“I might regret this”: Rihanna Was Unsure About Super Bowl Performance After Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s Rumored Clash Last Year, Agreed to Perform for Extremely Personal Reason
The Barbadian singer Rihanna’s friends and fans are excited about seeing her perform at the 2023 Super Bowl. A seven-year absence from the stage and music will mark the return of the beauty mogul and pop star this year. The $1.4B fortune singer will perform at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023, as part of the half-time show at Super Bowl LVII. As the Barbadian singer has yet to release an album since 2016 to focus on her billion-dollar business, there has been speculation about what songs she will perform at the Super Bowl.
The Barbadian singer’s performance is already a big hit before she even takes the stage, as her fans are incredibly enthusiastic. Despite her nervousness and hesitancy about performing this time, her few personal experiences and emotions motivated her, and you will be able to witness her tremendous performance this coming Sunday.
What Convinced Rihanna To Perform At The 2023 Super Bowl While She Was Scared Initially?
The Barbadian singer Rihanna is almost ready to perform at the Super Bowl this year after a huge gap, and ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, she expressed her “honor” at having her home country of Barbados represented in the halftime show. The singer recently attended the Apple Music Halftime Show press conference in Glendale, Arizona. She shared her joy of returning to music after a long break, especially after her pregnancy.
The singer said during the press conference,
“That’s an as big part of why it’s important for me to do this show. Representing the country of Barbados, Black women everywhere, I think that’s really important. I’m honored to be doing this year.”
The singer revealed that she had been so focused on preparing for Sunday’s concert that she had forgotten about her upcoming birthday at the end of the month. Her reflection this time focused on how this moment came at the perfect time for her career and as a new mother.
She continued,
“I’ve been so focused on the Super Bowl. It’s just like Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. It’s a lot of preparation and a lot of moving parts. And this week is the week that it’s really like being tested. Everyone — we’re just tightening up everything; everyone’s dialing in, everyone’s tuning up. It’s like three to four hundred people breaking the stage down, building it back up, and getting it out in eight minutes. It’s incredible; it’s almost impossible.”
Rihanna added,
“It feels like it could have only been now. When I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like… ‘You sure? I’m three months postpartum; should I be making major decisions right now? I might regret this.'”
She concluded,
“But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world and do anything, and the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. So as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all.”
“And it’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation, it’s important for my son to see that.”
In May 2022, the Diamonds singer gave birth to her first child with rapper A$AP Rocky. In September 2022, after three months postpartum, the singer agreed to appear at the 2023 Super Bowl with lots of doubts in her mind. Her performance news broke after a press release released at midnight on September 23 in which the NFL announced Apple Music as the new sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show, replacing longtime sponsor Pepsi.
Was Rihanna Bothered By Jennifer Lopez’s Alleged Remarks About Shakira Over The 2020 Super Bowl Performance?
Although Sunday will be Rihanna’s first appearance at the Super Bowl, the singer told Vogue in 2019 that she was approached previously and declined the opportunity. Her cancelation came because she became embroiled in the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick’s treatment, who was the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. There were reportedly several reasons for Rihanna’s nervousness and unsureness about her upcoming performance, including her refusal to perform at the Super Bowl in 2019, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira‘s shared performance at the 2020 Super Bowl, and later her pregnancy.
According to reports, Rihanna was slightly bothered by Lopez’s remarks as she did not hide her feelings when sharing the stage with Shakira during the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show. In her Netflix documentary, Halftime, Lopez said that sharing the headlining spot of the halftime show was “the worst idea in the world” during a scene in the documentary.
JLo said during the scene,
“We have six f**king minutes. We have to have our singing moments. It’s not going to be a dance f**king revue. We have to sing our message.”
“This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl. It was the worst idea in the world.”
Last year, her comments created a great deal of hype and caused all artists, including Rihanna, to feel a little stressed. There have been several notable halftime performances at the Super Bowl in recent years, including Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in 2020, The Weeknd in 2021, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar in 2022.
Also Read: Adele Doesn’t Give a “Freaking Flying F**k” About the Super Bowl, Only There To See Rihanna
Source: Good Morning America
