I’m a chump, or maybe I need a re-adjustment from this crowd about what to expect. Lady Gaga had an unparalleled forum to really do something amazing that, as far as I can see, aligns with her personal beliefs, but what we got was what America wants, I suppose. Light and spectacle, smoke and mirrors. Her one brief shout-out to old Woody just made me sadder. I don’t even watch the Super Bowl, for Christ’s sake – I live in the deep south and football takes up enough of my life. But I made a point to watch, hoping … what, exactly? I don’t know. Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes (which wasn’t perfect, we do martial arts in our family and it is an art)? Kate McKinnon singing a Capella “Hallelujah”? Am I expecting too much from celebrities?
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Who is old Woody? I wasn’t disappointed – she was paid to perform and she did. It’s different when you are getting an award.
Not a great analogy but … Imagined if you hired a wedding band. I’d be pissed if the singer I hired to perform at my wedding used it as a opportunity to make it a political statement.
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Woody Guthrie, who penned “This Land is Your Land.” And, thanks, I guess that’s my answer.
ETA: And it’s more than an imperfect analogy – she is performing for millions of people and has repeatedly professed her support of the LGBTQ community, among others. She has something like 65m followers on Twitter. I’m not sure this is a platform the usual wedding singer enjoys.
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No one should be surprised; she previously mentioned that she’d perform and not make a political statement.
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Probably. But I’m not a massive fan of hers, so don’t really know her track record for stuff like that. And it’s gotta be a pretty weird gig that, anyway. Short slot, massive audience, who knows what’s in the contract, etc. So, I dunno.
OTOH:
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I swear that the Falcon’s coach cracked a huge smile when he heard that.
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She started with America songs then bad romance and born this way.
I get a feeling the troll was so subtle nobody noticed.
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Subtlety, yes, that’s what resonates with middle America.
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Likely couldn’t do more because post nipple slip I expect they frown hard on… Anything not off script
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My point is – her contract was between her and the NFL. And with all the stuff going on today they likely told her “no political stuff”. For all we know she’s taking her fee and donating it to the ACLU.
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According to an article I read this morning super bowl performers dot get paid.
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She has to do the entire performance for the standards and practices crowd before it goes to air, and probably had some strong reasons to not go off script.
I would have loved seeing Pence’s face when it happened again though.
EDIT
Also, the entire crowd was basically oil barons and republicans in Houston.
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The NFL does pay for all production expenses, which probably includes all travel expenses for all performers (background singers, dancers, musicians). However, my assumption is that she had to sign a contract in order to get these expenses covered.
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They don’t? Why ever not? It’s not like it’s ever some up and coming new artist who really needs the exposure, even if it is the largest TV audience of the year. And certainly the NFL doesn’t need to cry poverty on its most lucrative single broadcast game day of the year. What sucker would do that show for free?
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Brand management and exposure
I enjoyed the show. Might not have seemed like much to anybody on the left, but I’m pretty sure that just her being herself was a poke in the eye to some people . . . especially when singing “Born This Way” 
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Not to mention ‘bad romance’ right after all the patriotic stuff. To me felt like a very ‘Ugh now thats over with…’
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My reaction when I watched it was from the point of view of being a former dancer and a current (singing) performer: the choreography made no sense. It worked against the songs in a way I found very distracting. That’s probably the best word for the performance: a distraction. As soon as she got into her own songs, she was moving so much that we couldn’t hear her voice consistently, and she has a very good voice so that’s a real shame.
Also, there’s a way to sing “patriotic” songs and yet get your point across. This Land Is Your Land is a great example, and I would have loved to hear her sing Battle Hymn of the Republic as well.
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