Skip to main content
Culture

Rihanna triumphs at the Super Bowl XVII halftime show with a vertigo-inspiring set

Rihanna entered the stadium with a coterie of more than 200 dancers in puffy white flight suits who practically filled the field.

Rihanna performs onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show. | Rob Carr/Getty Images | Source: Getty Images

Suspended on a platform and flanked by pairs of dancers on platforms of their own, Rihanna entered State Farm Stadium with a sultry and electrifying performance that made one thing clear: Halftime shows are meant for home viewing. Also, she very well might be pregnant again.

Nine months after giving birth to her first child, four years after she last performed live and almost seven years after her last full-length release, Rihanna mounted her comeback (opens in new tab) with a kinetic and an ever-expanding coterie of dancers in puffy white flight suits, brought down to field level via minimalist, mirrored platforms.

Her vinyl breastplate seemed intended to signal that there would be no 2004-style wardrobe malfunction like the kind that partly derailed Janet Jackson’s career before coming back to haunt Justin Timberlake more than a decade later.

Rihanna speaks before the Super Bowl LVII Pregame & Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show. | Mike Coppola/Getty Images | Source: Getty Images

Then, shortly after “Hopeless Place,” came the crotch sniff. The morality police, primed by Kim Petras and Sam Smith’s devilish performance at the Grammys one weekend before, were scanning for any signs of satanic symbolism—but after so long out of the public eye, a bit of provocation was probably inevitable. It was hardly devilish, all devil-may-care.

It wasn’t about the fashion, as there were no major costume changes. But with a clever, dizzying use of camera work, Rihanna sang “Diamonds” against the glow of thousands of smartphones capturing video. (As it was sponsored by Apple Music, the platforms that delivered Rihanna and her dozens of dancers to the field looked vaguely like iPhones.) The ever-expanding scale of the choreography quickly became apparent, eventually filling almost the entire field.

Listen toSection 415
Today

Section 415: Making sense of the Warriors’ uneven start

A basketball player in a Golden State Warriors blue jersey with number 30 stands focused on the court, next to a vertical collage of basketball shots and "Warriors" text.
2 days ago

Section 415: How Natalie Nakase turned the Valkyries into an immediate force

A woman in black claps her hands and speaks, standing in a crowded arena with a basketball-themed red and black graphic on the left side.
6 days ago

Section 415: Tim Kawakami analyzes the 49ers, Giants, and Warriors

A basketball player in a Golden State Warriors uniform celebrates with mouth open and fist clenched during a game.
Rihanna's look seemed like it may have been designed to prevent a wardrobe malfunction like at the 2004 Super Bowl. | Gregory Shamus/Getty Images | Source: Getty Images

Astrid Kane can be reached at [email protected]