Lots of lovely things happened at Super Bowl LIV last night. Along with a big win for the Kansas City Chiefs, an amazing performance of the National Anthem from Demi Lovato and all those intriguing commercials to fill our breaks with laughs, we also got an electrifying halftime show, courtesy of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. Shakira opened things up with some high energy, filling the stage with red for a medley of her hits, but a lot of people are wondering just how many instruments she actually plays after having watched the former The Voice coach take to the stage.
While Shakira sang and danced so much that it probably made viewers gleefully exhausted, she also surprised some by busting out some of her other musical talents. During her opening, Shakira took an early break from her nearly non-stop hip-shaking to play a mean guitar riff. Later in the show, during the Jennifer Lopez portion of the festivities, Shakira came back to take a seat at a drum set and show us her percussion skills. The moves shocked some folks who thought the Colombian was just about poppin' hips and body rolls, but it also led to a lot of appreciation.
So, just how many more instrumental surprises can we expect from Shakira? Could she have stepped in and played every single instrument last night? Well, it turns out that while Shakira is indeed worthy of all of our wonder over her many talents and unbelievably enthusiastic performances, the singer / songwriter / musician / dancer does have one more musical trick up her (probably very short) sleeve.
Among her many talents, Shakira does, indeed, play the drums and the guitar, but she can also bust out a mean solo on...the harmonica. I have to admit, I am surprised. The harmonica seems to be lacking a certain amount of hard-edged, rock-n-roll cachet for someone with so much punk rock attitude like Shakira, but it is often used in folk music and she has said that South American folk is one of her influences, so, I suppose it makes more sense when you think of it from that perspective.
And, honestly, when was the last time you heard someone play a harmonica in concert? Now that I know Shakira could have worn one of those Bob Dylan-esq, hands-free harmonica holders and tooted along to some of her belly dancing, I'm wishing she'd done just that. But, as it stands, it's not like she didn't give us an inspiring performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, so I suppose we should all just count our many blessings and watch the whole, beautiful thing over again.
Really, you can't tell me that some harmonica wouldn't have made this even better, but I guess I can admire Shakira's ability not to throw absolutely everything into her Super Bowl LIV performance. Though, let's be clear, were I ever to be invited to do the Super Bowl halftime show, I would show literally all of my talents there, because who knows when I'd get another shot? I've been told that I'm really good at answering the phone (shout-out to all the receptionists), so you better believe I'd find a way to work that shit in like J. Lo on the pole.
You can watch more of Shakira on TV right now; her special, Shakira In Concert: El Dorado World Tour, began airing on HBO on Friday, January 31st, so you can see more of her in action there. For more on what else you can see on the small screen, check out our 2020 winter / spring premiere schedule and Netflix guide!
