Rihanna to perform at Super Bowl LVII
The National Football League recently announced that Barbadian singer-songwriter and entrepreneur Rihanna will be the headliner for the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2023. Super Bowl LVII is scheduled to take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 12th, 2023.
The 34-year-old nine-time Grammy Award winning artist and billionaire beauty mogul also announced it on all of her social media accounts early Sunday afternoon. Rihanna has been noticeably quiet both on the social media and the music front, having not released a new album since Anti in 2016. Despite the music hiatus, Rihanna has kept busy made groundbreaking waves in the fashion and beauty industry, having launched the Fenty Beauty in 2017 and Savage x Fenty in 2018, encompassing several lines of clothing, fragrance, and skincare; earning acclaim and distinction for its take on diversity amongst shades and body types.
In 2021, business organization Forbes later announced Rihanna as a billionaire and the wealthiest female musician with a net worth of approximately $1.4 billion. Earlier this year, Rihanna made headlines again when her native Barbados honored her with a “national treasure” award. The singer also welcomed her first child with partner and hip-hop artist A$AP Rocky.
The NFL released an official press release on Sunday September 25th, stating, “‘We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage,’ said Seth Dudowsky, NFL Head of Music. ‘Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career. We look forward to collaborating with Rihanna, Roc Nation and Apple Music to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance.’”
This headlining performance announcement marks the inaugural partnership between the NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation.
Rihanna had made headlines in 2018 when she reportedly turned down the offer to perform in the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show, following the controversy and protests surrounding the blackballing of former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick after he took a knee during the National Anthem as a protest against police brutality.
She addressed it in her 2019 interview with Vogue, stating, “I couldn’t dare do that. For what?” she says, “Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
Writers Elena Bergeron and Joe Coscarelli, in their 2022 article for The New York Times, writes, “facing player protests and an impending loss of cachet for the show, the NFL in 2019 signed on Jay-Z and Roc Nation, the rapper’s entertainment and sports company, as ‘live music entertainment strategist,’ to consult on the Super Bowl halftime show and contribute to the league’s activism campaign, Inspire Change… Last February’s halftime show in Inglewood, Calif., was the third under Roc Nation’s guidance.”
Super Bowl LVII is scheduled to air February 12th, 2013 in Glendale, Arizona.
