Pregnant Rihanna performed from a floating stage at her first live performance in five years at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show on Sunday (12.03.23).
The Grammy winner entered the stage in a daring red outfit on an elevated platform, showing off her bonny bump, as she kicked off the high-energy performance at Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium with ‘B***h Better Have My Money’ followed by ‘Where Have You Been’.
The custom Loewe ensemble was “designed to build volume in step with the dynamic scenography of the show.”
Rihanna’s first performance since 2018, and since she and A$AP Rocky became parents for the first time to their son in May, didn’t disappoint with the 34-year-old Barbadian performing without any special guests for 29 minutes.
The beauty mogul stormed through hits including ‘Only Girl (In the World)’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘S+M’ flanked by dancers.
The next section included ‘Work’ into ‘Wild Thoughts’ and ‘Pour it Up’.
At one point, Fenty Beauty founder Rihanna checked her makeup in her brand’s compact mirror before ‘All of the Lights’ into ‘Run This Town’ and ‘Umbrella’.
Rihanna ended the spectacular medley on the floating stage with fan-favourite ‘Diamonds’ as a massive firework display lit up the stadium.
It wouldn’t have been possible for Rihanna to fit all of her hits into the 29-minutes, with six of her No. 1 singles not making the setlist, including ‘Disturbia’, ‘Love The Way You Lie’, ‘SOS’ and ‘Take A Bow’.
The crowd included Rihanna’s collaborators Jay-Z , DJ Khaled and partner A$AP.
Earlier, Chris Stapleton kicked off the big game with a rendition of the national anthem, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’.
There was then a performance by ‘Abbott Elementary’ star Sheryl Lee Ralph, who sang ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, and music legend Babyface performed ‘America the Beautiful’.
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl 2023 after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in an epic showdown in Arizona.