There’s a football game at the Rihanna concert Sunday, at least that’s according to the Navy, who’s been waiting for the self-proclaimed bad gal’s Rihturn.
Rih, who’s been away from the live music stage for nearly seven years and just released her first single in six years last October, has been preparing for the “jam-packed show” she’ll be giving during Sunday’s Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show.
With her highly anticipated performance just days away, the “Lift Me Up” singer sat down with Apple Music host Nadeska Alexis to spill some tea on what we can expect.
When asked about performing on the big game day, she said, “It feels like it could have only been now.”
“When I first got the call to do it again this year I was like, ‘Are you sure? I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,’” Rihanna said. “When you become a mom there’s something that happens where you feel like you can take on the world and can do anything. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. As scary as it was, because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for me to do this year. It’s important for my son to see that.”
Rihanna went on to talk about the biggest challenge in creating her Super Bowl halftime show — narrowing down the setlist.
“That was the hardest, hardest part — deciding how to maximize 13 minutes but also celebrate. That’s what this show’s gonna be. It’s gonna be a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could have put it together. You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes … but I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down,” she explained. “There were probably about 39 version of the setlist right now. We’re on our 39th. Every little change counts, whether I want a guitar cut out, something muted, something added or just put in a whole new song, or take out a whole song.”
Rih also teased that she will be representing her country — the island nation of Barbados, during her performance. So we can only hope for some Caribbean chunes.
“That’s a big part of why it’s important for me to do this show, she said. “Representing for my country, Barbados. Representing for Black women everywhere. That’s really important.”
What songs do you hope to see her perform Sunday?
