Rihanna is finally coming forward and admitting that she did in fact turn down the opportunity to perform at last season’s Super Bowl. In an interview with Vogue’s November cover story, she’s explaining her reasoning behind her stance, mentioning her disagreement with the NFL.
“I couldn’t dare do that,” she explained. “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
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The 31-year old is backing former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick‘s #TakeAKnee movement that he started in 2016. Kaepernick started taking a knee during the national anthem and shortly after, several players followed suit. The purpose behind it is to protest police brutality and racial injustices towards people of color in America.
Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi ended up taking the spot that Rihanna was offered instead.
“Yes they asked her and yes, she declined,” a source told PEOPLE at the time.
“That’s certainly what everyone at the NFL believes,” they continued. “I don’t work with Rihanna so I don’t know what her camp told them, but the word within the organization is that’s why she said no.”
For this year, it was announced last month that Jennifer Lopez and Shakira are set to headline the halftime show on Feb. 2, 2020 in Miami, Florida. Something that fans are excited about is JAY-Z’s involvement with the NFL. His entertainment and sports company Roc Nation — who is also Rihanna’s record label — will work with the league on live events that include the Super Bowl halftime show.
As for the “Work” singer, she’s been pretty quiet lately after taking a little break from music to focus on her makeup line, however, she’s set to release new stuff she’s been working on in the studio soon.
“I have been trying to get back into the studio,” she admitted. “It’s not like I can lock myself in for an extended amount of time, like I had the luxury of doing before. I know I have some very unhappy fans who don’t understand the inside bits of how it works, but they’ve earned it. They got me here.”
Her new album will have a flare of reggae to it, a sound that “feels right” to her.
“I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album,” she revealed. “It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks … Reggae always feels right to me. It’s in my blood.”
