Rihanna Will Headline The Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show
Rihanna, who turned down the Halftime show a few years back because of the NFL‘s treatment of Colin Kaepernick, has changed her mind and will headline the Super Bowl LVII Halftime show. That news came after the rumor that Taylor Swift was in talks to headline was shot down as false. The RiRi news is interesting considering fans have been waiting for new music for YEARS. No wonder there have been pap photos of her at the recording studio recently; she probably signed up for this and was like: “Oh shit! That reggae album I told everybody I was working on!”
Lately, RiRi has been busy with her first child, her makeup empire, and unseating Kylie Jenner as the youngest female billionaire on the planet. But Billboard says that RiRi is finally getting back to music and confirmed that she will headline the 2023 Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 12 at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a makeup element involved–like the announcer says: “And the makeup was provided by Fenty Beauty! Shop Fenty Beauty at Sephora.com!”
After rumors swirled on Sunday morning (Sept. 25) that she was in discussions to headline the 2023 Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, the 34-year-old superstar further stoked the chatter by sharing a photo of herself holding an NFL-branded football on Instagram.
Shortly after her post, the NFL confirmed the news by retweeting a post by Roc Nation, which featured the same image RiRi had shared. “Let’s GO,” the label and management company captioned its tweet. The NFL also posted Rihanna’s football teaser pic on its official Twitter account.
Here is RiRi’s post about it:
Back in 2019, Rihanna told Vogue that she turned down the Halftime gig because she just “couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.” But RiRi probably changed her mind since Jay-Z’s agency, Roc Nation, which she’s signed to, helps produce the Halftime show. Jay-Z said this about RiRi:
“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn… A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”
And Seth Dudowsky, the NFL head of music, released this statement:
“We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage… Rihanna is a once-in-a-generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career. We look forward to collaborating with Rihanna, Roc Nation and Apple Music to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance.”
Last year, the halftime show, featuring Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, was up in the ratings from 2020’s Jennifer Lopez–sorry–Jennifer Affleck and Shakira show. But we’ll see if Rihanna decides to have four other famous people join her on stage for a ratings grab. I wouldn’t be surprised to see DJ Khaled hobble out on stage to shout: “DJ Khaled!” at the beginning of Wild Thoughts.
The internet is already making jokes about the performance:
Rihanna opening the Superbowl after a seven-year hiatus pic.twitter.com/pxhstWKXs6
— Saint Hoax (@SaintHoax) September 25, 2022
Rihanna at the superbowl: pic.twitter.com/OlyqntS0eO
— toss a coin to your witcher (@itsayosigns) September 25, 2022
Rihanna bout to announce Fenty Sports. Y’all not getting no album.
— Marty Byrde Composure (@TopherPatt) September 25, 2022
Now it’s just up to the production team to figure out how they’re going to shoot samples of Fenty Skin products into the audience without any kind of insurance liability. They can’t just poke out a child’s retina with a package of under-eye cream; that’s not a good look.
Pic: Xavier Collin/ABACA/INSTARimages.com