Rihanna Is ‘Nervous But Excited’ About Super Bowl Halftime Performance

Rihanna has broken her silence about she feels about headlining the headlining the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show. The billionaire singer was caught by TMZ when she was out shopping in Los Angeles Tuesday (Oct. 4), where they asked how she felt about the huge honor.

"I’m nervous! But I’m excited," she responded. TMZ then asked the singer who would she be bringing on stage with her. The cameraperson then got specific and asked if RiRi would be bringing her boo A$AP Rocky on stage and she replied, "Maybe, girl."

RiRi announced that she would be headlining the Super Bowl when she uploaded a photo of her hand holding an NFL-branded football. The superstar captioned the photo with a simple period, "."

After it was confirmed by the NFL that the pop star would be the Super Bowl's headliner, Dr. Dre who performed last year alongside Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and 50 Cent, offered her some advice.

"Put the right people around you and have fun," the legendary producer said. "That’s basically what it is, making sure you have the right creative people around you. She might want to look into some of the people that we used to do our show."

Jay-Z who signed a deal back in 2019 to head the NFL's musical entertainment also commented on RiRi's announcement.

"Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn," Jay-Z said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. "A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment." Jay-Z discovered Rihanna back in 2005 when she was 16 years old.

However, Rihanna's announcement did come with some backlash as social media quickly brought back receipts when the singer refused to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl.

In 2019, the "We Found Love" singer reportedly turned down the Super Bowl to show solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who began kneeling during the National Anthem in 2016 to protest injustice, police brutality and systemic oppression. Later in 2019, Rihanna spoke to Vogue about refusing to perform. "I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I don’t agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of any service to them [the NFL] in any way."

Rihanna has not addressed why she decided to change her decision on performing.