Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Lived Up To the Hype
The time has finally come, people. It’s what you’ve been waiting for all year. The event that’s so highly anticipated that an estimated 192 million (!) people watch it. That’s right: Rihanna’s return. (Otherwise known as Super Bowl LVI. Whatever floats your boat.)
This evening, following some very questionable commercials, Queen Rih stepped on stage for the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The singer transformed State Farm Stadium into her own concert venue, fit with floating stages that were suspended high above the field. The artist, as if you had any doubt, put on an excellent show, with a mashup of songs from her expansive catalog. From “B*tch Better Have My Money” to “Pour it Up,” Rihanna delivered her signature tracks, amping up the crowd during her roughly 15-minute-long set. Speaking of: who do I have to contact about the Halftime Show’s runtime? If the performance was five longer, maybe we could’ve seen Rihanna perform “Needed Me.”
Tonight marked Rihanna’s first live performance in seven years. Though she was reportedly offered the gig during the aftermath of 2016’s National Anthem protests, but declined in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “I couldn’t dare do that,” Rihanna told Vogue in 2019. “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.” Who’s to say what changed her mind, but the singer gave the show her all—performing her greatest hits with clear vocals and impressive endurance. We even had an extra surprise: Rihanna is pregnant with her second child, which a representative for the singer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rihanna’s performance came at the perfect time as tensions rose for the Kansas City Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes limping off the field with an injured ankle right before halftime. Not to mention, other players began changing their cleats thanks to a particularly slippery field. Needless to say, everyone needed a breather. What better way to decompress than by dancing to Rihanna’s greatest hits while she flew around the field? Judging by the early reactions on social media, Rihanna’s set easily lands among the better Halftime Show performances in recent memory. Here’s what viewers at home had to say about Rihanna’s unforgettable return.
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If @rihanna ever agrees to be on GMM I will move mountains to have a floating platform for her
— Rhett McLaughlin | MUSIC: James and the Shame (@rhettmc) February 13, 2023
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Associate Staff Writer
Bria McNeal is a Manhattan based journalist who is patiently awaiting B5’s revival. When she’s not writing about all things entertainment, she can be found watching TV or trying to DIY something (likely, at the same time). Her work has appeared in NYLON, Refinery29, InStyle, and her personal newsletter, StirCrazy.
