- Stephen Macintosh
- BBC
Rihanna revealed that she is expecting her second child, nine months after giving birth to her partner, singer ASAP
Pop singer Rihanna delivered a rousing and extraordinary performance during halftime of the NFL’s Super Bowl on Sunday, and social media went viral after the star revealed that an unexpected special guest was waiting.
During an interview last week, the singer was asked if there were any surprises to expect during her performance at State Farm in Arizona: “I’m thinking of bringing someone in. I’m not sure, we’ll see.”
Her fans thought she was talking about one of the artists she collaborated with during her illustrious career, in keeping with the ceremony’s tradition of presenting a duet.
However, Rihanna was hinting that she was pregnant with her second child.
Although the singer did not present any new songs, the appearance of signs of pregnancy on her sparked social networking sites.
Rihanna appeared in a red outfit, designed by Loewe, and ran her segment standing on a high-altitude moving platform, as a crowd of dancers gathered on the field, dressed in white.
The crowd reacted wildly when Rihanna began performing “Better Have My Money,” an opening that was somewhat ironic, given that she wasn’t paid for her Super Bowl performance.
The 34-year-old singer dazzled her audience as she performed from a high altitude, and the dancers performed around her with fast and unique rhythms.
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Rihanna performed on a wooden platform carried above a number of dancers
Rihanna performed a number of her distinctive songs, the most of which were dance rhythms, including the song “One Girl (In the World)” and her famous song “Where Have You Been”.
Rihanna’s artistic performance was not short, even after she was lowered to the ground, as fireworks were launched over the stadium, in an atmosphere of joy accompanying her presentation of the song “We Found Love”.
Although the rumors about the star taking the opportunity to present a new song were not true, the decision to rely on previous works, described as the strongest in pop music, was an appropriate decision, and the singer was able to collect a large number of songs in a short 14-minute show.
Rihanna presented a list of works in which she collaborated with others, without any of her collaborators joining her, which seemed disappointing.
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Rihanna’s representatives confirmed the news of her pregnancy shortly after her performance
What are the songs performed by Rihanna?
1. Better Have My Money
2. Where Have You Been
3. Only Girl In The World
4. We Found Love
5. Rude Boy
7. Wild Thoughts
8. Birthday Cake (music) / Pour It Up
9. All of the Lights
10. Run This Town
Controversy and confusion initially erupted on social media, and fans were quick to share their theories about Rihanna’s signs of pregnancy.
Although the signs of pregnancy were evident, Rihanna did not draw attention to it, as singer Beyoncé did during the “MTV” party in 2011, when she noticeably dropped her microphone, unbuttoned her jacket and moved her hand to her stomach.
Within an hour of the end of Rihanna’s performance, her fans were discussing the matter, and her reps officially confirmed the happy news, that she was pregnant nine months after giving birth to her first child with partner, American rapper Asap.
And while some fans expressed disappointment that the pregnancy would likely mean another delay to the release of Rihanna’s long-awaited ninth studio album, the reaction on social media was overwhelmingly happy.
On the other hand, there was no change in Rihanna’s costumes, which is completely understandable, and her troupe seemed positively small compared to the number of dancers.
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The dancers performed a fast-paced performance to the tune of Rihanna’s songs
In contrast to Eminem’s performance during the intermission of last year’s game, Rihanna’s performance was clearly devoid of any political statements, which may surprise those who remember why she previously refused to participate in the Super Bowl Final.
The singer had confirmed to Vogue in 2019 that she had declined the invitation to perform in solidarity with American football player Colin Kaepernick, who controversially knelt during the performance of the US national anthem to protest racism and police brutality. “I can’t betray principles,” she said at the time. “I can’t be an enabler.”
Years later, the “kneeling” invocation became more common, especially during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and Rihanna’s participation in the Super Bowl may be a sign of her approval of the progress the NFL has made in recent years.
Fans widely agreed her performance was one of a kind, and Rihanna’s skillful of her cosmetics brand when fixing her make-up during her performance was something that quickly garnered a lot of attention during the evening.
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Meanwhile, the yearly jokes about the culture clash between pop fans and sports fans have gone viral on social media, and even Rihanna has embraced the idea.
Ahead of the show, her clothing brand released T-shirts with the slogan: “Rihanna’s concert includes a soccer game. Weird but never mind,” and model Cara Delevingne was in the audience on Sunday, wearing one.
Rihanna’s fans admit that she doesn’t have the best voice in music, but it is distinctive, and a voice that you can instantly recognize when you hear it, even if it’s an unfamiliar song.
Rihanna is also distinguished from some of her peers by the huge number of special songs. In the late 2000s and early 2000s, it released chart hits faster than the work of major songwriters.
She also released seven albums in as many years, scoring a new international hit every few weeks, and as a result, she may have been disappointed during the show with her few songs.
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Rihanna hinted she was pregnant during an interview last week
Among the songs that could have provided an atmosphere of pleasure were those songs that achieved great success during their beginnings, such as Pon de Replay and SOS As do “Don’t Stop The Music” and “What’s My Name” (although we did hear a small snippet of the latter at the beginning, before she took the stage).
And if the songs that Rihanna performed were not taken into account by her audience, she presented a show that they will never forget.