Rihanna explains decision to reverse Super Bowl boycott

Rihanna has explained her decision to perform at this year’s Super Bowl half-time show in Glendale, Arizona, after initially turning down the opportunity in 2019.

Speaking to British Vogue, the 34-year-old performer said that while “there’s a lot of mending to be done”, she felt it was “powerful to break down those doors and have representation at such a high, high level.”

“Two Super Bowls back-to-back, you know, representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message,” she said, referring to the 2022 half-time show featuring Dr Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J Blige, Snoop Dogg and Eminem. The recent birth of her son was also a factor: “Raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life. You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’ All of those things really start to hit differently.”

The announcement of Rihanna’s performance in September 2022 had been met with surprise from fans. She had previously declined the opportunity in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who alleged that he had been blackballed by the NFL due to his protests against racial injustice.

Unpacking her decision to stand in solidarity with Kaepernick in 2019, Rihanna explained that she “couldn’t be a sellout,” saying: “I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organisation that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Rihanna discussed her plans for new music, saying that she’d like to release a new album this year – her six-years-in-the-making follow-up to 2017’s Anti. “I have my ideas in my head, but I can’t say them out loud yet,” she said. “It’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”

Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance was widely praised, with the Guardian’s Adrian Horton describing the show as “a reminder of just how many immediately recognisable, still banging songs Rihanna delivered between the years 2007 and 2016.” Morwenna Ferrier, writing on the musician’s surprise pregnancy reveal, said that Rihanna was “past making a fashion statement. She took ownership of her body, and she did it in real time.”