Rihanna to Headline Tremendous Bowl LVII Halftime Present

Rihanna has slyly confirmed that she’s going to seem, and probably headline, the Tremendous Bowl LVII Halftime Present in Feb. 2023. Roc Nation additionally confirmed the singer’s participation on Sunday.

The singer shared an image of an NFL-branded soccer on her Instagram on Sunday. The submit got here amid reviews that the singer was “in talks” to headline the Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present.

The sport, which usually attracts one of many largest single TV audiences of the 12 months, is scheduled to be performed on the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. on Feb. 12.

Though having Rihanna because the halftime headliner is a logical conclusion from the Roc Nation connection, the singer has not launched an album since 2016, regardless of teasing her new music for greater than a 12 months. The choice to carry out on one of many world’s largest phases, absolutely has followers riled up on the considered new music from the R&B singer.

Rihanna was provided to headline the 2020 Halftime present, however turned down the provide in a call to point out solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and since she simply “couldn’t be a sellout.”

That is the primary 12 months that Apple Music will function a sponsor for the halftime present, changing the NFL’s longtime accomplice Pepsi. The NFL introduced the transfer final week at midnight, which had followers hypothesizing that Taylor Swift could be a possible headliner as a consequence of Swift’s connection to the hour (Her forthcoming album is known as “Midnights”). That was later disproved by sources near Swift who spoke to each Individuals and TMZ and alleged that though she had been approached by the NFL previously, the pop phenom had turned down the provide.

In Might, Pepsi formally renounced its title as a halftime present sponsor, selecting to stroll away from a decade-long affiliation that reworked the occasion from a lineup of primarily rock musicians like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in favor of a brand new group of artists aiming on the youthful generations that advertisers and the NFL search to courtroom. The NFL was stated to be searching for considerably increased annual funds for the sponsorship rights and based on a press launch issued by the league, their contract with the software program firm is a multi-year deal.

Apple has in latest months proven a better curiosity in sports activities. Its streaming platform has began new offers with Main League Baseball and Main League Soccer to point out video games to subscribers. Sports activities rights have lengthy been the province of conventional media corporations like Fox, Disney, Paramount World and NBCUniversal, however know-how corporations like Apple and Amazon have made a much bigger play for these rights as they search to usher in customers to their broadband subscription-video providers. Amazon, for its half, is now a serious NFL accomplice due to its management of rights to “Thursday Night time Soccer.”

Apple Music will likely be providing sneak peeks of its Halftime concepts through its social deal with, @AppleMusic, on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.