Last week we were treated to a spectacle at the Super Bowl, the championship game of the professional \u201cgridiron\u201d football league in the USA.\u00a0 But the S\u00faper Taz\u00f3n<\/em> encompasses more than just the 60 minutes the players spend brutalizing each other.\u00a0 The much-anticipated, <\/span>extremely expensive commercials<\/span><\/a> make a yearly buzz.\u00a0 But, for many people, the main event is the Super Bowl Halftime Show <\/span>\u00a9\ufe0f.<\/span><\/p>\n “\u00a1HOLA, MIAMI!”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shakira greeted the crowd in Spanish, in a city that\u2019s over 70 percent Hispanic – just one reason the BBC<\/a>\u00a0called this game <\/span>\u201cel S\u00faper Taz\u00f3n m\u00e1s latino de todos los tiempos.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s fitting that the show’s opener was the 43-year old Colombiana<\/em>, a cultural icon of the Hispanic world.\u00a0 Latinos born in the 80\u2019s will remember Shakira’s whole other career, before she crossed over into global superstar status.\u00a0 The Barranquilla native was 13 when she released her first album, “Magia” (“Magic”) in 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n Twenty years passed before she started singing in English, which she apparently learned with some <\/a><\/span>help from Cuban-American singer (and first latina to play the Super Bowl) Gloria Estefan, for<\/span> the massively successful 2001 album, “Laundry Service.”\u00a0 And now, almost twenty years later, Shakira has leveled up once more with this career-defining performance.<\/span><\/p>\n She opened her set with\u00a0\u201cShe Wolf\u201d (aka “Loba”<\/em><\/a>) followed by a snippet from \u201cOjos Asi<\/a>,” a song from her only-Spanish days:<\/span><\/p>\n Viaj\u00e9 de Bahrein hasta Beirut\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 I traveled from Bahrain to Beirut<\/p>\n Fu\u00ed desde el norte hasta el polo sur\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 I went from the north to the south pole<\/p>\n Y no encontr\u00e9 ojos as\u00ed\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 and I never found eyes like those<\/p>\n Como los que tienes t\u00fa\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 Like those that you have<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Then came her crossover English smash hit, “<\/span>Whenever, Wherever,” (aka “Suerte”<\/em><\/a>), followed by a more contemporary Latino sound with surprise guest Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican trap artist, who helped perform a medley of \u201cI Like It\u201d \/ \u201cCallaita\u201d \/ \u201cChantaje\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Comparing “Ojos Asi” to her mini-set with Bad Bunny, we hear the evolution in Shakira\u2019s sound – from folk-rock to urban electronic – reflecting both her versatility as a musician, as well the global shift in pop music over the last forty years.<\/span><\/p>\n Bad Bunny, though shiny, fails to outshine Shakira<\/span><\/p>\n The show transitioned from the Colombian artist, who’d started outside of the Estadounidense<\/em> mainstream, to the Bronx-born Puertorrique\u00f1a<\/i> Jennifer Lopez, who was nurtured within that mainstream.\u00a0 Jennifer Lopez was first a backup dancer on a hit variety show, then was a Hollywood actress (once portraying the Tejana singer Selena on-screen<\/a>), before finally becoming an R&B performer.<\/span><\/p>\n Within the world of Latin music, J.Lo was more widely known as the wife of Marco Antonio<\/a>, than as an artist in her own right.\u00a0 Is this because of any language barrier?\u00a0 In the opinion of Spanish World, not necessarily. \u00a0<\/span>J.Lo\u2019s Spanish is good<\/a><\/span>, exhibiting a grasp of word order and grammar, but perhaps not with a huge vocabulary.\u00a0 A solid B2<\/a><\/span> level, if we had to assess based solely on this video.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n J.Lo’s speech contains the tell-tale Puerto Rican accent markers, such as the lateralization of the \/r\/ to [L], as well as elimination of the \/s\/ as heard in the sentence, <\/span>“…Y eso ense\u00f1a el personaje immediatamente, y te siente(s)…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n J.Lo\u2019s guest star was <\/span>Jos\u00e9 \u00c1lvaro Osorio Balv\u00edn aka J Balvin, of Colombia (and, with Bad Bunny, one half of Oasis<\/a>).\u00a0 <\/span>Balvin rapped some bars from \u201cQue Calor<\/a>\u201d (lit. \u201cWhat Heat\u201d (see below)) before dancing with the Diva, who had changed from a leather bodice into a sheer silver body suit.\u00a0 They relied heavily on the sample from \u201cMi Gente\u201d (“My People”), a song by Balvin and Willy William that has racked up an astonishing 2.5 Billion Youtube<\/a> views:<\/span><\/p>\n Esa rubia no me entiende si yo le hablo en espa\u00f1ol (what?)\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 That blonde doesn’t understand me if I speak to her in Spanish (what?)<\/span><\/p>\n Pero se aprendi\u00f3 la canci\u00f3n a la perfecci\u00f3n (Lo sabe)\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 But the song was learned perfectly (He knows it)<\/p>\n Por mi patria, por mi naci\u00f3n, ninguna discriminaci\u00f3n\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 For my country, for my nation, no discrimination<\/span><\/p>\n Aqu\u00ed no hay raza ni religi\u00f3n, b\u00e1ilalo por obligaci\u00f3n\u00a0 \u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0 There is no race or religion here, dance it by obligation<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n J Balvin left the stage and Shakira returned to play the drums <\/span>for a medley of \u201cLet\u2019s Get Loud\u201d and Bruce Springsteen\u2019s \u201cBorn in the USA.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n J.Lo screamed \u201c\u00a1Latinos!\u201d as she draped herself in Red White and Blue Puerto Rican flag (yes, it\u2019s complicated<\/a>, but Puerto Rico is part of the USA).<\/span><\/p>\n J.Lo, singing onstage with her daughter, Emme Mu\u00f1iz, delivered a clear and powerful message: that her identity as a Latina existed within a \u201cMade-in-USA\u201d context, and that no contradiction exists between those identities.<\/span><\/p>\n Further, being a co-performer with the Colombian Shakira, J.Lo presented her blend of Latin-American-ness as a complement to the other nationalities within the Hispanic world – one part of <\/span>a multinational tapestry of people, bonded by ancestry and language.<\/p>\n And to answer any critics who might have felt that this empowering, inclusive message clashed with the overtly-sensual aspects of the show, J.Lo replied,<\/a><\/p>\n \u201c\u201cI think that\u2019s honestly silliness.\u00a0 We (put on) a show that I believe was a celebration of women and our Latino culture that I think was really well reserved. And that small faction of people who want to be negative about it, I can\u2019t even let in.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was a Super Bowl Halftime Show <\/span>\u00a9\ufe0f<\/span> for the ages!\u00a0 The whole 2020 Super Bowl will be remembered for the halftime show, with the exception of some grateful fans in Kansas City.\u00a0 And for good reasons: amazing pop music, technically outstanding dancing, and a celebration of Latino culture on a global stage.\u00a0 As Shakira said of the big night,<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to dream big and fight for our goals because they are obtainable with discipline and effort, and I\u2019m really grateful for this opportunity too, because it\u2019s an opportunity to show what we Latinos are made of.\u00a0 I feel truly honored to be representing so many people out there. Women, Latinas and people of any ages.\u00a0 I think J.Lo and I are here redefining paradigms about age, about race, about background.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Watch the whole thing here!<\/p>\nShakira Sets the Tone<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Shakira-Magia.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/shakira-super-bowl-1280x768-300x180.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/bad-bunny.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nJ.Lo Makes a Statement<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/j-lo.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nLatin Flavor<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/j-lo-usa.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spanishworldgroup.com\/hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jlo-shak-happy.jpg\")
<\/h3>\nStyle and Substance |\u00a0Estilo y Sustancia<\/em><\/h3>\n