Rihanna Explains Why She Chose To Do The Super Bowl Halftime Show After Previously Saying She Never Would

This weekend there’s going to be a highly anticipated Rihanna comeback concert during some football game (aka the Super Bowl), and people are excited to see if RiRi still entertains crowds like she doesn’t want to be there. And her fans are eagerly awaiting their moment to scream, “Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah COME ON!!” as she struts across the stage for the first time since 2018, but it comes as a bit of a surprise since she originally said she would NEVER do the Halftime show. Those days are over now for a multitude of reasons. One of them being a possible world tour.

Now before you think Rihanna is doing this simply for the check, Halftime entertainers aren’t paid for their performances, AND Rihanna isn’t exactly strapped for cash. So clearly, she’s gotten the itch to slow whine and unleash that gritty cat’s growl from her billionaire boca once again. Complex reports in an interview with Nadeska Alexis for Apple Music‘s pre- Super Bowl show RiRi admits she’s trying to make sure everything is perfect.

Rihanna explained how curating the setlist for the halftime show has been the most difficult aspect of it, noting that it’s changed roughly “39 times” already. When asked what fans can expect from the performance, Rih said, “It’s going to be a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could.” She added that it’s changed so many times because of the inherent time crunch that comes with the halftime show. “You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it’s difficult, and some songs we had to lose because of that, but that’s okay.”

RiRi also wants to season her performance with Caribbean spices to ensure she honors her Bajan roots.

Rihanna on incorporating Caribbean culture into #SuperBowl performance: “That’s a big part of why it’s important for me to do this show. Representing for immigrants, representing for Barbados. I’m really excited to have Barbados on the Super Bowl stage”🇧🇧 pic.twitter.com/ZHk8m5zfpz

— Dionne Grant (@DionneGrant) February 9, 2023

This decision to do the Halftime show may come as a shock to some because, in a 2019 interview with Vogue, she immediately answered, “HELL NO!” when asked if she’d perform during the Super Bowl. And her decision had everything to do with her wanting to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.

“I couldn’t dare do that…For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I 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.”

Well, KA-CHING, bitches! Another reason why she changed her mind could be because of her affiliation with Jay-Z and Roc Nation after they struck a deal with the NFL a few years ago. Or, perhaps it’s because she’s hoping to “sell out” a few international arenas on an upcoming world tour.

The Super Bowl halftime show is the perfect warm-up stage if the singer is planning to hit the road anytime soon. There have been several rumors swirling that Ms. Fenty could be preparing to go on tour sometime this year… artists who have performed during the Super Bowl halftime show historically have seen a massive boost in streams thanks to the exposure the game brings.

I think a tour is definitely coming, but not because she misses the stage. She probably needs some time away from A$AP Rocky and the baby. But hopefully she doesn’t stay away so long that when she returns and asks the baby, “What’s my name?” he’ll still know who she is.

Pic: Savage x Fenty