Maroon 5 unleashed today a rain of fire and rockets in a mediocre performance that only shone for a few moments at the rhythm of drums with “Girls Like You” and that ignored the racial controversy that has surrounded the great final of the American football league, the “Super Bowl”
One of the most commented aspects was the decision of the leader of the popular pop rock group, Adam Levine, to strip his torso while the show went on: he appeared in a black jacket with a red stripe and ended up without a shirt, wearing tattoos, including one with the name of the state of California.
Originally from Los Angeles (California), Maroon 5 turned to the hits of the album “Songs About Jane” with which they debuted in 2002. They played “Harder to Breathe”, “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved”, moment in that some paper lanterns drew in the sky the word “LOVE” (“LOVE”).
However, for many, the best moment came in the middle of the performance when a chorus and a group of drums players joined Levine to sing the single that they released last year “Girls Like You”, which in the recording counts as guest with the rapper of Latin origin Cardi B.
Some 100 million people were following the performance of Maroon 5 from home and, for them, there was also a nod.
In particular, the National Football League (NFL) showed for a few seconds some images of the animated character Sponge Bob, protagonist of the series that tells the adventures of a blue-eyed sponge that lives inside a pineapple in the city of ” Bikini Bottom “.
The NFL showed the images of SpongeBob, who appeared dancing, to honor his creator, Stephen Hillenburg, who died last November at age 57.
SpongeBob and Maroon 5 were not the only stars of the “Super Bowl” intermission. Rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi also jumped on stage.
Scott sang part of his song “Sicko Mode”, which has been heavily censored on television; while Big Boi came through the big door riding a classic car while the audience cheered and then took the stage with a fur coat while singing a segment of “I Like The Way You Move”.
All sang on a gigantic “M” stage that stretched over 36 meters on the pitch and threw rockets and columns of fire.
None of the artists made reference to the racial controversy that surrounds the final of the “Superbowl” and its performance did not have any surprise, avoiding to the American football league any headache.
Marroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi maintain that their appearance in the showcase of the “Superbowl” is an opportunity to make their music known, but those reasons did not convince performers like Rihanna or Pink, who refused to act for a controversy linked to the African-American community.
The controversy is named after the player Colin Kaepernick of the team “San Francisco 49ers” who, on August 27, 2016, decided to keep kneeling while the national anthem of the United States sounded in protest over the excesses of the police with the black community, cause of numerous controversial deaths in recent years.
Two years and five months after his gesture, which was followed by dozens of players, Colin Kaepernick has not been hired by any professional team since March 2017 due to an alleged NFL boycott and, in addition, there is now a new regulation that It forces players to stand during the anthem.
In recent weeks the tension has been growing and those who support Kaepernick came to collect some 114,000 signatures to ask Maroon 5 not to act in the sports final.
“Kaepernick,” the request read, “risked his career to kneel for equality and the NFL has punished him for it.” Until the league changes its policies and supports the constitutional right of players to protest, no artist should agree to work with the NFL “.
The other side of the “Superbowl”, in addition to the sport, were the commercials that wore, among others, the faces of Harrison Ford, turned into the grumpy owner of a dog in an Amazon ad.
The CBS network, which rebroadcast the game this year, pocketed between 5.1 and 5.3 million dollars for 30 seconds of announcement. The New England Patriots proclaimed themselves champions of the 53rd Super Bowl when they won 3-1 against the Los Angeles Rams. (EFEUSA).
