Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance thrills music fans

By Katie Finlon

The field goes dark and a Pepsi commercial begins the countdown for Super Bowl XLVII’s halftime show. The count reaches one. Immediately, the outline of the stage is illuminated by sparks of fire and an overhead camera shot reveals two facing profiles of a singer.

Then a silhouette appears on a pedestal, fierce as ever: Beyoncé.

She began the show with one of her top singles, “Crazy in Love.” It didn’t take long for the crazy Beyoncé/Sasha Fierce dancing to ensue. At the Super Bowl party I was at, almost every dude in the room couldn’t stop staring at her as she tore up the stage.

The problem is, that’s almost all she did throughout the show. There was very little singing on Beyoncé’s part–at least, it was barely audible if it was constant–the performance consisted almost entirely of dancing.

Don’t get me wrong; Beyoncé is obviously talented across the board. There’s no doubt that she can dance, and when she sang, it was actually her. If there was any autotune, it wasn’t easy to detect–it was all Beyoncé, all the time. It just would’ve been nice to hear more of her actual voice.

Alas, the show continued.

All of the sudden, in between songs, one woman was launched on stage. Another woman joins her. It took a moment for everyone to register what exactly happened, but the rumors are true: Destiny’s Child is back.

The audio errors bothered me, and you could barely hear the live musicians on stage. It was too bad–I could only sort of hear Beyoncé ask Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland to sing and dance to “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” with her. There’s only one consolation for me: at least there was very little room for debate about whether or not they were lip-syncing.

The show’s effects were awesome, that’s absolutely no question. There was plenty of fire–for a Charlie’s Angels effect, of course. At one point, a screen appeared behind Beyoncé and, soon after, many a digital Beyoncé appeared. They all danced and there was much rejoicing.

My only real complaint? The show wasn’t long enough. If only Destiny’s Child sang “Survivor.” Regardless, it was refreshing to see actual talent that didn’t deceive.

She killed it. After a couple years of halftime controversies and sub-par performances, Beyoncé didn’t disappoint.