show with a simple "amen," while Ryan Seacrest was beside himself, writing, "Still recovering from that halftime show. Amazing job @jlo @shakira!" He added, "The choreo ... the throwback songs ... the production ... Emme's surprise appearance." Reality star Kim Kardashian gushed, "They really shut it down!!!!" Pink — no stranger to doing killer vocals and acrobatics—tweeted: "Yes! Halftime was JOY!!!!!!! Yes!!!!
Even Lady Gaga, who made headlines for some feisty lip-sync comments lobbed the day before the Super Bowl, was quick to praise Lopez and Shakira after their performance. mother Monster tweeted: "What a fun halftime show I danced and smiled the whole time. Such powerful sexy women!!!! On camera and off!!!!! Love you beautiful sexy talented women." Actor Nick Wolfhard said the show was one of the best in years and "genuinely fantastic," while Blink-182 frontman Mark Hoppus wrote, "NGL that was a great halftime show. If Blink-182 ever play, I want to do the EXACT same moves."
But perhaps no one fangirled harder than Lopez's fiance, Alex Rodriguez, who filmed himself dancing and singing along with the crowd. A-Rod tweeted: "AMAZING! She ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT! Wow, that was so fun! I'm so proud of you, Jen!"
Haters were gonna hate that halftime show
Jennifer Lopez dancing on a pole and Shakira's tongue (more on that later) didn't leave every viewer with a good taste in their mouths. One user griped at the lack of a rock halftime show in favor of J.Lo and Shakira "dry humping each other on stripper poles." For the record, that never actually happened. Others opined that the relatively skimpy garments and pole work were much more sexual and potentially revealing than the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" from 2004 — the one that got Janet Jackson blacklisted from radio stations.
Others, including comedian Paul F. Tompkins, wondered (hilariously) where the heck Pitbull was, considering he's worked with J.Lo multiple times and the Super Bowl took place in his beloved home of Miami. Others seemed irked by the Puerto Rican flag's prominence, perhaps forgetting that the island is actually part of the United States.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's Latinx representation sent a message
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira made a serious statement during Super Bowl LIV. One segment of the show featured caged children onstage, and Lopez rocked a Puerto Rican flag and an American flag as her daughter, Emme, sang from Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." It didn't go unnoticed.
At a press conference ahead of the big game, Lopez said (via NBC News), "Two Latinas doing this in this country at this time is just very empowering to us." Shakira added, "It's very important for us to convey a message of unity and also to show what a relevant force the Latin community is in this country."
Singer Ally Brooke tweeted, "This is what history looks like. This is what inspiration looks like. This is what Latina looks like." Actor Victoria Justice loved seeing "2 badass Latina women up there." Another fan tweeted: "Watching JLo, Shakira, Bad Bunny amd J Balvin kill it on that stage tonight had me feeling so many emotions. I'm so proud to see Latinos on the world stage, doing what they did."
Shakira's tongue became an instant meme
Shakira's tongue-rolling was the viral moment we all expected it would be. "If I ain't seen anything ever that's more meme-worthy, I give you Shakira tongue lol," one viewer wrote. Some compared Shakira to Spongebob Squarepants going jelly-fishing. Others connected it to feral Donnie from The Wild Thornberrys ... and a turkey. Another user joked that Shakira did a perfect impression of him entering a locker room when he was in eighth grade, while actor Troy Hughes cracked that Shakira made his new wakeup alarm. (Those were just the clean takes.)
However, for some, the schtick got old quick. One prominent tweet about the viral moment reads: "The Shakira tongue meme needed to end before it even started."
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira do not age
As if Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's actual work wasn't impressive enough, the entire internet is now obsessed with the fact that Lopez is 50 and Shakira is 43, despite looking significantly younger than their years.
Reality star Khloe Kardashian wrote, "Shakira and J Lo both did incredible in their performances in my opinion!. But can we talk about how both of these women do not age whatsoever!" The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong tweeted: "That's it! I'm going to work out and miss the rest of the #superbowl2020." Another user wrote, "If I don't look like Shakira or J-Lo when I'm in my 40s I'm pressing charges."
One Twitter user called out the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for snubbing J.Lo for Hustlers, noting: "In a divided nation the one thing we can all agree on is J. Lo deserves an Oscar nom just for looking like this at 50 #SuperBowl."
The consensus is that Shakira carried the show
Shakira is the Super Bowl MVP. As of this writing, she is trending higher on Twitter than the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers ... and, yes, Jennifer Lopez. One user posted a clip of Shakira dancing with a rope surrounded by pyrotechnics, writing: "Shakira said 'I have to leave them shik shak shoook.'" Another noted, "Shakira kicking off a Super Bowl halftime show with 'She Wolf' is a bolder display of queer allyship than most of her pop contemporaries would ever dare to attempt." One music critic posted a GIF of Drake applauding with the caption, "Shakira gave us vocals and moves and guitar and drum skills." Political analyst Elie Mystal addressed the fact that Shakira's also brilliant, tweeting: "In case you're wondering, Shakira can also defeat you on a standardized test."
For her part, Shakira definitely enjoyed the big night, which happened to fall on her birthday. She tweeted: "The best birthday gift has been the support of all my fans and the most amazing and hardworking team an artist could wish for. We Latinos climbed Kilimanjaro and made history tonight and we couldn't have done it without all of you!"