Rihanna Halftime Show Highlights: Super Bowl 2023
Even before the historic game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs was settled, the true winner of Super Bowl LVII was Rihanna, who made her triumphant return to live performance on the biggest of stages: the Halftime Show. While her epic performance more than delivered the show-stopping celebration of her many hits that her fans had anticipated, it was also filled with plenty of surprises—including choreography from her frequent collaborator Parris Goebel, a cheeky Fenty product placement, and a well-placed belly rub that set the Internet ablaze with pregnancy speculations, as well as criticism that so much focus shifted from her musical return to the status of her postpartum body. Following the performance, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Rihanna’s rep confirmed that she is pregnant.
Rihanna Super Bowl show 2023 🫠 pic.twitter.com/nK8by9yQ8E
— Nina/stream fever ! (@CllNina) February 13, 2023
Ahead of the Super Bowl in a press conference, the multihyphenate spoke with Apple Music, this year’s Halftime Show sponsor, sharing details of her intense preparations, which included making “about 39 versions of the setlist.” During the presser, she also shared that she had originally had some misgivings about doing the show since it is taking place three months after she gave birth to her first child, a son with her partner, the rapper A$AP Rocky.
“I’m three months postpartum, like, should I be making major decisions like this now?’ Like, ‘I might regret this,’” she said. “But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world, you could do anything.”
Ultimately, the show featured a horde of dancers, a spectacular fireworks display, and levitating stages that moved up and down while Rihanna belted songs out from the risers and the main stage. Her electrifying performance signaled that even though it’s been seven years since we’ve had a new album from Rihanna, the bad gal can still bring it when it comes to putting on a show.
Who did Rihanna bring out during the halftime show?
While it’s become customary for most Halftime headliners to feature special guests during their shows, Rihanna broke with tradition and was the sole performer during the performance, relying instead on the impeccable talents of her dozens of backup dancers, who wined, body-rolled, and dropped it low. That’s not to say that Rihanna didn’t include a special feature during the performance—she took time to powder her nose with a Fenty Beauty compact in the middle of her set, taking product placement to a whole new level, while her pregnancy reveal during the set truly stole the show.
