After five years away from the stage, Rihanna returned last night to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
In the middle of the match between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, with the latter winning the game, Rihanna performed a career-spanning set which included a variety of hits at the stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The performance was highly anticipated as she has been hiding away from the limelight for many years as she focuses on her young family, and during her set, Rihanna also confirmed she was pregnant with her second child.
The Bajan singer began her set with ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’, before moving on ‘Where Have You Been’. Her performance was packed with mash-ups which allowed RiRi to squeeze a string most of the hits from her back catalogue into the set. For example, she mixed the Calvin Harris collaboration ‘We Found Love’ with parts of ’S&M’.
Other highlights of the set came when she performed ‘All Of The Lights’, ‘Run This Town’, ‘Work’, ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Rude Boy’. However, undoubtedly, the most iconic moment from the performance came when Rihanna brought the house down during the closing song, ‘Diamonds’.
Prior to the show, Rihanna said: “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that. But it’s nerve-racking. You want to get it right. You know, everybody’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”
She added: “Some songs we have to lose because of that, and that’s going to be OK. We did a pretty good job at narrowing it down. There’s probably been about 39 versions of the setlist right now. We’re on our 39th. Every little change counts.”
Watch the set below.
