Let's talk about the Super Bowl LI Half Time Show (sponsored by Pepsi as they told us repeatedly) performed by Lady Gaga.

For a long time at the beginning of Gaga's career I was too distracted (and a bit repelled) by her flashy costumes, strange videos and off-putting performances (see picture below) to realize something about her. This woman is a powerhouse performer. In more recent years Gaga has toned back her antics and I have really grown to appreciate the woman beneath the act. Lets look at both the performer and her performance.

I want to first look at Gaga's dancing in the show. Not only were her arial acrobatics in the first half beautifully mesmerizing (and probably took some serious core power) but her on-the-ground dancing was on point as well. I never really thought of Gaga as a dancer, but she had the moves down and was working it just as hard as all of her back up dancers (which just makes me wonder how many hours of rehearsals they had to put in).

Along with her great dancing, Gaga used her lovely singing voice to wow the audience. In her ballads you could hear the true beauty to the tone of her voice and in her upbeat songs she showed off her belt! Now here is the impressive thing: She did a 13 minute performance while moving nonstop, dancing like crazy and never lost any tone quality. As a singer who performs in musicals I know how seriously hard it can be to dance and sing at the same time and she did it phenomenally!

I really want to compliment Gaga on her song choice, it was the perfect balance of new and old tunes, up beat and slow, fun and serious. The diversity in her song choice kept the show light and interesting and it never dragged.

Finally, I want to compliment Lady Gaga on her tasteful political statement. It is widely known that Gaga campaigned strongly for Hillary Clinton and has made it clear on social media that she is not happy with the new administration, even showing up at the women's march. I truly admire the tact and restraint she used to get her message across in this show. She began the show with a lovely rendition of "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land" in a very patriotic show telling the audience that, yes, it is going to be political. She then quoted a line from the Pledge of Allegiance "One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all," putting emphasis on the last word before diving off the roof! If that doesn't make a statement I don't know what does.

She then ignored politics until she sang "Born This Way" with an army of caped dancers. Gaga reduced the length of all the songs she sang for the sake of time and the way this one was cut was no accident. The words to one of the verses she chose to keep screamed out of the television at this moment, words I never even realized were in the song until they were emphasized tonight:

"No matter gay, straight, or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I'm on the right track baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made
I'm on the right track baby
I was born to be brave"

I think Gaga's understated politics put the cherry on top of this stunning performance! Congratulations Lady Gaga, you are fabulous!