Rihanna has been announced as the headline performer at the Super Bowl’s halftime show next year, to the delight of her millions of fans.
However, the Barbadian singer has not performed live since 2016, nor released a new album since Anti in the same year.
Instead, the 34-year-old pop star has focused on her Fenty Beauty and Savage Fenty businesses and frequently promotes her products on social media.
While fans are excited that she will take to the stage in February 2023, many have joked that she might use it as a marketing opportunity instead of performing.
Pop culture satirist Saint Hoax posted a video of Jess Glynne’s 2019 Brit Awards performance, in which she and other performers stripped makeup from their faces, but with Rihanna’s song “What’s My Name?” edited over the footage.
They joked in a tweet: “Rihanna opening the Super Bowl after a seven-year hiatus.”
Others joked that the business mogul, who became the youngest self-made billionaire in July this year, would carry out makeup demonstrations for her Fenty Beauty brand on the stage.
“When Rihanna performs a 14-minute makeup tutorial at the halftime show instead,” one person tweeted alongside an edited picture of Rihanna demonstrating how to use her products on a model in front of a stadium of people.
Another person shared a video of Jake Gyllenhaal blowing a goodbye kiss to a Saturday Night Live audience and wrote: “Rihanna leaving the Super Bowl after explaining all the new Fenty products coming in 2024.”
Rihanna will join fellow pop giants including Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Madonna when she takes to the iconic Super Bowl stage next year.
She was previously asked to perform in 2020, but declined in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who was unsigned by any American football team following his protests on the pitch against racial injustice in 2016.
Seth Dudowsky, the NFL’s head of music, said in a statement announcing her headlining gig: “We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Super Bowl halftime show stage… to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance.”
