Pop superstar, Rihanna, will headline the half-time show at next year February’s Super Bowl in Arizona, the NFL has announced.
The nine-time Grammy winner broke the news by posting a photo of an NFL branded football to Twitter. Organisers called the 34-year-old a “generational talent”, as the show is one of the most coveted slots in music, with this year’s 14-minute spectacle drawing in more than 120 million viewers.
According to NFL’s head of Music, Seth Dudowsky: “Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career”.
The all-star line-up included Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar. The show earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
Rapper, Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation entertainment company will help organise the performance, called Rihanna a “woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn”.
“A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”
Rihanna’s move marks a sharp turn from the singer, who turned down an offer to headline the show in 2019 to show solidarity with the NFL star Colin Kaepernick.
Rihanna declined Super Bowl headline in 2019
A former starting quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick, hasn’t played in the league since 2016 after his decision to kneel during the pre-game national anthem helped to launch a global movement against racism.
He later filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging that the leagues owners were colluding to exile him from the sport.
Rihanna at the time stated that she would have been an “enabler” if she had accepted the slot.
Speaking to Vogue Magazine she revealed that she “just couldn’t be a sell-out”, as there were things within that organisation that she does not agree with at all.
Rihanna, in Augst last year, was announced a billionaire and the wealthiest female musician in the world.
According to Forbes, the pop star is worth $1.7 billion (£1.2 billion), with an estimated $1.4 billion coming from the value of her Fenty Beauty cosmetics company. The rest of her fortune mostly comes from lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, worth an estimated $270 million, and her earnings from music and acting.
She is second only to Oprah Winfrey as the world’s richest female entertainer. Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in a partnership with luxury goods company LVMH.
At the time, she said the aim of the line was to appeal to “every type of woman” and launched 40 different foundation shades, which at the time was largely unprecedented. It led to the so-called “Fenty Effect” where rival brands broadened their shade ranges for make-up products.
The line brought in more than $550 million in annual revenue in its first year, LVMH said.
Prior to that, Rihanna agreed with LVMH to shut down her Fenty fashion label after less than two years in production.
The Barbadian singer has sold more than 250 million records, but has not released a studio album since 2016’s Anti.
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