Rihanna blessed the crowd in Glendale, Arizona, flying high on a platform like a musical superhero with a surprise that she was hiding: pregnancy. She rocked the crowd, starting with her signature song “B***h Better Have My Money,” and many speculated if she was revealing a baby bump. After the performance, reps for the singer confirmed to media outlet Rolling Stone that the singer was indeed pregnant.
Rihanna used her 13 minutes to wow the world by judiciously running the gamut of all her biggest hits and reminding everyone why she is one of the world’s top performers. From the dancers, who were ultra limber, to the multiple floating stages that facilitated the vibes hovering over the reported $800,000 field and the entire world.
Rihanna shows off her baby bump. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/n0vJ4qlqXS
— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 13, 2023
“The setlist was the biggest challenge,” Rihanna said last week to The Hollywood Reporter. “That was the hardest part, deciding how to maximize 13 minutes, but also celebrate. That’s what the show’s going to be; it’s going to be a celebration of my catalog in the best way,” she said. “I think we did a pretty good job at narrowing it down.”
Take That. Take That.
Her last album came out in 2016, but she dazzled with a veteran’s presence needing no guest features to solidify the amazing concert she delivered, just fireworks to light her up like diamonds in the sky.
All while being pregnant. Take that, Stephen A. Smith.
“She’s fantastic,” the ESPN “First Take” host said last month regarding Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime announcement. Smith was a guest on the nationally syndicated daytime talk show “SHERRI,” hosted by comedian Sherri Shepherd. “She’s spectacular. Rihanna’s music is fantastic. She’s great. I love her dearly. I listen to her music. She’s going to be good. She can’t be bad. She’s too great not to be good.
“There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé. For ME, there’s Beyoncé and there’s everybody else.”
No, Rihanna has achieved something Beyoncè did not: perform at the Super Bowl while pregnant after recently giving birth. She and rapper A$AP Rocky are parents of a 9-month-old boy, and the latest news confirms their current focus on family. The singer almost didn’t take the job on the game’s biggest stage.
the fact that rihanna pulled all of this off and she pregnant again damn pic.twitter.com/7uPD127iyQ
— HEYOBED (@itsheyobed) February 13, 2023
“I was like, ‘You sure? I’m three months postpartum,” Rihanna said to The Hollywood Reporter. “Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this. When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world — you can do anything.
“And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all,” she said. “It’s important for my son to see that.”
The big night also marked the end of the Eagles’ hopes to win Super Bowl LVII. Although Philadelphia led 24-14 at halftime, the Kansas City Chiefs scored on all four of its second-half possessions. With three touchdowns, a field goal and the game-winning field goal that cinched the win with only 0:08 remaining, Patrick Mahomes became a two-time Super Bowl winner, with both happening within four years.
Cue Rihanna’s “Run This Town.”
