Rihanna is discussing the empowerment that motherhood has granted her to tackle the iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 12, 2021. It will be her first live performance since 2017.
At the Apple Music-sponsored press conference, the Bajan-born artist shared her focus and excitement to headline at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
“Now that Sunday’s coming up, I’m really looking forward to it. I almost forgot it was my birthday and Valentine’s Day too,” she told the host of Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis.
Her return to the stage this year coincides with the arrival of her first child with rapper A$AP Rocky in May 2022. To Rihanna, it’s the perfect timing, though she initially had reservations about taking on such a momentous responsibility shortly after giving birth.
“I wondered if it was too soon for me to make such a big commitment. Would I regret it?” she reflected, seemingly recalling the instance she declined to be the Super Bowl headliner in support of Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protests against racial injustice.
“When I first got the call to do it again this year I was like, ‘Are you sure? I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,’” Rihanna said. “When you become a mom there’s something that happens where you feel like you can take on the world and can do anything. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. As scary as it was, because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for me to do this year. It’s important for my son to see that.”
While she was tight-lipped about what’s to come in the performance, Rihanna admitted that choosing which songs to sing “was the biggest challenge,” as she’s gone through “probably about 39 versions of the setlist.”
“That was the hardest, hardest part — deciding how to maximize 13 minutes but also celebrate. That’s what this show is gonna be — it’s gonna be a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could’ve put it together,” teased Rihanna. “You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it’s difficult. Some songs we have to lose because of that, and that’s gonna be okay, but I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down.”
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