Rihanna gives first live performance in five years at Super Bowl Halftime show: Watch
Rihanna returned to the live stage for her first performance in five years last night (12th February).
The Super Bowl Halftime Show, at the midpoint of the face-off between Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, saw Rihanna perform a career-spanning medley of hits that opened with ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’ and soon segued into ‘Where Have You Been’.
Wearing an all-red jumpsuit, Rihanna was flanked by a troupe of dancers, dressed in all-white, for the performance at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium. The staging revolved around a series of square platforms that hovered over the stadium, as well as a main red stage.
Other tracks that featured across the 14-minute set included ‘We Found Love’, ‘Only Girl (In The World)’, ‘Rude Boy’, ‘Work’, ‘All Of The Lights’ and ‘Umbrella’. It finished with ‘Diamonds’, which saw Rihanna ascend into the heavens on one of the square platforms as fireworks went off over the stadium.
The performance also saw Rihanna reveal that she is pregnant with her second child. While she made no vocal reference to having another child on the way during the show, she performed the full set with a visible baby bump on display, and the pregnancy was later confirmed by a representative.
Speaking ahead of her performance, Rihanna said: “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’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”
She also revealed that the setlist for the performance had gone through a number of variations, saying: “We did a pretty good job at narrowing it down. There’s probably been about 39 versions of the setlist right now. We’re on our 39th. Every little change counts.”
Watch the full performance below.
Rihanna was announced as the guest performer for this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show last September.
A month later, she released her first new song in six years, ‘Lift Me Up’, for the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ soundtrack. The track has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, with the ceremony set to take place on 12th March.
