Katy Perry’s “Firework” of a Half Time Show
With her three headlining tours, four albums, one hundred and sixty awards, and eleven number one songs, many would ask how Katy Perry hasn’t done a Super Bowl half time show yet. This year, during Perry’s performance at the Super Bowl half time show, and she definitely dazzled the audience. This performance is considered an honor bestowed only to the best in the music industry, and it meant a lot to Perry. The thirty-year-old singer celebrated this prodigious event by getting a tattoo, which had the letters XLIX representing the 49th super bowl. With elaborate dance numbers included, Perry sang five of her greatest hits, which included “Dark Horse”, “I Kissed a Girl”, “Teenage Dream”, “California Gurls”, and “Firework”. The final piece, being “Firework”, brought colors to the sky as the song’s title came to life over the stadium. The pop artist also incorporated some other music stars to bring some vivacity to her performance. Perry’s intricate performance brought a lot of attention to her, which included both positive and negative feedback.
Katy definitely came dressed to impress. Her astonishing four costume changes included dresses inspired by fire, beach balls, stars, and even a sweatshirt. This makes Perry being the performer with the most costume changes ever in the Super Bowl half time show. With her opening and finale dresses costing about $20,000 each, and adding on the cost of the additional two dresses, price did not stop Perry from getting what she wanted. The designer of these four fabulous dresses was Jeremy Scott. Her shoes though, stayed the same throughout the entire show. The sparkly four-inch booties, designed by Phil DeLuca and Erin Lareau, were made not only to be fashionably shiny, but also comfortable and supportive, despite the astounding cost and work put into them. Encrusted with twelve thousand Swarovski crystals, the cost of these shoes was estimated to be around $2,000, but Perry would do anything in order to get the complete package of comfort and style. Perry’s outfits and costume changes were very impressive and gave a fun and memorable twist to the show.
Katy Perry wasn’t the only artist who performed at this extravagant event. Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravatz joined Perry in her half time production.  During the performance of her first big hit, “I Kissed a Girl”, Perry stalked across the stage to Lenny Kravitz, who was playing guitar and singing along. After a couple of songs, Perry took side stage to the one and only Missy Elliot. Elliot performed a remix of Perry’s song “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)”, and then sang three of her own songs, those being “Get Your Freak On”, “Work It”, and “Lose Control”. The two guest singers certainly stole the show for brief moments, though Perry was the shining star of the night.
One of the major flaws in Katy’s performance was one of her background dancers, dressed in a shark costume, which has gained a lot of attention from viewers. Bryan Shaw, long time dancer for Perry, has been dubbed as “left shark”, due to his forgetting the dance moves for the California Girls number. In his shark costume, his incorrect dance moves were magnified and seemed extremely out of place, making him the laughing stock of this year’s Super Bowl. He spread all over the Internet, and jokes were being made left and right about how Shaw’s moves were uncoordinated and, to put it plainly, hilarious. An account was even made on a popular social media platform, Twitter, within an hour of the performance. Despite the setback, Perry was persistent to make this the best halftime show ever performed.
Even though there were negative comments swirling around her, Katy made the show something special. With over one hundred and eighteen million people tuning in to watch, Katy Perry broke the Guinness World Record for “Most Viewed Halftime Show” in history.  There has been a lot of controversy as to whether Perry really deserved her spot on the big night, but I think that she proved her place as being worthy. Some people might argue that a classic American artist should have been the one of the stage, but Perry kept the holders of that opinion quiet with her powerful vocal performance and interesting dance numbers. Katy Perry’s performance was extravagant, kept the attention of her audience, and was a truly fantastic halftime show.