By Dylan Callaghan-Croley
With Super Bowl 57 just a month away, everyone is well into their preparations for the big game on February 12. That includes Rihanna, the high-success Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman who will have her first live performance since 2016 when she takes the stage in Glendale, Arizona next month. Can’t attend the Super Bowl but live in Arizona? Bet on the game, the national anthem, and more online, find all your Arizona sports betting needs, here.
But what should fans expect from Rihanna? Let’s take a look.
On Friday, January 11, Rihanna released a trailer for her Super Bowl Halftime show. The 30-second video shows the nine-time Grammy award winner with voice overs from various voices noting her time away from the stage, “it’s been 2,190 days,” and “it’s been over six years,” were among the comments from the nameless voices. The video then ends with her song “Needed me” playing as she stares at the camera with her finger to her lips as if she’s telling you to be quiet. Overall, it’s a trailer that is hard to take away too much from but certainly leaves the viewer with intrigue of what could be coming.
What to know about Rihanna…
The last time Rihanna released an album was in 2016 with “Anti”. It was her eighth studio album and is considered one of her best albums ever. Some outlets including Billboard, NME, and SPIN even named the album among the top 10 albums of the 2010s, including SPIN named the album its top album of the decade. In the United States, it went three-times platinum signifying over 3,000,000 million in sales and streaming numbers.
Overall in her career, Rihanna has had 14 No.1 hits, 32 top 10 hits, and 63 songs that have appeared on the Billboard Hot 100. Her last song to go No.1 was Work in 2016 featuring Drake, it stayed at the top spot for nine weeks.
Other number-one songs that fans may hear on February 12 during her performance include We Found Love, Disturbia, and Umbrella. Her eight albums have combined for over 336.5 million certified units sold worldwide between both physical and digital copies. That 336.5 million certified units is the most all-time, above the likes of The Beatles (290.6), Michael Jackson (278.4), and others. Notably, multiple artists such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley have “claimed sales” that are higher than Rihanna’s 336.5 million the highest certified amount.
Not only is Rihanna successful in music but she also has been highly successful in the business world thanks to her various brands. As of 2022, Rihanna’s net worth according to Forbes is a staggering $1.4 billion making her the 21st wealthiest self-made woman billionaire in the world. What makes her placement on the list all the more impressive is that she’s done it all by the age of 34, the next youngest woman on the list is Kim Kardashian who at 41 is worth $1.8 billion. Forbes also ranked Rihanna as one of the world’s 100 most powerful women, ranking her 71st, once again being one of the youngest representatives on the list.
Will there be any special guests?
It’s not uncommon for Super Bowl Half-Time shows to have special guests on top of the headliner. Last year’s halftime show featured a special guest appearance and was slated to have Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige but had a surprise appearance from 50 Cent. Will Rihanna have a special guest for her own halftime show? It seems likely.
One fan favorite pick for a special guest would be her boyfriend, rapper A$AP Rocky but other artists that she has collaborated over time include Jay-Z for her hit song Umbrella but also Jay-Z’s own hit Run This Town. She’s also collaborated with Kanye West multiple times but with the rapper surrounded by multiple self-inflicted controversies, it seems unlikely that he would make an appearance. Other names that could make appearances include Drake and Calvin Harris. The list goes on beyond those and while It may be hard to pinpoint exactly who will join her on stage, it seems very likely she’ll end up having at least one special guest.
Will we hear music from her new album?
While she hasn’t released an album since 2016, Rihanna does have an upcoming album set to be released titled ‘R9’. Will fans hear new music during the show? Barring a single being released in the upcoming weeks, it would seem unlikely. Super Bowl halftime shows usually only feature hits from artists that a majority of viewers familiar with popular music would be able to recognize. While the halftime show would provide an opportunity to promote the new song to over a hundred million people in the United States alone, it usually isn’t the place where artists choose to sing lesser-known songs. She did, however, release a single in October for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, titled “Lift Me Up”. It is possible she does choose to sing the new release.
