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Madonna At The Super Bowl: 7 Songs We Hope She Plays

<p>She's tough enough. Here Madonna is on stage during the Blonde Ambition tour in 1990.</p>
Michel Linssen
/
Redferns

She's tough enough. Here Madonna is on stage during the Blonde Ambition tour in 1990.

Blockbuster entertainment just got better, or at least could be for at least one 30-minute stretch in February. After two years of Super Bowl halftime performances that earned mostly boos — The Who's faltering attempt to rock out in 2009 and The Black Eyed Peas' typically ADHD-inducing routine in 2010 — a take-charge woman might be moving in to tidy up the place. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but Madonna is reportedly in talks with the NFL to play the halftime show.

Doubters might question Madonna's ability to be family-friendly, or the wisdom in bringing her estrogen-powered hits into a testosterone-fueled environment like Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium. But Madonna was born (or self-invented, anyway) to play the Super Bowl.

Our Lady of Platinum and Corsets is the most competitive player in the history of American music — an up-by-the-bra-straps Horatio Alger who's consistently worked to have the biggest crossover hits, the most elaborate tours, the most attention-getting videos and the tightest abs in pop. Since the 1980s, she's eaten steamed vegetables out of Tupperware to stay in fighting form when she could have dined on caviar every night. And she loves sports!

Sure, Madonna's taste runs to athletic pursuits that aren't the most conventional: parkour, yoga, feminist boxing. But her fighting spirit will serve her well on that awkward mid-field stage, making her appearance the most Super Bowl-appropriate in years. Here's a playlist of Madonna songs that would perfectly fit the halftime show.

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Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. She writes for NPR's music news blog, The Record, and she can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines and music programs.