PREGNANT Rihanna dazzled as she performed a career-spanning solo set at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show on Sunday.
The Grammy winner entered the stage in a daring red outfit showing off her bonny bump as she kicked off the high-energy performance at Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium with ‘B***h Better Have My Money’ followed by ‘Where Have You Been’.
The custom Loewe ensemble was “designed to build volume in step with the dynamic scenography of the show.”
Rihanna’s first performance since 2018, and since she and A$AP Rocky became parents for the first time to their son in May, didn’t disappoint with the 34-year-old Barbadian performing without any special guests for 29 minutes.
The beauty mogul stormed through hits including ‘Only Girl (In the World)’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘S+M’ flanked by dancers.
The next section included ‘Work’ into ‘Wild Thoughts’ and ‘Pour it Up’.
At one point, Fenty Beauty founder Rihanna checked her makeup in her brand’s compact mirror before ‘All of the Lights’ into ‘Run This Town’ and ‘Umbrella’.
Rihanna ended the spectacular medley with fan-favourite ‘Diamonds’ as a massive firework display lit up the stadium.
It wouldn’t have been possible for Rihanna to fit all of her hits into the 29-minutes, with six of her No. 1 singles not making the setlist, including ‘Disturbia’, ‘Love The Way You Lie’, ‘SOS’ and ‘Take A Bow’.
The crowd included Rihanna’s collaborators Jay-Z , DJ Khaled and partner A$AP.
Earlier, Chris Stapleton kicked off the big game with a rendition of the national anthem, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’.
There was then a performance by ‘Abbott Elementary’ star Sheryl Lee Ralph, who sang ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, and music legend Babyface performed ‘America the Beautiful’.
The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl 2023 after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in an epic showdown in Arizona.
RIRI IS PREGNANT!
The 34-year-old pop star already has a nine-month-old son with rapper A$AP Rocky but confirmed during her comeback performance at the Superbowl Halftime show on Sunday that they are expecting another child as she showed off her baby bump, and a rep later confirmed to the news The Hollywood Reporter.
Last week, Rihanna said: “I was like, ‘You sure? I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this! When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world — you can do anything! And the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was … there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for my son to see that.”
During the show – which saw the ‘Shut Up and Drive’ songstress return to the stage for the first time in seven years – she performed a medley of her greatest hits, including ‘Only Girl (In The World) ‘ and ‘Umbrella’ but the news of the pregnancy comes just weeks after it was reported that more children had been on the cards for the Fenty Beauty founder.
A source said: “Being a mum has changed Ri’s life for the better in every way. She and Rocky are totally in sync as parents and are loving the experience. It’s brought them so much closer as a couple. Ri wants a big family – she doesn’t see any need to hang around and feels ready now her body has fully healed and recovered from the delivery in mid May.”
