REVIEW: Rihanna’s Halftime Show
By: George Spaulding
On Sunday night, Rihanna made a huge music comeback with her halftime show performance during the NFL Super Bowl. From the dancers to the flying platforms, it was really a sight to see. This was also her announcement that she is pregnant again, as she did this show with her baby bump on display. Her doing this all pregnant takes this show to another level of impressive. She had no special guests. But her presence alone demands attention and she proved she can fill the stage without anyone’s help.
Rihanna opened up her show with “B**** Better Have My Money”, which was an excellent choice for the first song. It commands the audience’s attention and I’m so glad she included it in her setlist. She then goes into “Where Have You Been?”, “Only Girl in the World”, and “We Found Love”, which are some of her biggest songs. She continues with “Rude Boy”, which I’m glad she included, followed by “Work”, and “Wild Thoughts”. She then sings, “Pour It Up”, which is another song that really gets you hype like her opening song did. “All of the Lights” and “Run This Town” follow, with “Umbrella” and “Diamonds” closing out her set. “Diamonds” is a perfect closing song and the crowd turning on their flashlights took it to another level.
The songs Rihanna chose help you feel nostalgic and fired up, with all these songs effectively representing her expansive catalog. Some songs I wish she had included are, “Pon De Replay”, “Disturbia”, and “Shut Up and Drive”. The setlist is perfect as it is, but those songs would have taken it to another level for me. There likely just wasn’t enough time.
In addition to the setlist, the dancers and choreography were absolutely amazing. The choreography was made by star choreographer Parris Goebel, who has collaborated with Rihanna multiple times for her Savage x Fenty runway shows. The dancers are from Goebels dance crews that she founded, Royal Family and ReQuest. They elevated the entire show and it would not have been as good of a show without them. The dancers who were on the platforms performing was incredibly impressive considering how the platforms were not completely still. Rihanna even started to dance with them multiple times during the show.
Overall, the halftime show was really good in my opinion. It’s Rihanna so I wouldn’t have expected anything less. The dancing, the songs, Rihanna in general, made this a truly spectacular show that is one for the books.
