Katy Perry rocked the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday night at the 2015 Super Bowl. As we were warned by Perry herself, during a pre-Super Bowl press conference, Katy said “jaws will drop” during her 13 minute performance, and they did.
The performance started out with a bang. Perry came out of the stadium darkness on a giant (and that is an understatement) animatronic lion, singing her 2013 hit song “Roar.” Immediately, viewers could not take their eyes off the TV screen in awe of the performance and theatrics. During “Roar,” Perry was wearing a costume with flames on it that was not cute, but matched the atmosphere and song perfectly.
Then into a smooth and non-stop transition, Perry began to sing “Dark Horse” on a stage that looked like an optical illusion. The camera angles were shot perfectly, but I do think that Perry needed a quick and shocking costume change between the two songs, because the flames costume looked strange after “Roar” was over. Her back up dancers during this song were amazing and their costumes over shadowed Perry’s, but that did not stop Perry’s performance at all.
After “Dark Horse,” Perry’s first, and previously announced special musical guest, Lenny Kravitz, took the stage singing Perry’s career launching hit, “I Kissed A Girl.” Before the Super Bowl, many people were wondering how Kravitz’s rock style would fit in with Perry’s pop and preppy sound, but by choosing to sing “I Kissed A Girl,” the pair nailed it. After Kravitz sang solo for a while, Perry of course joined him. This is when the performance got sexy and surprising, something that any good performer gives its viewers.
The lights then dimmed again, and Perry finally made a costume change into a playful, sunny outfit, and all watchers just knew “California Girls” was coming up. Before “California Girls,” Perry sang and danced with dancing sharks, surfboards, and beach balls to “Teenage Dream.” The dancing inanimate objects were hilarious and really made the performance fun and kid friendly. While my eyes were off Perry and staring and laughing at the dancing sharks (which I would pay a million dollars to be), Perry got visibly tired, which her personal performance became slightly lackluster from then on.
She soon redeemed herself, when Missy Elliot surprisingly joined the stage with her. Bringing me back to the days where I was ten years old, Elliot sang her classic hits and took all the people who are twenty-something, into a nostalgic trance. It then became the Missy Elliot show for a good three minutes. Elliot took over the stage with her classic sweat suit and up-beat, hip-hop tunes, and Perry also joined for a hot minute before disappearing to prepare for her last song of the show, and man did Perry deliver.
The last song of the night was of course, “Firework.” Wearing a beautiful, sequenced costume gown, Perry looked stunning as she belted out the number one hit. She then was lifted into the sky while singing, and that is when jaws truly did drop. Her best vocals of the night came at this moment, which is impressive after a ten minute, adrenaline filled performance. While singing and flying through the stadium on a shooting star that shot fireworks out of it, each camera then showed the stadium letting out beautiful fireworks, that went in sync with the performance, which left you wanting more. After she sang her final ballad the performance was over.
Although looking quite angry in the face during half of the performance, we have to remember that Perry was singing live, in front of thousands and thousands of people and needed to push hard for her vocals to project. She went hard, and her facial expressions showed that, her costumes were also a little disappointing after seeing Perry in more elaborate and fun pieces during previous award shows and concert performances.
However, all in all, the songs she selected to sing, from her many hits, were so strategic and perfect for the performance. They appealed to all viewers from largely different demographics and the performance was not only entertaining, but also memorable and unique. There was something for everyone and it was exciting, and that is why Katy Perry SLAYED the 2015 Super Bowl.
