Rihanna has defined her resolution to carry out at this yr’s Tremendous Bowl half-time present in Glendale, Arizona, after initially turning down the chance in 2019.
Chatting with British Vogue, the 34-year-old performer mentioned that whereas “there’s loads of mending to be completed”, she felt it was “highly effective to interrupt down these doorways and have illustration at such a excessive, excessive stage.”
“Two Tremendous Bowls back-to-back, you realize, representing the city neighborhood, globally. It’s highly effective. It sends a extremely sturdy message,” she mentioned, referring to the 2022 half-time present that includes Dr Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J Blige, Snoop Dogg and Eminem. The current beginning of her son was additionally an element: “Elevating a younger Black man is without doubt one of the scariest duties in life. You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my children to? That is the planet they’re gonna be residing on?’ All of these issues actually begin to hit in a different way.”
The announcement of Rihanna’s efficiency in September 2022 had been met with shock from followers. She had beforehand declined the chance in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who alleged that he had been blackballed by the NFL on account of his protests in opposition to racial injustice.
Unpacking her resolution to face in solidarity with Kaepernick in 2019, Rihanna defined that she “couldn’t be a sellout,” saying: “I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s issues inside that organisation that I don’t agree with in any respect, and I used to be not about to go and be of service to them in any method.”
Elsewhere within the interview, Rihanna mentioned her plans for brand new music, saying that she’d prefer to launch a brand new album this yr – her six-years-in-the-making follow-up to 2017’s Anti. “I’ve my concepts in my head, however I can’t say them out loud but,” she mentioned. “It’d be ridiculous if it’s not this yr. However I simply need to have enjoyable. I simply need to make music and make movies.”
Rihanna’s Tremendous Bowl efficiency was extensively praised, with the Guardian’s Adrian Horton describing the present as “a reminder of simply what number of instantly recognisable, nonetheless banging songs Rihanna delivered between the years 2007 and 2016.” Morwenna Ferrier, writing on the musician’s shock being pregnant reveal, mentioned that Rihanna was “previous making a vogue assertion. She took possession of her physique, and he or she did it in actual time.”
