I still haven’t gotten over Riri’s halftime show. It was something else. Looking back, this might be the best-directed Super Bowl Half time show I’ve seen up till now. The more I look at it, the more I love it, the more I understand how well put together it is. Let’s unravel.

There she was standing up there, having teased nothing about her performance, nothing on social media, very quiet, doing her thing, with her lingerie and makeup brand, just a post, a hand, with a football, nothing more. Clueless she left us. 

First shot, a zoomed in on her beautiful face and bit off her chest. We got to see her hair and make cup and a tease of what she was wearing. It was red. Then she started to sing ‘Hey yo’(from Bitch better have my money) a quick pet over her PREGNANT belly, HELLO… just like that, she left us clueless again. I was like, what? She is pregnant? No, I’m kidding my boyfriend already told me beforehand, unfortunately so. They then zoomed out, for an overlook of the floating platforms. HOLD UP, that moment has passed way too fast!

Direction/production:
I mean great camera work, overviews, shots of the stadium outside, different angles, front shots, coming to the side as they started walking the catwalk as I would like to call it. As I’m writing this down, you might think I actually know a thing about directing, of course, I don’t I just write down what I’ve seen. And then that moment when Riri decided to powder her nose, with a Fenty kit. MOGUL! Fireworks, and lighting mainly centered towards the stage. 

Stage:
A squid game-inspired set up I would say, changing platforms fortunately not see-through, for the dancers and Rihanna, would’ve been too much. A bit scary, thinking she is with child and on a platform that will go up. Can you imagine how high that must have been? Okay, over to the field with the red almost runway, with different height, which they used the whole performance, nicely done.

Singing:
After years of not seeing her perform or any new music. She decides to sing… while pregnant! of course, I think she didn’t plan to be pregnant while saying yes to the super bowl halftime show. But was it live? It would be a shame if it wasn’t. At some points, she didn’t hit the notes, but that is just arrangement, but I feel like, it’s better than not singing live. There were no featured artists performing, and she carried every song, rightfully by herself, she deserve to throw herself a party. 

Dancing:
Parris Goebel was the Choreographer, might I add that the styling of the clothes almost ruined the choreo for me. I feel like that has not done justice to the great performance of the dancers. 

I get the concept, everything is big and baggy but it just didn’t do it for me. They knew Riri wouldn’t have been able to give it her all, as for the dancing and the dancers complimented her in every way. The number of dancers was spot on, it has a big impact that way on the choreo, or has it been done the other way around, is the choreo made to be performed by many dancers?

Clothing:
I get it but no, it didn’t do the choreo justice. I didn’t mind the baggy pants, not even the Y2K pants chain, and the tops, but the bomber jackets, is a hard no for me. The white however complimented the stage setting and Riri’s red clothing. As for Riri, looked fierce and the faux leather bralette over an almost sheer top is a theme during this pregnancy, I’d like to refer you to another blog:
to get the picture. 

The boiler suit, suits her, it’s a little tuff. It’s giving factory worker or baby making machine. 

Music:
A medley of her greatest hits, it was a short half-time show, with only 13 minutes, enough for me though. A few songs I’d like to talk about:
Run this town was backed up by the band it was perfect, the whole field full of dancers, performing synchronized. 

All of the lights, had to be in the medley because it’s one of my two favorite songs of Rihanna. And there were more dancers coming out, a little bit strange how they announced themselves but okay, I’ll take it. Because I also loved the memes. 

Diamonds: Excuse me, whoever directed this, hopefully, has been greatly rewarded, or was it Riri herself, that directed this halftime show? The arrangement of the song was amazing, hitting those notes she ever sang herself is difficult, especially while pregnant, I can imagine. The way the whole stage was cleared, all the sperm cells were gone, only the band was down there, the camera lights in the stadium, by the audience, the fireworks, the homage to Andre, the makeup that was very nicely lit. I mean, the lift-off on the floating stage, the mic, this performance was perfect and everything, we, the simple audience love to see. 

Riri did it all by herself, beautifully and strongly, and what I enjoyed seeing is that she enjoyed every single moment! This show is often so serious for the artists, which even a Dutch down-to-earth girl like me gets, but the artists don’t seem to enjoy their art, and Riri did enjoy it. 

-The Super Bowl halftime show of 2023 was a 13-minute treat, I dare anyone else to top it. Beyonce, you up for another round? 

 

 

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Rihanna, singer, makeup mogul, lingerie mogul, designer, actress, performer, mother, pregnancy reveal, pregnant, ASAP Rocky, baby Fenty, Fenty, Savage X Fenty, Barbados, Island girl, Black girl magic.