Rihanna revealed as headliner for Superbowl half-time show

Bajan superstar Rihanna is returning to the stage as she becomes set to be the headline artist at next year’s Superbowl half-time show. Having just become a mother after a long musical hiatus, this will be the singer’s first public performance in five years.

The NFL recently made an official announcement that the 2023 Apple Music Super Bowl half-time show will be headlined by the Fenty Beauty entrepreneur, following speculation by fans the show was set to be headlined by Taylor Swift. 

The upcoming performance will be Rihanna’s first live performance since the appearance she made alongside DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller for the 2018 Grammy awards. Regarding the rumours about Swift and her performance, the NFL revealed that the singer-songwriter was indeed asked. However, turned down the opportunity.

Next year’s Superbowl half-time show will be sponsored by Apple Music in place of Pepsi. Pepsi has been the primary sponsor of the event for a decade. However, whether temporarily or permanently, Rihanna’s 2023 performance will not be sponsored by Pepsi. 

At this moment, it is uncertain what the singer is going to perform at the Superbowl as her last tour was in 2016 for her last album Anti. Fans are hoping that she may be planning on releasing an album prior to the Superbowl so that she has some fresh music to perform, although a lot of fans seem to be thinking that she is set to a medley of her classic tracks.

In 2018, the fashion publication Vogue ran an article suggesting that Rihanna was in the process of making a reggae album. In fact, she later confirmed this as fact. However, the Rihanna reggae album has yet to materialize. The Bajan singer has rarely been seen or heard from since her 2018 collaboration with DJ Khaled on the track ‘Wild Thoughts’.Since then, the only tracks the artist has appeared on are  ‘Lemon’ by N.E.R.D, and  ‘Believe It’ by Partynextdoor.

In 2020, Rihanna achieved billionaire status off the back of her Fenty Beauty and Fenty Fashion lines. The year prior to achieving billionaire status, the Bajan superstar starred in Childish Gambino’s Guava Island musical movie. She also released a 504-page “visual autobiography” via Phaidon. However, fans are still after that all-important music, and perhaps just maybe, with this upcoming performance set in stone, we might just get it. Below you can listen to ‘Believe It’ by Patynextdoor, the artist’s last musical appearance.