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Lady Gaga at Super Bowl 2017: How her pageantry may make for a good show

Gaga has officially been selected as the halftime performer for the upcoming Super Bowl. The singer recently released a new song, 'Perfect Illusion.'

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Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Lady Gaga attends the Americans for the Arts 2015 National Arts Awards in New York.

Can Lady Gaga top singer Katy Perry’s giant Super Bowl halftime show lion?

Viewers will get the chance to find out this February, as Gaga is set to headline the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show. 

Gaga recently released a new song, “Perfect Illusion,” and her new album, “Joanne,” is due out in October. 

Recent halftime show performers include Coldplay, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars, who all took the stage earlier this year, as well as Ms. Perry. Beyonce also performed with Destiny’s Child in 2013, the first time she appeared at the halftime program. 

Gaga’s albums include 2008’s “The Fame,” 2011’s “Born This Way,” and the 2013 work “Artpop.” She also collaborated with Tony Bennett on an album of standards, “Cheek to Cheek.” 

She received praise for both a performance of songs from the film “The Sound of Music” at the 2015 Oscars, and for performing the national anthem at the Super Bowl earlier this year. 

Super Bowl viewers can be sure of one thing: Gaga’s halftime show will likely come with a lot of pageantry and impressive special effects. 

Gaga has been noted in the past for both her unusual outfits and for the impressive stagecraft at her shows. As A.V. Club writer Genevieve Koski wrote in 2011, reviewing the concert film "Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden," "When it comes to charisma and performance, there’s no discussion: When she's center-stage at The Garden, all eyes are on her, a queen addressing her adoring subjects. It's a level of performance that not many people manage to pull off these days … [there are] crazy sets and props."

"Say what you will about Gaga, but she puts on a show," Ms. Koski summed up. 

Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield found more to criticize with her 2014 "Artpop" tour, however, highlighting areas that perhaps Gaga will work on for the halftime show. "[It was] like a run-of-the-mill arena-rock show," Mr. Sheffield wrote, saying she "skimps on the songs," particularly audience favorites.

The answer to how Gaga can put on a great halftime show may be for her to return to her roots.

This year’s Super Bowl will be held on Feb. 5.

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