By ANDREW DALTON (AP Entertainment Writer)
Rihanna was above all of it. And pregnant in addition.
She started and ended the Super Bowl 57 halftime present hovering excessive above the sector at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The efficiency lacked the shock company stars included in lots of earlier Super Bowl halftimes, save one — her consultant revealed afterward that the singer is pregnant together with her second little one.
Rihanna wore a puffy, vivid purple jumpsuit with tight, rubbery garb beneath that confirmed a child bump that fueled a wave of social media hypothesis till the large revelation. She stood on a clear rectangular platform that raised and lowered as she belted out the lyrics to “Bitch Better Have My Money” over the turf the place the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs had been battling moments earlier.
Dancers sporting white ski-style fits and shaded goggles had their very own suspended platforms that moved in live performance with hers.
She and the dancers had been lowered to a protracted stage that matched her outfit as she sped by means of hits together with “Work,” “Where Have You Been,” and “Only Girl,” belting out “Want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world.”
There had been additionally not one of the fixed costume modifications and scene shifts from earlier years. The theme — and the colour scheme — stayed the identical all through the 13-minute present, with purple lights bathing the stage at instances and golden fireworks exploding within the air above her.
The lengthy stage allowed for prolonged pull-away pictures as she stared down the digicam and overhead monitoring pictures of Rihanna and her dancers.
At one level she powdered her face and checked it in a mirror earlier than getting again on the mic.
Lights sparkled from the stands as she was hoisted alone again into the air and sang “Diamonds” — with its chorus of “shine bright like a diamond” — because the set closed.
Rihanna’s efficiency was her first solo efficiency occasion in seven years, and her first since turning into a mom for the primary time 9 months in the past.
A SIMPLY SPANGLED BANNER
Country star Chris Stapleton made the nationwide anthem a easy affair at Super Bowl 57, standing alone on the sector accompanied by solely his electrical guitar as he sang “The Star Spangled Banner” moments earlier than the Kansas City Chiefs kickoff to the Philadelphia Eagles to start out the sport.
Dressed merely in easy black denim and sun shades, with neatly combed hair as a substitute of his signature feathered cowboy hat, he sang the anthem as a plaintive ballad, choosing it as much as rock solely briefly as he delivered the ultimate strains “banner yet wave” and “land of the free!”
His anthem felt sluggish, nevertheless it clocked in at 2 minutes, 2 seconds, beneath the two minutes, 5 seconds predicted by oddsmakers. But it was greater than 10 seconds longer than final 12 months’s sung by one other nation star, Mickey Guyton.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and beginning middle Jason Kelce each had tears of their eyes throughout Stapleton’s emotional efficiency.
As the eight-time Grammy winner sang, “CODA” star Troy Kotsur, the primary deaf man to win an performing Oscar, signed the anthem lyrics.
OTHER ANTHEMS
Before Stapleton’s anthem, “Abbot Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph carried out “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Wearing a flowing purple velvet robe, Ralph started the track dubbed the Black nationwide anthem as a reflective ballad, and it grew to become a hovering hymn because it went on, with military-style drums becoming a member of her and a choir dressed all in white chiming in behind her on the sector at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
And R&B legend Babyface delivered “America the Beautiful” as a soulful people track, enjoying an acoustic guitar painted with an American flag and blue flowers as he stood alone on the sector. A backing monitor with drum machines and singers kicked in earlier than he was executed.
FAMOUS FANS, PERFORMERS AND PITCH PEOPLE
Die-hard Chiefs fan Paul Rudd was on the sector earlier than the sport, sporting a giant smile and a workforce jersey.
Philadelphia native Bradley Cooper, sporting an Eagles T-shirt, celebrated from the stands as his workforce put the primary factors of a thriller of a sport on the board. Another well-known Philly fan, Kevin Hart, sporting a jersey, stood and flapped his arms.
Jay-Z, Tiffany Haddish, rapper GloRilla and chef Gordon Ramsay had been additionally noticed within the stadium.
Pregame performances got here from DJ Snake and Jason Derulo, whose backup dancers included synchronized robotic canines.
Many stars have made the scene at Super Bowl week events.
Many others, together with Serena Williams, Adam Driver and John Travolta, are exhibiting up within the large sport’s large commercials.
And U2 revealed in a business late within the sport that they had been returning to the live performance stage for the primary time since 2019.
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
___
AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum contributed to this story from Glendale, Ariz.
___
For extra Super Bowl protection, together with of the sport’s leisure choices, go to: www.apnews.com/SuperBowl
Source: www.bostonherald.com”