Rihanna has defined her resolution to conform to carry out on the Tremendous Bowl after infamously turning earlier gives from the NFL down.
The star rejected the organisation’s strategy for her to be the Halftime Present performer in 2018. That transfer was made in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the previous San Francisco 49ers quarterback who was shut out of the league after taking a knee to protest police brutality throughout the US nationwide anthem at video games.
In a brand new interview with British Vogue, Rihanna acknowledged there have been nonetheless points with the system and society. “There’s nonetheless lots of mending to be finished in my eyes,” she mentioned. “However it’s highly effective to interrupt these doorways and have illustration at such a excessive, excessive stage and a constant stage.”
The singer pointed to final 12 months’s efficiency from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, coupled with hers this 12 months. “Two Tremendous Bowls back-to-back representing the city group, globally,” she mentioned. “It’s highly effective. It sends a very sturdy message.”
Rihanna performs stay. CREDIT: Gregory Shamus/Getty Photographs
She continued to clarify that turning into a mom had additionally modified her perspective in additional methods than one. “Elevating a younger Black man is without doubt one of the scariest tasks in life,” she mentioned. “You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my youngsters to? That is the planet they’re gonna be residing on?’ All of these issues actually begin to hit in another way.”
Rihanna famous that giving start had given her a way that “nothing is not possible”: “It’s this understanding that you are able to do something, even issues that appear the craziest, like, ‘I’m going to say sure to the Tremendous Bowl in the course of postpartum?’ What the heck am I considering? However you’re geeked on a problem like that as a result of you understand what your physique simply did.”
The star’s Tremendous Bowl efficiency on Sunday (February 12) was the second-most-watched halftime present of all time, averaging 118.7million viewers. Katy Perry’s 2015 efficiency nonetheless holds the report with a median of 121million viewers.
The set additionally featured a tribute to late trend icon André Leon Talley, the previous editor-at-large of Vogue. On the finish of her set, Rihanna donned a pink sleeping bag coat by Alaïa – an obvious homage to Talley, whose favorite Norma Kamali coat was in the identical type and color.