The singer, who declined to be the 2019 halftime show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, will headline the 2023 Super Bowl, the NFL in conjunction with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Apple Music announced Sunday.
Rihanna posted an image on Instagram with her arms outstretched holding a football.
“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman with humble beginnings who has exceeded expectations at every turn,” Shawn “Jay-Z Carter, whose company Roc Nation will executive produce on the show, said in a statement. ”A person who was born in the small nation of Barbados and who became the greatest artist. He has made it for himself in business and entertainment.”
The Super Bowl will be staged at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 12. After years of Pepsi sponsorship, the upcoming halftime show will be sponsored by Apple Music.
Rihanna has previously claimed that she turned down a similar opportunity for the 2019 Super Bowl and ultimately headlined Maroon 5. At the time, many artists voiced their support for Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose protest during the national anthem in 2016 sparked debate. on the sport.
“I didn’t dare to do it, what for?” Rihanna told Vogue magazine in 2019. “Who wins with that? I couldn’t sell myself. I couldn’t be a promoter. There are things with that organization that I don’t agree with and I wasn’t going to serve them in any way,” she said of the league.
With sales exceeding 250 million albums, Rihanna ranks as one of the best-selling female artists in the world. Her last album was “Anti” in 2016.