After seven years, nine-time GRAMMY winner Rihanna made her triumphant return to the stage by taking over one of the biggest platforms in the world: the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show.
Over the course of 13 minutes, the Fenty Beauty mogul ran through her catalog of hits and successfully reasserted her status as an inimitable R&B superstar. At turns soaring and swaggering, Rihanna’s show was a display of unabashed confidence and a steadfast reminder that even after more than half a decade away, pop remains the province of Barbados’ first love.
Ahead of the show, the hitmaker-turned-billionaire opened up regarding her initial hesitation about hitting the stage — just a few months after having her first child with A$AP Rocky.
“When I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like, ‘You sure?’ I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,” she told Apple Music.
“But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world,” the singer continued. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all.”
Below, GRAMMY.com rounded up the five biggest and most thrilling moments from RiRi’s Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Forgoing a grand entrance, Rihanna began her set suspended high above the field at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium. And in a bit of a surprise, she opened not with one of her 14 No. 1 hits, but with 2015’s “Bitch Better Have My Money.”
“Ballin’ bigger than LeBron/ B—, give me your money,” she demanded at the top of the show, reminding the world of her innate greatness.