Friday, March 29

Rihanna says yes to the Super Bowl that she rejected as an anti-racist protest


The image of Rihanna’s hand holding a football has been enough to light the fuse. The singer from Barbados has thus announced that she will perform at the Super Bowl 2022, one of the sporting and television events most important of the year at the international level. The artist, who has been away from the music industry since 2016, will return in style on February 12, taking the stage at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where she will star in the break of the NFL final.

The singer of hits like umbrella Y Diamonds will replace Taylor Swift, who was the first choice and rejected the proposal for being so focused on the release of her next album Midnights on October 21, as in the re-recording of their previous works. As he revealed to TMZwill not do any live performance until their first six albums go through the studio.

Rihanna also said no to the Super Bowl in 2019 to support Colin Kaepernick, the athlete the league sanctioned for taking a knee and raising his fist in 2016 during the national anthem. A gesture with which the athlete showed his solidarity with the movement Black Lives Matter, criticizing the police brutality suffered by the black population in the United States. “For me this is bigger than football and it would be selfish of me to look the other way. There are bodies in the streets and people getting away with it,” he declared, “I’m not looking for approval. I have to stand up for the oppressed. If football and the sponsors are taken away from me, I know I’m standing up for what’s right.”

The quarterback He was removed from the competition after the right wing lynched him for having dared to underestimate a national symbol in this way. The NFL supported the criticism and even created a law where teams would be fined if any of their players dared to repeat the gesture. Some time after refusing to perform at the game, Rihanna explained that “I couldn’t risk participating in something like that. For who to win? Of course not my people. I couldn’t sell myself like that. There are things in that organization that I’m in okay, and I wasn’t going to go there to serve them in any way.” Adam Levine, leader of Maroon 5, was her replacement.

The artist from Barbados, who has not made any further statements on the subject or her future show, will take over from Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and Eminem; who starred in a tribute to ’90s and early 2000s hip hop last year. The number was not without controversy, since some of the songs passed a filter with which they were stripped of any reference to racial issues. It was the case of alright de Lamar, known for her criticism of police violence against the African-American community, includes the phrase “And we hate po-po” (And we hate the police). A line that was not heard during the NBC broadcast due to a camera cut that took the interpreter out of the picture.

Eminem, for his part, nailed his knee to the ground for a minute after singing his classic lose yourself, repeating Kaepernick’s gesture. In the days before the game, various US media reported that artists would be prohibited from doing so. However, an NFL representative told Variety that from the league they were aware of his intentions. “We saw all the elements of the show during multiple rehearsals and we knew he was going to do that. It was not a cause for concern. A player or coach could have kneeled and there would have been no problem,” said the spokesman for the competition, despite the fact that it had been involved in other racial controversies beyond that relating to the aforementioned quarterback.

Rihanna’s performance will mark her return to music six years later. The winner of nine Grammy Awards has been away from the industry since 2016, when she released her latest album, Anti. The artist argued that she wanted to focus on her other projects, such as her Fenty Beauty cosmetics brand. Three years later, she announced that in 2019 she would release her next album, R9. Title that, reached 2022, still has not been published and continues to generate expectations. As the only advance, the singer launched believe it in 2020, a collaboration with ParyNextDoor.

His confirmation for the Super Bowl 2022 could be an indication that the artist’s new songs will soon see the light; but there is still no confirmed date nor are more details known about the themes and genres that she will include in the long-awaited volume. Nor if she will go on stage alone or accompanied, as happened in the previous edition and in that of Jennifer López with Shakira in 2020. There are those who have already fantasized on social networks asking her to perform again S&M alongside Britney Spears.

The documentary about his life that Amazon Prime Video announced in 2019 is also up in the air. A production that would have a budget of 25 million dollars and Peter Berg (patriots day) at the address. The platform advanced that the project would delve into the singer’s life beyond the spotlight, but the point at which she is or her premiere plans are currently unknown.

With the signing of Rihanna, the Super Bowl once again bets on the choice of female music stars for its intermissions. The University of Arizona Symphonic Band was in charge of the first performance at halftime of the final in 1967. Since then figures such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera have paraded through its stage. , Britney Spears, Shania Twain, Jessica Simpson, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Black Eyed Peas and Bruno Mars.

In the last decade, competition shows have been eminently led by female references such as Madonna (2012). Beyoncé was her successor in 2013 and both have been followed by Katy Perry (2015), Lady Gaga (2017), Jennifer López and Shakira (2020). Their shows entail such a huge planning effort that two of their singers immortalized their preparations in their own documentaries: Gaga (Five Foot Two) and Lopez (half-time), both available on Netflix. Next February, Rihanna will be the next to expand the Olympus of the great divas who have led the popular and award-winning event.



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