Rihanna Watched Beyoncé’s Super Bowl Halftime Show to Prepare For Her Performance
Rihanna‘s performance at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show marked the Barbados-bred singer’s return to music after several years of focusing on other ventures. Needless to say, the pressure was on RiRi to deliver a stellar show. To help prepare to take the stage, the “We Found Love” singer sought inspiration from a past Super Bowl halftime show performer: Beyoncé.
Beyoncé performed at the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show
When Beyoncé performed at the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans, the singer already had a catalog of hits to choose from, such as “Love on Top,” “Baby Boy,” and of course, “Crazy in Love.” During her solo Super Bowl halftime show, Beyoncé brought out two familiar faces for a special reunion performance: Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. The trio performed Destiny’s Child hits “Bootylicious” and “Independent Women Part I” as well as Beyoncé’s solo hit “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
Super Bowl halftime show performers often release music after their performances, often in the weeks following the show. Beyoncé, in her words, “changed the game” in December 2013 when she surprise-released her self-titled fifth studio album, featuring hit songs like “Drunk in Love” and “***Flawless.”
Beyoncé took the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show for a second time in 2016 as a surprise guest, along with Bruno Mars, who crashed the party during Coldplay’s headlining performance. Beyoncé performed her new single “Formation” and announced the Formation World Tour after her performance.
Rihanna watched Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime show to prepare for her own
A decade after Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, Rihanna took on Super Bowl halftime show duties at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. In advance of her set at Super Bowl LVII, Rihanna admitted that she was looking to Beyoncé and her 2013 halftime show for inspiration as she prepared her own show.
“I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple of times,” the “Pour It Up” singer admitted on the NFL’s The Process podcast. “She is a beast and a whole other level. Just to be inspired, really.”
Rihanna revealed her pregnancy during her Super Bowl halftime show
Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII halftime show marked the singer’s grand return to the stage for the first time in several years. She hasn’t released an album since 2016’s Anti, and in the years since then, Rih has been building up other businesses outside of music — namely, her Fenty Beauty makeup line, Fenty Skin skincare products, and Savage X Fenty lingerie and apparel company.
Her halftime show started zoomed in on her face. As the camera panned out to reveal Rihanna and her dancers on floating platforms above the field at State Farm Stadium, the singer was dressed in all red and had a noticeably protruding belly. Representatives for the “Shut Up and Drive” singer confirmed after the show that she is pregnant with her second child, less than a year after giving birth to her first child in May 2022.
Rihanna mentioned in a pre-show interview that she was considering bringing out guests during the performance. We now know that she was cheekily referring to her bun in the oven. In bringing out her “guest,” RiRi made history as the first-ever pregnant person to perform in the Super Bowl halftime show.
