Rihanna to headline Tremendous Bowl halftime present, Jay-Z praises her enterprise savvy

The singer, who declined to carry out within the 2019 Tremendous Bowl halftime present out of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, will headline the 2023 Tremendous Bowl, the NFL introduced Sunday together with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music. Rihanna posted a picture on Instagram of an arm outstretched holding an NFL soccer.

“Rihanna is a generational expertise, a girl of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at each flip,” mentioned Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is an government producer of the present, in a press release. “An individual born on the small island of Barbados who turned one of the crucial distinguished artists ever. Self-made in enterprise and leisure.”

The Tremendous Bowl will happen at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12. After years of Pepsi’s sponsorship, the upcoming halftime present can be sponsored by Apple Music.

Rihanna earlier mentioned she turned down an identical alternative for the 2019 Tremendous Bowl that was in the end headlined by Maroon 5. On the time, many artists voiced help for Kaepernick, the previous San Francisco 49ers quarterback who protested police brutality towards Black folks and minorities by kneeling in the course of the nationwide anthem in 2016.

“I couldn’t dare do this. For what?” Rihanna informed Vogue in 2019. “Who good points from that? Not my folks. I simply couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s issues inside that group that I don’t agree with in any respect, and I used to be not about to go and be of service to them in any method,” she mentioned of the league.

Kaepernick accused the NFL of colluding to maintain him out of the league in a case that was finally settled in early 2019.

In 2019, the NFL partnered with Roc Nation (which manages Rihanna) to assist choose performers for the Tremendous Bowl and strategize on the halftime present. The extensively acclaimed 2022 halftime present featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige.

With gross sales of greater than 250 million information worldwide, Rihanna ranks as one of many best-selling feminine artists ever. Her final album was 2016’s “Anti.” Rihanna final carried out publicly on the Grammy Awards in 2018.

Within the years since, Rihanna has sometimes teased her music return. Earlier this 12 months, she had her first baby with the rapper ASAP Rocky.

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