Rihanna is playing the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show

WORDS Sonia Blair PHOTOGRAPHY Instagram PUBLISHED Mon, 26 Sep 2022 - 10:45 am

Members of the Navy assemble because today we have woken up to the glorious news that Rihanna is playing the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show. It comes almost four years after her last official live performance, at a concert in 2019, and six years after her last album, ANTI.

Naturally, the announcement – coming in the form of an Instagram post and Tweet from the singer herself – was met with much excitement and enthusiasm from fans, starved of a new album and live performances for quite some time! We’re envisioning the performance to be bathed in nostalgia, visiting her discography at points from across her career and, hopefully, some new music – if we’re lucky.

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Is anyone else performing with Rihanna?

While Rihanna has been confirmed as playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show, sources are claiming there will be at least two performers on the night, leading us to believe her co-host will likely be announced in the following weeks. Rumours circulating late last week that Taylor Swift may have been a headliner still have some miles in the legs, meaning it could well be a Rihanna T-Swift double header. Swift allegedly refused to perform the show until she re-recorded her six albums in the aftermath of the Scooter Braun master recordings fiasco.

The announcement of Rihanna may come as a surprise to some, especially the most eagle-eyed of fans, after the singer had previously turned down an offer to perform at a previous Super Bowl. In 2019, the singer said in an interview she turned down the offer due to the NFL’s treatment of former player, Colin Kaepernick. The footballer peacefully protested for racial justice by kneeling during the American National anthem in games throughout 2016.

“I couldn’t dare do that,” Rihanna said to US Vogue at the time. “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”