Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime show was no perfect illusion—it was the real deal.
The 30-year-old songstress wasted no time taking this year's performance to new heights when she kicked off her show from the top of Houston's NRG Stadium with pitch-perfect renditions of "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land." Above her head, drones painted the sky in the shape and colors of the American flag.
However, it was one of the few mellow portions of the performance as Mother Monster quickly jumped from the edge of the stadium into the air and descended upon the Super Bowl crowd. Landing on a platform above the Texas audience, she launched into a mix of "Just Dance," "The Edge of Glory" and "Poker Face."
As fireworks exploded around her, the songstress continued into her career hit, "Poker Face," as she flipped through the air on strings and landed just in time to transition into "Born This Way" surrounded by backup dancers dressed in futuristic garb with the star in a coordinating metallic bodysuit and boots. Judging from the routine thus far, Gaga was certainly born to do this.
The hits continued as Lady Gaga belted out "Telephone," though Beyoncé ultimately did not make a cameo to perform the 2010 track, which she was featured on. Instead, the stage was all for Gaga as she switched into "Just Dance" while accompanying herself on a keytar.
Before the grand finale, Lady Gaga slowed it down for an intimate moment with fans all around the world as she took a seat at a piano to perform her most recent hit, "Million Reasons." In between chords, she gave shout-outs to her mom and dad in the audience—a moment that surely had everyone watching suddenly a bit teary-eyed.
Of course, it would not be a Lady Gaga halftime show without an outfit change. As she kicked the routine back into high gear with "Bad Romance," she also changed into her version of football gear with a rhinestone-encrusted crop top accessorized with shoulder pads and a bedazzled pair of bikini bottoms.
She reunited with her backup dancers, now sporting shoulder pads and football helmets, to perform the song's signature choreography as the audience mirrored the moves with lights in their hands.
However, as the performance came to a close, there would not be a final bow but a final jump as Lady Gaga literally dropped the mic, caught a football and jumped off the stage.
The milestone performance is one the Grammy winner has been working toward practically her entire life thus far.
"I've been planning this since I was 4, so I know exactly what I'm going to do," the singer said in a promotional behind-the-scenes video for the show. "For me, it's all about giving to the fans and bringing people together that wouldn't normally come together. The thing is, it's such a big world stage in terms of how many people see it and it's been done so many times."
But, it's never been done like that. Needless to say, fans have a million reasons to fall in love with Lady Gaga all over again.