On Feb. 5, 2017, Lady Gaga―singer, songwriter, and actress―performed the Pepsi-sponsored halftime show at the Super Bowl and absolutely rocked it. Her performance started off with her singing “God Bless America” and “This Land is Your Land” with drones as background dancers before literally jumping off of the roof of NGR Stadium in Houston, Texas.

She performed her best songs from “Bad Romance” to “Telephone” to “Poker Face.” The aesthetic appeal of the performance was incredible, her singing was on point, and the dancers were certainly getting a workout.

Lady Gaga is one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows we have had in quite a few years. She is being applauded for “staying out of politics” with her performance (unlike Beyonce’s nod to the Black Panthers last year), but her performance of “Born This Way” made it clear that she’s standing with members of the LGBT+ community.

Putting aside whether you liked Lady Gaga’s performance or not (although how could you not?), I am going to talk about something that honestly sickens me.

In the middle of her thirteen-minute long performance, Lady Gaga did a costume change into a football-esque crop top. Obviously, this showed off her stomach. It didn’t take long for social media to blow up about said stomach.

“I can see why Lady Gaga was breathing so heavy, her stomach was protesting her #SuperBowl performance,” tweeted one person. Another decided that they needed to state their obvious observations: “Watching [L]ady Gaga’s stomach hang over her pants *laughing face emoji X2*” Thank you, @ayyeitsCameron. You’re so cool, aren’t you?

Personally, seeing Lady Gaga go out on stage and completely own her body made me feel empowered. And I wasn’t the only one. @RachelOLindley tweeted, “For me, the star of the halftime show was Lady Gaga’s normal-person stomach.” Same, Rachel, same.

Watching Lady Gaga dancing on stage, singing her heart out, and wearing clothes that she felt comfortable and confident in was honestly the best moment of 2017 so far. (Aside from the release of the last Beauty and the Beast trailer, but that’s just me.) It is virtually impossible for anyone to be a stick unless your body is naturally built like that, and we shouldn’t shame women for that. News flash: people have curves. They can’t just go away, no matter how much you exercise and eat healthy, and insisting that women need to be one hundred pounds is why eating disorders are rampant with high school age teenagers.

Thank you, Lady Gaga, for punching that ideal in the face. Thank you for saying, “No. I’m perfect the way I am.” Thank you for giving other girls the confidence to accept their bodies in the way you have.

Lady Gaga has typically been known for her outrageous outfits and stage personality. Her character on “American Horror Story” as the Witch of the Woods can generally be described as creepy. Gaga has made brave choices for her career, but for Super Bowl LI, she decided to be her bravest character yet: a real person. A person who looks like everyone else. She decided to shove back against the societal belief that women have to be stick thin. And that was a bigger mic drop than the actual one she did at the end of her performance.