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 away

Rihanna is back.

It has been offstage for more than 6 years, but the singer returns in style: to star 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 took on the challenge of performing at halftime when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Rihanna has not toured or released any new albums since then 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 the artist has undergone during this time is motherhood, which, according to what she told Apple Music, has made her much more selective with the projects she chooses because she knows what it means to spend time without her baby. to bring. of 10 months.

“Balance is almost impossible, because whichever way you look at it, working will always be something that will steal time from being with your daughterhe claimed.

“When you’re making decisions about what you’re going to say yes to, it has to be worth it.”

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

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

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

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

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

His shares in the fast-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 road to fame started after she auditioned for music producer Evan Rodgers in 2003 with two classmates.

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

But his real breakthrough came in 2007 with umbrellathe success he had with Jay-Z, which led to his album Good girls gone bad to become UK number 1 for 10 weeks.

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

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

The records just kept 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 modest 23rd place in the Top 40, Rihanna’s collaboration with PartyNextDoor believe it became his 51st song upon reaching the desired list.

That is one more than the British group’s impressive record of 50.

It is also the fastest artist to reach the mark of 1 million records soldknown as a platinum record.

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

3. Rejected Rihanna before performing at the Super Bowl

It’s not 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 sparked the American football protests by kneeling to the US national anthem for racism and cases of police brutality in the country.

“I Just Couldn’t Be A Traitor”then told Fashion.

“Who wins with that? Not my people,” he said. “There are things about that organization [en referencia al Super Bowl] with which I do not agree at all, and I had no intention of serving them [en su propósito] not really”.

On that occasion, it was the American band Maroon 5 who performed at halftime.

4. The Super Bowl, a great challenge (unpaid)

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

The artist commented that the show is a complicated screenplay due to the time she has to recap her years-long career (only 13 minutes) and that she physically prepared a “very intense” performance that was “non-stop from the start.” is. to the end”.

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

No one knows for sure which numbers will make it to the long-awaited appointment.

The charts during the halftime show and the artists’ special guests are kept secret to ensure that fans will be impressed that night.

“The set list was the biggest challengeRihanna 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, especially since performers often only sing short snippets of a few songs so they can cover more of his catalog.

Speculating on the possible tracklist is part of the fun for fans. The middle deuxmoi he quoted a source last week as suggesting that Rihanna stick with her older, more well-known hits, but added that the setlist is constantly being tweaked and polished.

At Thursday’s press conference, Rihanna jokingly confirmed that there are currently “about 39 versions of the setlist”.

Part-time performers usually bring in 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 compensation for the show: and it is common practice that the participating artists are not paid for it.