Rihanna Delights Fans With Covert Pregnancy Announcement During Super Bowl Halftime Performance
RiRi burned the house down with a 12-song medley of her biggest hits — and subtly announced she's expecting!
Rihanna has baby on the brain! The multi-hyphenate debuted her growing baby bump in a fiery red jumpsuit while performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show on an aerial stage hundreds of feet in the air on Sunday night.
Her surprise special guest was confirmed by her rep to The Hollywood Reporter — officially making RiRi the first pregnant person to ever headline music’s biggest stage. A$AP Rocky, the singer’s partner and the assumed father, was spotted in the stands cheering on his girl.
How’s that for a pregnancy announcement?
Rihanna subtly hinted at her pregnancy when she rubbed and cradled her belly before going into the lyrics for “B*tch Better Have My Money” at the start of the show.
The 13-minute medley was a mix of 12 different songs including “Work,” “Run This Town,” and “Where Have You Been?” She savagely didn’t invite any of her collaborators — like Kanye West — onto the stage.
Rihanna's full Superbowl Halftime Performance pic.twitter.com/2CrDybfJJn
— 🎥 (@megsmedia) February 13, 2023
Rihanna’s full performance is also available on YouTube.
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Rihanna’s backup dancers did, however, steal the show. Dressed like “pillows” in head-to-toe white outfits, they’ve since earned the nickname “marshmallows” by Twitter users, who also joked that they look like marshmallows.
RiRi closed out the big show with one of her most beloved singles: 2012’s “Diamonds.”
Ahead of Sunday, Rihanna revealed she studied Beyonce’s 2013 and 2016 Super Bowl performances for inspiration.
“I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple of times. She is a beast and a whole other level. Just to be inspired, really,” she said on the NFL’s The Process with Nate Burleson podcast.
me putting mini marshmallows in my hot chocolate pic.twitter.com/20RraQDtlC
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 13, 2023
Another source of Rihanna’s inspiration? Her son. The “Umbrella” singer welcomed her first child with Rocky back in May 2022. Now, the couple is gearing up for baby number two.
Opting to do the Super Bowl wasn’t an immediate “yes,” Rihanna admitted. “Getting back to anything right now has to feel worth it. Nothing is worth your time away from your kid,” she said on the podcast.
“I’m living for my son,” Rihanna continued. “Everything matters now. You really start to take a lot into account.”
For example, extreme sports. Rihanna joked you won’t find her skydiving anytime soon. “You really think about stuff like that — it’s not worth it,” she said.
“Everything is different, life before my son seems very obscure. It’s very small and cloudy, it just got better with him,” Rihanna said. “It’s so much hard work, but nothing is more fulfilling than that.”
No one knows how to put on a Super Bowl Halftime Show like RiRi. Congrats on to the soon-to-be mother-of-two!
