Super Bowl and Rihanna: 4 things you may not have known about the Barbadian star and her return to the stage after more than six years of absence

Rihanna is back.

It has been more than 6 years offstage but the singer returns in style: starring in the Super Bowl halftime, one of the most prestigious music concerts in the United States and with the largest audience, estimated at 190 million.

The singer accepted the challenge to perform during halftime when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Rihanna hasn’t toured or released new albums since Anti in 2016, so expectations are high. His last concert was at the end of his tour in November 2016.

Here we tell you some information about the successful artist and her return.

1. Mother, artist and… successful businesswoman

The biggest change that the artist has had in this time has been motherhood, which, according to what she told Apple Music, has made her become much more selective with the projects she chooses because she knows what it means to spend time away from her baby. of 10 months.

“Balance is almost impossible because no matter how you look at it, working will always be something that will steal time from being with your daughter“, he claimed.

“When you make decisions about what you are going to say yes to, it has to be worth it.”

His most recent project in the world of music was with Marvel, for the movie Wakanda Forever.

But it’s not just music that has generated success over the years, also his entrepreneurial spirit.

Rihanna has developed three successful beauty and fashion companies, which led her to become the “younger self-made” billionaire woman, according to Forbes.

The specialized magazine estimated his fortune at US$1.4 billion in 2022.

Her cosmetics company, Fenty Beauty, which she co-owns with French luxury firm LVMH, generated more than $500 million in revenue in 2020.

His shares in the rapidly growing company make up the bulk of his fortune, according to the same source.

2. More records than the Beatles

“I had big dreams,” Rihanna confesses in the trailer that Apple released for her presentation on Sunday.

Rihanna was born 34 years ago in Saint Michel, on the island of Barbados. Her path to fame began after she auditioned for music producer Evan Rodgers with two college girls in 2003.

Rodgers would say after that meeting: “The moment we Rihanna walked into that roomIt was like the other two girls didn’t exist.”

But his real breakthrough moment came in 2007 with umbrellathe success that he recorded with Jay-Z, and that led to his album Good Girls Gone Bad to become UK number 1 for 10 weeks.

“I remember the UK blamed me for having the wettest summer in history,” Rihanna recalled.

“They said that every week that it was number 1, it rained”, in reference to the title of their success, which in Spanish translates as “Umbrellas”.

The records did not stop coming for the singer, even above legends.

And it is that Rihanna has more hits in the Top 40 than the Beatles.

With a very lowly 23rd place in the Top 40, Rihanna’s collaboration with PartyNextDoor believe it became his 51st song in reaching the longed for list.

That is to say, one more than the impressive record of 50 achieved by the British group.

It is also the fastest artist to reach the 1 million record sales markknown as a platinum record.

It did so after Samsung signed a deal worth more than $25 million to give away the drive to buyers of its phones.

3. Rihanna Turned Down Before Performing at the Super Bowl

This isn’t the first time Rihanna has been asked to perform at the Super Bowl.

In 2019, the artist declined the invitation, in support of the former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who originated the protests in American football by kneeling before the US anthem for racism and cases of police brutality in the country.

“I just couldn’t be a traitor”then told Vogue.

“Who wins with that? Not my people,” she noted. “There are things with that organization [en referencia al Super Bowl] with which I do not agree at all, and I was not going to go and serve them [en su propósito] no way”.

On that occasion, it was the American band Maroon 5 who ended up performing at halftime.

4. The Super Bowl, a great challenge (not paid)

The interpreter assured on Thursday at a press conference that initially he was terrified to accept the invitation this time and get on one of the biggest music stages.

The artist commented that the show is a complicated scenario due to the time she has to summarize her years of career (only 13 minutes) and that she prepared a “very intense” performance, physically speaking, that “is non-stop from the beginning until the end”.

Despite this, she considered it important to say yes to “represent immigrants, represent my country, Barbados, represent black women everywhere.”

No one knows for sure which songs will make the cut in the long-awaited appointment.

The music charts at the halftime show and the artists’ special guests are kept secret to ensure fans are wowed on the night.

“The set list was the biggest challenge”Rihanna told Apple Music. “You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes.”

But the star should be able to play several of his many hits, particularly since artists often only sing short snippets of a few songs so they can cover more of his catalog.

Speculating about the possible track listing is part of the fun for fans. The middle deuxmoi he cited a source last week who suggested Rihanna would stick to her older, more well-known hits, but added that the track list is constantly being tweaked and polished.

At Thursday’s press conference, Rihanna jokingly confirmed that there are “about 39 versions of the set list right now.”

Part-time performers usually bring special guests as well. Coldplay starred with Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, while Katy Perry did the same with Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz.

In any case, all this will happen without Rihanna receiving any remuneration for the show: and it is common for the participating artists not to be paid for it. (YO)