Rihanna’s massive 2023 Super Bowl halftime show
Singer Rihanna performed a hit-filled set for today’s Super Bowl halftime show, complete with a big reveal about her private life.
Singer Rihanna performed a hit-filled set for today’s Super Bowl halftime show, marking her first live performance since 2016.
And she also sent fans into a frenzy, rubbing a noticeable baby bump in the opening seconds of the performance as she eyed the camera. Is Rihanna, mum to a 10-month-old son, pregnant for a second time? Take a look:
This was her pregnancy announcement #SuperBowlLVIIpic.twitter.com/Kmq3B4dbLT
— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) February 13, 2023
Shortly after the performance, Rihanna’s reps confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that yes, the pop star is indeed pregnant with her second child.
Rihanna took to the field at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, halfway through the Kansas City Chiefs’ and the Philadelphia Eagles’ game.
And she kicked off her halftime show in truly spectacular style, performing on one of several floating platforms that held her and her dancers, all flying through the air of the stadium.
It looked incredibly cool - and quite terrifying.
Rihanna looked stunning in an all-red jumpsuit with oversized jacket as she sung a medley of her biggest hits - some of them in just tiny snatches of a few key lyrics, mixed into a non-stop dance mix.
New mum Rihanna’s set was low on demanding choregraphy but high on spectacle, as she walked the stage performing a mix of her own hits and some of her most famous duets.
Floating platforms aside, it was a fairly simple affair, and won’t sit alongside Beyonce and Madonna’s efforts in the halftime hall of fame. But with Rihanna’s bulletproof arsenal of hit singles to churn through, it was impossible not to be entertained.
And fans online were all talking about one thing - is Rihanna pregnant again? The star appeared to be sporting a noticeable baby bump, which she cradled at several points during the show.
It’s only been 10 months since Rihanna gave birth to her son - and as her reps confirmed to media shortly after the Halftime show, baby number two is already on the way:
Rihanna finished her 12-minute set back on a small platform, once more hoisted aloft into the air to sing her Sia-penned hit Diamonds.
As the cameras pulled in for a close-up, it was hard not to notice just how much that small platform - which Rihanna was not visibly attached to - was wobbling. If she was nervous, she wasn’t showing it.
Rihanna’s Super Bowl setlist
B**tch Better Have My Money
Where Have You Been
Only Girl in the World
We Found Love
Rude Boy
Work
Wild Thoughts
Pour It Up
All of the Lights
Run This Town
Umbrella
Diamonds
There were some surprising choices in that setlist: Surefire party-starters (and global number one hits) like SOS, Don’t Stop The Music and This Is What You Came For were nowhere to be seen, with lesser hits like Pour It Up and B**h Better Have My Money getting an airing instead.
The Super Bowl marked a much-anticipated career comeback for the 34-year-old singer, who hasn’t released an album since 2016 and who, in recent years, has spent more time on her career as a beauty mogul than as a pop star.
She and partner A$AP Rocky also welcomed a son in May last year – although they are yet to publicly reveal his name.
One person who was definitely waiting for Rihanna: Model and actor Cara Delevingne, who made no secret of why she was attending the Super Bowl...
Rihanna did release her first new music in several years in late 2022, the ballad Lift Me Up from the soundtrack to the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“Everybody is saying that football is just opening up for her — it’s the Rihanna show,” Rihanna’s father Ronald Fenty told Page Six ahead of her halftime performance.
“It’s the moment that everybody has been waiting for.”