There are not many artists who could create buzz for a Super Bowl half-time show that is comparable to what was produced when Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent were featured just the year prior.
But then, Rihanna is not every artist. The international entertainer, entrepreneur and pop culture icon, who has only recently released a new music after a hiatus of several years, has somehow elevated Super Bowl 57 — already a can’t-miss show as the biggest sporting event of the year — into a cultural phenomenon that transcends sports. A pretty solid selection by the NFL, all told.
As football and music fans await Super Bowl 57 between the Chiefs and Eagles, The Sporting News has everything you need to know about Rihanna’s involvement, from her history with the NFL, her recent discography, and who might appear on stage with her in Glendale, Ariz.:
Why did the NFL select Rihanna to perform the half-time show?
It took a single, wordless post from Rihanna’s Instagram page in late September to make the 2023 Super Bowl half-time show one of the most anticipated in recent memory:
Moments after she broke the news of her involvement in the show, the NFL issued a statement, confirming it had partnered with entertainment agency Roc Nation and Apple Music — the show’s sponsors — in getting Rihanna to headline the Super Bowl 57 half-time show:
“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn,” Roc Nation founder Jay-Z said in a statement. “A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”
Said Seth Dudowsky, NFL’s Head of Music: “We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Half-time 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 Half-time Show performance.”
Rihanna turned down NFL offer to perform at 2019 Super Bowl
This is not the first time the NFL has approached Rihanna to perform at the Super Bowl. She was rumoured to have turned down an offer from the league to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta between the Patriots and Rams.
She confirmed those rumours in an October 2019 interview with Vogue, claiming the decision was made in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. The former 49ers quarterback had not played in the league since the 2016 season, in which he knelt during the playing of the national anthem as a form of protest against police brutality and systemic injustice toward the Black population.
“Absolutely,” she told Vogue at the time. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just could not be a sell-out. I could not be an enabler.
“There are things within that organisation (the NFL) that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
Why did Rihanna agree to perform 2023 Super Bowl show?
Rihanna shed some light on her decision in a November 2022 ET article. She said that only a stage as large as the Super Bowl could get her to perform, especially considering she became a mother in May 2022.
“I can’t believe I even said yes. It was one of those things that even when I announced it, I was like, ‘OK, I can’t take it back. Now, it’s like final,” she told ET. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world; it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that.
“But it’s nerve-racking. You want to get it right. You know, everybody is watching. In addition, they are rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”
Rihanna told ET this was a “now or never” moment, adding, “Nothing would have gotten me out of the house if it wasn’t a challenge like that”.
“You could get really comfortable being at home as a mom, (so this is) challenging myself to do something that I’ve never done before in my career. I have to live up to that challenge,” she said.
At a Thursday news conference to discuss the Super Bowl performance, she expanded on her reasoning.
“It feels like it could have only been now,” she said. “I mean, when I got the first call to do it again this year I was like: ‘You sure? Like, I’m three months post-partum, like should I be making major decisions like this right now? Like, I might regret this.”
“But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world, you can do anything. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was — because I haven’t been on stage in seven years — there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. And it’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see that.”
She did not specify why she accepted the NFL’s request to perform at the Super Bowl four years after turning them down in solidarity with Kaepernick.
Rihanna’s involvement with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation
Rihanna addressed the challenge of performing at the Super Bowl, but that should be mitigated at least in part by the involvement of Jay-Z and Roc Nation, who have partnered with the NFL since 2019 to put on the league’s Super Bowl half-time shows.
Those include Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in 2020, The Weeknd in 2021, and the critically acclaimed Los Angeles show in 2022 that featured Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.
Rihanna changed her management to Roc Nation in 2010 and then left Def Jam Records in 2014 to sign full time with Jay-Z’s agency. Her familiarity with Jay-Z and Roc Nation — and the agency’s experience with half-time shows — should, in theory, make the task easier.
