On Sunday (February 12), Rihanna delivered an iconic comeback performance at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, becoming the most recent performer on what is commonly referred to as “the world’s biggest stage.”
Rihanna performed during the halftime interval following Dr. Dre’s leadership of the football-assisted spectacle in 2022. Dr. Dre provided some direction prior to Rihanna’s performance, drawing on his previous performances with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. During her performance, which saw her take the world’s largest stage to the tune of her contemporary classic “Bitch Better Have My Money,” she also sparked pregnancy rumors.
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“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 appearance on Sunday night was the result of careful planning and preparation, as well as numerous setlist revisions before what viewers finally saw. Rihanna revealed the latter aspect of the show’s development during a press conference with Nadeska Alexis last week for Apple Music.
The performer claimed that the setlist had already changed “around 39 times” by that point. This demonstrates Rihanna’s seriousness about this commitment, as well as the unique 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.
