Mexico City, January 21 (However).- After having rejected the offer of the nfl in 2019, the Barbadian singer and businesswoman Rihanna will be in charge this year show of Super Bowl LVII halftimewhich will take place on February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
It was during the second half of 2022 when the designer also set off the alarm bells for her entourage of followers by announcing her presence at the great sporting event in the United States with a photograph where you can see her particular tattooed hand holding an American ball, ending so with the rumors that pointed to Taylor Swift.
However, his performance, which is about to mark his return to the stage, is not the only factor that has attracted the attention of locals and strangers, but also the one that has accepted to be part of Super Bowl LVII after in 2019 he rejected the invitation from the NFL in support of Colin Kaepernick, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who was banned for protesting on the field of play against racism in the United States.
“Of course I declined his proposal. I couldn’t risk participating in something like that. For who wins? Certainly not my people. I just couldn’t sell myself that way,” said the interpreter of “Love On the Brain” in 2019 to vogue usa when questioned about her decision.
“There are things in that organization that I don’t agree with, and I was not going to go there to serve them in any way,” he added.
The name of Colin Kaepernick came to the spotlight in August 2016 when the athlete sat on the bench of the 49ers during the American anthem in the form of a protest against police violence, racism and social injustice that exists in the country of north.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. There are bodies in the streets and people who give them paid leave to get away with murder,” the athlete said at the time.
It wasn’t until early September of that year that Kaepernick followed the advice of Nate Boyer, a United States Army Green Beret, and began kneeling during the national anthem of that season’s games in defiance of the US government and the United States. then presidential candidate Donald Trump, who on several occasions criticized the player’s protest.
“He always says let’s make America great again. Well, America has never been good for people of color. That is something that needs to be addressed. Let’s make America great for the first time,” the former quarterback replied to Trump.
The activism of the then quarterback ended up taking away part of his career within the NFL as he decided to cancel his contract with the 49ers, who already had plans to fire him. However, despite his absence from the league and the lack of contracts from other teams, several players continued to kneel while the anthem was played before each game.
On February 3, 2019, the year in which she gave up starring at halftime, Rihanna shared some stories on her Instagram account assuring that she did not see Super Bowl LIII in support of Colin Kaepernick.
“For those who thought I was watching the Super Bowl…we are protesting,” the singer wrote alongside a portrait of Kaepernick.
Over the years, other characters from the sports world such as soccer player Megan Rapinoe and from other industries such as rapper Eminem, who took advantage of his Super Bowl LVI halftime presentation to kneel in tribute to the former quarterback, to name a few, they rallied around Kaepernick’s cause.
Now, four years after rejecting the NFL’s offer, Rihanna will arrive at State Farm Stadium to take charge of the halftime of the 57th edition of the Super Bowl assured that this time the circumstances were right for her.
It was now or never for me […] It was a challenge that I accepted. It was a bigger stage than anything I’ve done, ”he said in an interview with Associated Press.
In accordance with TMZthe designer, who released her latest studio album titled “ANTI” in 2016 and has stayed away from the stage since February 2019, could count on two guest artists for her performance at the Super Bowl.
On January 12, a month after the sporting event, Apple Music shared a short clip, barely 30 seconds long, in which Rihanna can be seen wearing a black dress, a green coat, and her hair. braided; while she is heard in the background a series of voices saying “2190 days have passed. More than six years have passed. Rihanna is the one everyone is waiting for. The last album we got from Rihanna was ‘Anti’ in 2016.”
Seconds later, the sound stops, the shot goes dark, and Rihanna appears with a finger to her lips going “shh.” Then you can see a fragment of “Needed Me”, a song from her latest studio album.
With the confirmation of his performance, Krysta Fauria, journalist PApointed out in an interview that the interpreter of “Umbrella”, one of her first hits, would not have agreed to participate in halftime if there were no new music on the doorstep.
To put an end to the rumors, Rihanna declared “no, no. That is not true. The Super Bowl is one thing. New music is something else. Did you hear that, fans? Because I knew, the moment I announced it, I was like ‘oh my gosh, they’re going to think my album is coming, I have to get to work.’
However Riri, as she is also known, admitted that “I do have new music on the way, but we’ll see. We’ll see. The two things are not related.”
Meanwhile, the official entertainment partner of the NFL Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay-Z, celebrated that the Barbadian was chosen for the halftime of Super Bowl LVII, pointing out that “she is a generational talent, a woman of humble origins who It has exceeded expectations every time. A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most outstanding artists in history, in business and entertainment.