Rihanna has a big day ahead of her as she gears up to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show with a medley of her biggest hits dating back to 2005. But one has to wonder how artists prepare for a show as huge and make sure the performance lives up to the excitement.
Well, on Sunday’s episode of “The Process With Nate Burleson” podcast, the “Desperado” hitmaker admitted that she’d been busy studying both of Beyonce’s performances at the Super Bowl which appears to have helped her prepare for her own.
"I watched Beyoncé's performance at halftime a few times, she's a beast on another level"
– Rihanna on the podcast "The Process" with Nate Burleson #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/YQsxqjByu4
— ᴀʀᴛʜ (@arthfobic) February 12, 2023
Rihanna on Beyoncé:
“I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple times. I mean she’s a beast in a whole other level.” pic.twitter.com/CFsnOBIi8B
— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 12, 2023
Fans will recall how Beyonce headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2013 before being invited back in 2016 when she joined headliner Coldplay and fellow musician Bruno Mars for a second time. “I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple of times. She is a beast and a whole other level. Just to be inspired, really,” Rihanna told host Nate Burleson.
Earlier this week, the Bajan beauty revealed during her press conference that narrowing down her extensive list of hits was particularly hard given that she only has about 13 minutes to put on the show of a lifetime. Rihanna shared that while there would be some popular songs that perhaps didn’t make the cut, she hopes that the tracks she’s locked in and is set to perform will be “a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could’ve put it together.”
“You’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it’s difficult, the Fenty Beauty founder expressed. “Some songs we have to lose because of that, and that’s gonna be OK, but I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down. I’ve been so focused on the Super Bowl I totally forgot that my birthday’s coming up. I totally forgot about Valentine’s Day.”
During the chat with Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis, Rihanna also revealed why she wanted to take on the opportunity of performing at the Super Bowl this time around, having previously said she turned down an offer in the past when the NFL approached her.
I will always love this video of Beyoncé & Rihanna. I will never join in the stan wars between the two. pic.twitter.com/AuoTQM4llv
— Don’t start arms 👊🏽🇩🇴 👑 (@ibeystannin) February 1, 2023
Me leaving Beyoncé’s world tour queue to join Rihanna’s pic.twitter.com/1IytRKElQl
— ＪＯＲＤＡＮ (@Jordanpayne_) February 7, 2023
RELATED: Rihanna Praised As ‘The Best Singer Of All Time’ Ahead Of Big Super Bowl Halftime Performance
“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world. You can do anything, and the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world,” she explained.
“So, as scary as that was… there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all, and it’s important for me to do this, this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see that.”