To love Rihanna, the musical superstar, billionaire beauty mogul, fashion designer, part-time actress, current mother of one and future mother of two, is to be left waiting and wanting.
The next single, the next makeup drop, the next outfit: Rihanna is one of the few humans in this overexposed, over-curated world that people simply cannot get enough of.
At Super Bowl LVII, five years since her last live performance (the 2018 Grammys) and seven years since her last album (2016’s Anti),
she showed us how easily — maybe too easily — she commands stardom, by way of how great her previous hits have been.
Levitating on a platform high above the field at some weak-in-the-knees feet in the air, Rihanna — draped in red with a matching crimson lip,
no doubt some shade of Fenty Beauty — descended upon Arizona’s State Farm Stadium with a command: “Bitch better have my money.”
Rihanna is the only billionaire in existence who could ask for more money and not have it be tacky.
Rihanna doesn’t need more money, but whatever Rihanna wants, she gets, with millions of fans cheering her on.
For what it’s worth, the NFL famously does not pay its halftime performers, but it does cover production costs, of which there always seems to be no expense spared.
This year, multiple platforms were suspended and lowered, lifted, and lowered again and again in synchronization with her run of songs; the set looked like a giant audio equalizer.
The direction and camera work were on point, with wide shots capturing the scale and grandeur of the floating stages.
Though simple, the visual effect was still larger than life, matching the gravitational pull of Rihanna’s biggest hits.
After her monetary threat, Rihanna eased into a medley of some of her most memorable dance singles.
“Where Have You Been” bopped into “Only Girl” which seamlessly slinked into “We Found Love.”
Although these comprised the club soundtrack of the last two decades, Rihanna mostly grooved along reservedly,
leaving the huffing and puffing to her dancers and most of the aesthetic work to the gigantic set pieces.