Jennifer Lopez and Shakira have won praise after delivering a dazzling performance at the Super Bowl halftime show.
The two singers teamed up for the anticipated performance at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, which saw them rattling through an astonishing 20 songs in just 12 minutes.
“Hola Miami!” Shakira told the crowd as she opened with the unmistakeable strains of ‘She Wolf’. She then segued into ‘Empire’ – which saw her unexpectedly covering Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ on a black sequinned guitar.
A duet with Latin star Bad Bunny saw the pair covering Cardi B’s ‘I Like It’, before she eventually closed her set with ‘Hips Don’t Lie’.
J-Lo’s set, meanwhile, took on a political edge. Joined by 11-year-old daughter Emme Maribel Muñiz to perform ‘Let’s Get Loud’, the youngster sang the chorus of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born In The USA’ while Lopez draped herself in a Puerto Rican flag.
The gesture was perceived to be a subtle dig at Donald Trump’s administration, who were widely criticised for their response when the island was hit by two hurricanes in 2017.
my parents and i fucking LOST IT and got emotional when we saw our flag at the SUPER BOWL. que bonita bandera es la bandera puertorriqueña ?? #SuperBowl2020 #PuertoRico pic.twitter.com/1jJBdZmAic
— ً☆ fabi (@sugasdione) February 3, 2020
The rest of Lopez’ set saw her focusing on her past hits, having arrived atop a model of the Empire State Building to signal that she was “still Jenny from the block”.
Elsewhere, she showed off the jaw-dropping pole dancing skills she learned while playing Ramona in 2019’s acclaimed Hustlers.
And as for any duet between Shakira and J Lo, the pair only appeared together for the finale, a joint performance of Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’.
In one early review, the New York Times wrote: “On the surface, the Super Bowl halftime show by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira was a party: exultant voices, shaking hips in glittery costumes, irresistible global rhythms. They danced and belted through a quick-cutting megamix of their hits, sweetly and determinedly uniting flirtatious sexiness with sheer mastery of rhythm, melody and motion.
“Yet the halftime show was also a no-nonsense affirmation of Latin pride and cultural diversity in a political climate where immigrants and American Latinos have been widely demonised.”
It came mid-way through last night’s historic match which saw the Kansas City Chiefs pulling off a stunning comeback to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20, their first ever Super Bowl victory.