Tonight, the world’s most famous lingerie saleswoman made a major career pivot. After an extended hiatus from the stage, Rihanna shook Arizona’s State Farm Stadium with a medley of her iconic hits that melted faces on pure nostalgia factor alone. It was a show that only someone like Rihanna—who has too many chart-topping songs to count on two hands—could achieve. And that’s because, like Rihanna, it was far more chill compared to the unforgettable half-time shows of the recent past.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course. Madonna and Katy Perry had larger-than-life set pieces which they used to announce their icon status. The Weeknd had a conceptual show in-line with his album aesthetics. Lady Gaga wouldn’t get off that stage without letting everyone in the world know that she has every talent under the sun. Rihanna, however, shirked all of that in favor of something entirely unexpected: a relatively low-key medley of high-energy hits that let the set list do all the talking. Well, that and a bright-red outfit that lit the internet on fire about a suspected baby bump. (People has since confirmed that the star is expecting her second child.)
The announcement that Rihanna would perform at this year’s Super Bowl was a proclamation that made waves around the world; everyone and their literal mothers were waiting for the Rih-turn of one of the millennium’s seminal popstars. After the release of her last (and, inarguably, best) studio album Anti at the top of 2016, Rihanna took a step back from her near-annual album release schedule to focus on creating her fashion and beauty empire.
To think, there was a time when we used to dog on Rihanna for churning out uninspired, mostly non-conceptual albums with a few hit singles to add to her collection every year. From 2009 to 2012, a new Rihanna record dropped like clockwork every November to discuss over the Thanksgiving turkey.
They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and that has never been more true than when Rihanna turned off her shining star to save a little energy. But tonight, Rihanna Rih-minded us (OK, I’ll stop with that now) of why we so desperately need her blustering, middle-finger energy in a modern pop sphere that’s devoid of any real stars. There is no one who can make no-fucks-given, inescapable, and commanding pop music quite like her.
And she let us know that from minute one, when the show opened with “Bitch Better Have My Money.” Perhaps Rihanna’s most well-known in her bevy of braggadocious hits, the song has somehow stood the test of time despite not ever making it onto a proper studio album. Only Rihanna could show us how powerful she is by taking the stage for the first time in seven years with a one-off, non-album single.
A segue into the drop-heavy instrumental chorus of “Where Have You Been” and—gasp!—a brief surprise interpolation of “Cockiness (Love It)” covered most of the Talk That Talk era to make room for two of the biggest, most shining stars in Rihanna’s pop discography. “Only Girl (In The World)” followed by “We Found Love”? Most artists could only dream of having two hits that cashed it on the trendy EDM sound of the time that still are as vibrant and fresh as ever.
The actual performance didn’t seem to have much of a storyline. Instead, it was really just Rihanna reminding us of her undeniable power as she transitioned from “Rude Boy” into “Work” (including her signature off-key hum), and followed those up with “Pour It Up.” She even made time to work in a bit of “Pose” while reminding us that she’s often been the best part of every collaboration she’s ever done.
“Wild Thoughts,” “All of the Lights” (blessedly Kanye-surprise-appearance free), and “Run This Town” would be nothing without Rihanna’s inclusion. The only reason that “Run This Town”—which dropped a whopping 14 years ago—is still a hit is because of Rihanna’s vocals in the hook of its chorus.
If you thought that Rihanna was going to do the Super Bowl without getting some self-promotion, you simply haven’t been paying attention to how hard she’s been hustling at the Avon factory. A quick makeup check in her Fenty compact preceded the show’s one-two punch of “Umbrella” and “Diamonds.” Rihanna would be remiss not to acknowledge “Umbrella,” the song that catapulted her from a two-hit wonder to a music industry legend. Thankfully, Rih didn’t opt for the hacky joke of bringing Tom Holland out for the song. This is her stage, damn it! You really think that Rihanna would let a man pull focus? Not a chance.
“Diamonds,” one of Rihanna’s least replayable hits, actually made for the perfect set closer. As Rihanna ascended back toward the heavens, hitting every single note to perfection, even one of her throwaway songs sounded mythic. Everyone around the world breathed a sigh of relief once the show-ending fireworks lit up the sky, knowing that we wouldn’t have to hear Rihanna pretend that “Lift Me Up,” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, is on par with any of her hits. But that song and the Super Bowl actually have something in common: to someone as effortlessly chill as Rihanna, they both just seemed like a reason to collect a fat check.
This show was a long time coming for Rihanna. In 2019, she told Vogue that she turned down the NFL’s first call to do the show, citing that she “couldn’t be a sellout” after the way the organization treated Colin Kaepernick. In recent weeks, some have criticized Rihanna for going back on her word, calling her a hypocrite.
While Rihanna hasn’t addressed her former statements about turning down the show directly, she told Time a few days before the show that, “When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens when you feel like you can take on the world.” She continued by saying that representation was a huge deciding factor when agreeing to do the show, and that it could be something to show her son.
I’m not sure that the display we saw at the State Farm Stadium necessarily negated the claims of hypocrisy with an unforgettably show-stopping event. But I do think that it’s impressive—and even important—to see Rihanna reminding us that a strong commitment to being no one but yourself can take you to unimaginable heights.
Watching the show, I did feel a distinct undercurrent of ick factor. Rihanna might be one of my favorite musicians of all time, but that doesn’t negate the fact that she happily employed Johnny Depp as some sort of apathetic statement toward cancel culture just a few months ago. But, in a way, that’s sort of what makes Rihanna so compelling. Perhaps more than any other pop diva, Rihanna is proof that, even with all that stratospheric talent, these stadium-sized personalities are human at the end of the day. They’re imperfect, they fuck up. Everything they do won’t be good.
Rihanna’s cool indifference and effortless edginess are what made the world fall in love with her. She’s always made hard work look easy. Sometimes, that results in bad branding decisions. Other times—like tonight—it adds to an already stacked career of illustrious moments. Rihanna’s performance may not have had the same level of spectacle as her peers, but it was distinctly Rihanna. She let the world move around her, showing off decades of power and influence like she was simply clocking into work. That’s not just pop, it’s punk. And we need a little more punk around here.
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