Madonna at the Superbowl - Top 5 moments
- By Hazel Sheffield -
- Feb 09, 2012
The ratings are in, and they’re a record high for a third year running: the US Superbowl, the finale of the American football season, attracted a staggering 111.3 million views at the weekend. But it was Madonna’s halftime show that pulled the biggest crowd, a whopping 114 million tuning in to see the show. Madge is releasing her twelfth album ‘M.D.N.A.’ on March 26, containing a whopping 15 tracks (18 on the deluxe version). ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’ is the first single, featuring guest cheerleaders M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj. You can check it out below:
But what of her Super Bowl appearance? Here are Red Room’s top five moments:
5. Slaves!
Not one to be outdone by, oh, Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom, Madonna entered the stadium at half time on a chariot dragged by a legion of greasy slaves. When the giant feathers parted and we finally got a glimpse of her gold headdress, gold cape and gold throne, some fans were quick to draw parallels with that other queen of pop, Kylie Minogue. Others were too taken by the dancers to notice. In the words of American comedian Mike Birbiglia: “Slaves! Yay!!!”
4. Cinema Stage!
For those 100 million viewers watching the Super Bowl on TV screens, the enormous screen-stage on which Madonna performed made this one of the strangest TV performances ever. In the space of minutes, the football field had been transformed into a horizontal screen that filled with Vogue covers, images of speakers and lights, which made Madonna look like she was suspended in midair. Not to mention how she managed to stay upright on screens in her stiletto boots.
3. World Peace!
At the very end of the show, while Madonna actually disappeared in a puff of smoke, one layer of stage appeared to be dragged off like a curtain to reveal Madonna’s final message lit up on the stage underneath: WORLD PEACE. Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.
2. The Stars!
Halftime shows are usually collaborative performances, like the 1998 Motown show that brought together Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves and others, or the 2004 show that brought together Justin Timberlake and unexpected bits of Janet Jackson’s anatomy. Madonna’s sidekicks were very much in the shadow of the main act this year, with Cee-Lo getting a few warbles in at the end of ‘Like A Prayer’ or Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. dressed up as the world’s least likely cheerleaders, chanting Madonna over and over and over until…
1. Cursing!
The inevitable happened. M.I.A. flashed a middle finger at 100 million Americans during ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’ and world peace was ruined. The hosting network, NBC, tried to blur out the image, but were a second too late, resulting in lots of hand wringing about decency. But are we really that surprised? The last time the halftime show was half indecent, the performance got a scandal named in its honour: Nipplegate. Here’s betting M.I.A. was hoping for a little scandal of her own.
Image by armandolucascorrea on Flickr
By Hazel Sheffield. Blogs at The View From Here and tweets at @hazelsheffield
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