Rihanna is just days away from taking center stage at the Super Bowl, but Donald Trump has made it clear that he won’t be watching her comeback performance.
On Thursday (February 9), the former president joined a conservative Texas congressman in bemoaning RiRi’s forthcoming Apple Music Halftime Show performance, with claims that she is talentless and has taken every opportunity to bad mouth the United States.
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“Rihanna spray painted “F*** Donald Trump” on a car at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo,” Republican House Representative Ronny Jackson posted on Truth Social. “She’s made a career of spewing degenerate filth while badmouthing America every chance she gets. Why is the NFL showcasing this crap? Rihanna SHOULD NOT be the halftime performer!!”
Trump proceeded to “ReTruth” — or quote and share — the post, adding his own two cents: “Without her ‘Stylist’ she’d be NOTHING. Bad everything, and NO TALENT!”
Contrary to Donald Trump’s opinion, Rihanna’s run leading up to Super Bowl LVII has seen her showcase not only her musical talent, but her business acumen as well.
Since the NFL and Apple Music announced that she would be headlining the Halftime Show for her first performance in just over six years, the industry has been speculating about what Rihanna’s post-Super Bowl career will shape up to be.
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Immediately following the announcement, rumors of new music and a possible world tour started making the rounds. So far, however, the singer has only delivered two new tracks, both featured on the Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
The project’s lead single, “Lift Me Up,” has since earned Rihanna her first Oscar nomination, as well as a Golden Globe nod, both in the Best Original Song category. As far as new music of her own, Rihanna first acknowledged the chatter about her seven year hiatus with a tongue-in-cheek trailer for her performance, released on January 13.
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The video, dubbed “Rihanna Is Back,” began with audio of fans, reporters and radio hosts counting the days since the release of her last album — 2,190 to be precise — while impatiently clamoring for her comeback.
Eventually, Rihanna — wearing a furry yellow jacket, silver jewelry and an elaborate braided hairstyle — stepped out of the shadows and into a spotlight, immediately quelling the noise. She then brought her finger to her lips and hushes the audience.
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The trailer fittingly ended with a brief snippet of “Needed Me,” from the singer’s last studio effort, 2016’s ANTI, which recently returned to the Billboard 200, extending its already impressive run on the chart to 352 total weeks.
On Thursday, Rihanna offered some insight into her upcoming releases during an Apple Music press conference ahead of the Big Game on Sunday (February 12), sharing that her main priority right now is “to have fun.”
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“Musically, I’m feeling open,” Rihanna said. “I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating, things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans, you know, the people that know the music that I put out. I just want to play. I want to have fun. I want to have fun with music.”
Though it’s unclear how long after the highly anticipated performance fans will have to wait for new music by Rihanna, she is reportedly working on a documentary about the performance, a music insider told The Sun in November.
“She will be recorded during rehearsals and meetings in the lead-up to the big night and give an insight into what her life is really like now she is returning to pop as a mum,” the source reportedly said. “Rihanna is a massive force to be reckoned with when it comes to music and so Apple has paid millions.”
The source added that Rih signed “a huge deal with Apple” for the documentary to appear on Apple TV+, but nothing has been confirmed by her camp just yet.
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In the meantime, Rihanna’s Fenty and Savage X Fenty brands have both released Super Bowl LVII themed capsules.
The Fenty x Mitchell & Ness collection supports “diversity, equality and freedom,” and features nine unisex pieces that include oversized, long-sleeve shirts, regular tees, and hoodies available in black or white. The collection also features a swanky coaches jacket in black that includes an NFL and Super Bowl LVII patch embroidered on the front and football and Fenty U.S.A. on the back.
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The Savage X Fenty “Game Day” collection, on the other hand, features 17 different pieces including hoodies, sweatpants, varsity jerseys, tops, hats, beanies, boxers and a bandana. The drop is inspired by the color of an actual football, and RiRi modeled several items on Savage X Fenty’s Instagram page.
