Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Well, maybe there weren’t any lions or bears, but there were dancing sharks! And we certainly heard Katy Perry “roar” when she rode into the super bowl half time show on a red-eyed, animatronic metallic tiger, as she was decked out in an awesome flame dress, which was only the first of four costumes designed by Jeremy Scott. Her performance was enhanced by smooth stage transitions, amazing back-up dancers, Lenny Kravitz and, of course, surprise guest Missy Elliot.
With each song, the mood of the performance changed, which can be largely attributed to the special effects and radical costume changes. While many agree they enjoyed Perry’s extravagant performance, some, according to CNN.com, credit guest stars Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot for ultimately stealing the show.
Perry wowed the audience with some incredible, yet tricky transformations. In an exclusive interview with Elle.com, Scott said, “’We had to think about these looks like Russian Nesting Dolls. Four looks on one performer is really pushing it.’” But Scott made it work and Perry’s flames transformed into her “California Girls” look, a beach ball bikini dress.
Scott told Elle that, surprisingly, the most difficult costume to design was Perry’s third look, the oversized black sweatshirt with “49” (for the 49th Super Bowl) printed on it. The designer explained it had to be long enough to cover her beach ball dress, yet short enough to still look cute.
Lastly, Scott referred to Perry’s last glamorous look as a “full-on red carpet Barbie extravaganza.” Perry left a memorable impression as she soared across the stadium on a flaming shooting star. As she belted the words “baby you’re a fire work” the stadium lit up with actual fireworks, which could be comparable to the 2012 Olympic games opening ceremony. Ok, maybe not to that extent, but her exit left the crowd pumped and excited for the second half of the game.