Rihanna delivered an iconic comeback performance at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show on Sunday (February 12), making her the most recent performer on what is frequently referred to as “the world’s biggest stage.”
Following Dr. Dre’s leadership of the football-assisted spectacle in 2022, Rihanna performed during the halftime interval. Dr. Dre gave some guidance prior to Rihanna’s performance, drawing from his performance with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige a year prior. She also sparked pregnancy rumors during the performance, which saw her take the biggest stage in the world to the tune of her contemporary classic “Bitch Better Have My Money.”
“Put the right people around you, and have fun,” Dre told Ebro Darden last September. “That’s basically what it is, making sure you have the right creative people around you. She might want to look into some of the people that we used to do our show.”
Notably, Rihanna’s participation on Sunday night was the result of careful planning and preparation, in addition to numerous setlist revisions before what spectators saw finally. During a press conference with Nadeska Alexis last week for Apple Music, Rihanna revealed the latter component of the show’s development.
The performer claimed that by that time, the setlist had already changed “around 39 times.” This demonstrates how seriously Rihanna took this commitment in addition to the particular challenge of attempting to describe one’s discography in such a condensed manner.
“You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it’s difficult, and some songs we had to lose because of that, but that’s okay,” Rihanna explained.
Below, get a look at how people are responding to Rihanna’s set so far, all while collectively holding out hope for an Anti follow-up in the months (years?) ahead.
