On Sunday, Rihanna and the NFL announced that she would be headling the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, and fans went nuts. Rihanna has not released new music since 2017, and she stepped back from live performances for the most part in spite of her monumental success and popularity. The news that she will be playing at such a huge national venue has fans excited and hopeful for a new album sometime soon.
On Sunday, TMZ reported that Rhianna would be the halftime headliner for Super Bowl LVII, and just minutes later she and the NFL confirmed the news officially. Rihanna posted a photo of a hand holding a football vertically on Instagram, but with no caption or comment. The NFL retweeted this graphic on Twitter, confirming the news as well, and Roc Nation got in on the excitement as well. By then, fans were having an all-out celebration on social media.
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Rihanna has been promising a ninth studio album for years, but it has been repeatedly delayed. There’s no release date in place for it right now, and so far there’s no indication that this Super Bowl announcement will come with more news. Still, fans are overjoyed. Here’s a look at what they’re saying online.
Comeback
While Rihanna has not been absent from pop culture by any means, many fans are treating this performance as the beginning of a comeback. In fact, many jokingly referred to her as “Rihanna the singer,” distinguishing her from the fashion and makeup mogul she has been acting as for the last few years.
Details
Many fans were hesitant to believe the news, but once Roc Nation issued a press release they finally let themselves get excited. The details made this whole situation feel real to them at last.
‘Performance’
Some fans joked that the press release hadn’t necessarily confirmed that Rihanna would be performing music at this halftime show. They speculated that maybe she was going to “perform” a live makeup demonstration instead.
New Album
After having their hopes dashed so many times before, fans were extremely hesitant in speculating that this show meant new music as well.
Nostalgia
Fans immediately revisited Rihanna’s old performances to begin speculating and daydreaming about what this new show might look like. If she didn’t release new music, they hoped that she would at least fit their favorite songs into her 15-minute set. Meanwhile, with the success of some of Rihanna’s peers, fans felt like the music industry itself was on a nostalgia trip.
Celebrity Reactions
Fans weren’t the only ones taken aback by this news. They had fun combing through other stars’ reactions to this bombshell.
Disbelief
Finally, many fans were in shock as they never believed this was how Rihanna would kick off a musical comeback. They treated the news as excitedly as they would a development in their personal lives.
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