Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
We’re a few days away from Rihanna’s highly anticipated return to the stage at the Super Bowl LVII’s halftime show. And the singer is spilling some major tea about what fans can expect from her first performance since 2016.
Rihanna sat down with Apple Music’s Nadeska on Thursday. And shared that she’s been “so focused” on her halftime performance, that she “totally forgot” about her 35th birthday approaching on February 20.
I totally forgot about Valentine’s Day — it’s just been Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. So, it’s a lot of preparation and a lot of moving parts. And this is the week where it’s really being tested — everyone’s really tightening up everything.
The singer called the preparation for the event “incredible,” yet “almost impossible.”
She also went on to share how it feels to be working on such a major event at this point in her life and career.
It feels like it could have only been now. I mean, when I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like, ‘Psst, you sure?’ I’m three months postpartum, like, should I be making major decisions like this now? Like I might regret this. But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world, you could do anything. And 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. And it’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation, it’s important for my son to see that.
Rih also shared what fans can expect from her halftime performance, which will be 13 minutes in total. And explained how challenging it was to pack 17 years of her career into such a short performance time.
The set list was the biggest challenge. That was the hardest hardest part. Deciding how to maximize 13 minutes, but also celebrate. That’s what this show’s gonna be, it’s gonna be a celebration of my catalogue in the best way we could have put it together. And you only have 13 minutes, that’s the challenge, so you’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes. So it’s difficult. You know, some songs we have to lose because of that, and that’s gonna be okay. But I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down.
The mother of one revealed that it’s been “very different” navigating work-life balance since becoming a parent. But she definitely has intentions to release new music. And shared what fans can expect to hear.
Musically, I’m feeling open. I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating, things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans, you know, the people that know the music that I put out. I just want to play. I want to have fun. I want to have fun with music.
As for her upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance, Rihanna would have “never guessed” that she would have “made it here.” But she plans to celebrate the day.
I mean, it’s a long way from home, right? It’s a long way from home. It’s a beautiful journey that I’m on, and I could’ve never guessed that I would have made it here. So it’s a celebration of that. I’m excited to do that. I’m really excited to have Barbados on the Super Bowl stage.
Roommates, are you ready for Rihanna’s big performance on Sunday?
