Anyone Else Cringe Watching Madonna's Super Bowl Halftime Show?

Or was it just me?


It was 1983, I was thirteen years old and Holiday was being played on every radio station. Teenage girls everywhere were wearing lace, leggings, ripped jeans and dreaming of capturing a scintilla of Madonna's coolness!
She was IT!! She was 25, and the biggest star around!

As years passed, Madonna continued to push the envelope. She became more provacative and daring as she strived to remain relevant in the music industry.

Fast forward to 2012, and the Super Bowl 46 halftime show. The IT girl from the 80's and 90's will be the halftime entertainment to the largest television audience in the world. Surprisingly, it is Madonna's first Super Bowl appearance, but I imagine this likely because network execs feared what the super star would do (read Janet Jackson's nipple) Or maybe she was asked, and turned it down because she thought it was too commercial for her, or that she was too big for the Super Bowl! (gasp! No one is bigger than the Super Bowl!) Regardless the halftime show was about to begin.......

Having seen Madonna in concert a few times, I know she knows how to put on a show. She's a skilled entertainer and we expected quite a performance. With the first half analysis complete, and commercials sufficiently critiqued, we took our seats and prepared to be entertained. But instead, so began the cringe....sigh

The only word I can use to explain my reaction to Madonna's performance was unease. I found myself wanting to like her performance, even pretending to like it for a minute or so. But really I just felt uncomfortable and nervous for her. She looked unsure and moved around the stage slowly, gingerly, showing none of the confidence of years past. I was sad. But why was I sad, she's 53 after all!!!

I felt like I witnessed the coolness factor Madonna was able to maintain over the years, the very same coolness factor so many others have tried and failed to achieve and yet seemingly came so easily for her, was disappearing right before my eyes.

but hey, it's such a small audience(111Million)maybe no one noticed

I guess the unease I felt during the show, and the sort of willing myself to enjoy it reminds me that we all have our time and our place, our glory days. Days we should enjoy in the moment, look back on fondly, and let go of when appropriate. Rather than holding on to them tightly, passing them willingly to the next generation with dignity allowing us to maintain the coolness factor, if only within our mind!