Rihanna will headline the halftime show at next year’s SuperBowl, the pop singer, her record label, the NFL and new halftime show sponsor Apple Music announced Sunday.
The Twitter accounts of the NFL and Roc Nation — the record label that represents Rihanna, founded by rapper Jay-Z — posted a photo of what appears to be the singer’s tattooed arm holding up an NFL football, along with the caption “Let’s GO.” Rihanna posted the same image on her Instagram account.
Apple Music, which the NFL announced earlier this week would replace previous sponsor Pepsi as the upcoming halftime show’s sponsor, also confirmed the news in a tweet.
“IT’S ON. @rihanna will take the stage for the first ever Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show on 2.12.23,” the tweet read.
Super Bowl LVII is scheduled for Feb. 12, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The game, and its halftime show, are usually highly anticipated television events. This past year’s game, in which the Los Angeles Rams triumphed over the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20, drew what the NFL estimated was more than 208 million viewers.
That halftime show — which the NFL says had more than 120 million viewers — featured a mash-up of performances from hip-hop legends Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige, plus a surprise appearance from 50 Cent.
Previous Super Bowl performers have included Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
Rihanna had the opportunity to headline the 2019 halftime show, but confirmed to Vogue later that year that she turned it down to support Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who attracted both support and controversy for taking a knee during the national anthem during NFL games for protesting police brutality against Black people and other forms of racial injustice.
“I couldn’t dare do that,” Rihanna told Vogue in 2019 of her decision. “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
The 2019 performance was instead headlined by the band Maroon 5 — whose frontman, Adam Levine, has been ensnared in controversy following a recent cheating scandal.
Rihanna released her most recent album, “Anti,” in 2016. In an interview with Vogue earlier this year, the 34-year-old pop singer said she was working on a new album. She has won nine Grammy Awards, plus several American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
Earlier this year, she came in at #21 on Forbes’ annual list of America’s top self-made women due to her $1.4 billion net worth, earned mainly from the success of Fenty Beauty, which she co-owns with French luxury retailer LVMH.
Rihanna also has a lingerie line, Savage x Fenty, which raised money at a $1 billion valuation in February 2021, Forbes reported. Executives were reportedly weighing an initial public offering of the lingerie line at a $3 billion valuation earlier this year, Bloomberg reported.
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