Rihanna says that her decision to do the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show came as a surprise to her but was the only thing that would have prompted the new mother to leave her baby.
“I can’t believe I even said yes. It was one of those things that even when I announced it, I was like, ‘OK, I can’t take it back. Now it’s like, final,'” the Grammy-winning singer told Entertainment Tonight while appearing on the carpet for her latest Savage x Fenty show.
Rihanna called the Super Bowl “one of the biggest stages in the world” and a dream for any entertainer.
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“But it’s nerve-racking,” she added. “You want to get it right. Everybody’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”
Speaking to the Associated Press, the multihyphenate shared that, after several years off the stage and six years since her last album, this level of performance was the only thing that would take her away from her time as a new mother.
“If I’m going to leave my baby, I’m going to leave my baby for something special,” the multi-Grammy winner told the AP.
While speaking to Entertainment Tonight, she expounded that it was a “now or never” opportunity. “Nothing would have gotten me out of the house if it wasn’t a challenge like that,” she continued. “You could get real comfortable being at home as a mom, [so this is] challenging myself to do something that I’ve never done before in my career. I have to live up to that challenge.”
When asked about what her plans for the show were, Rihanna remained vague. “I want to incorporate different aspects of entertainment and things that I just enjoy and bring it to the stage,” she said. “I want to celebrate the music that I’ve made.”
The move, which will see her perform in a show produced by DPS with Roc Nation and Jesse Collins and sponsored for the first time by Apple Music, was welcomed by the NFL‘s head of music, Seth Dudowsky. “Rihanna is a once-in-a-generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career,” he said in a statement at the time of her headlining announcement.
Rihanna headlining the show also comes after she said, in a 2019 Vogue interview, that she had turned down the offer to perform at the Super Bowl out of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who accused the NFL of shutting him out due to his decision to kneel during the National Anthem before games.
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