Rihanna to perform at Super Bowl halftime show

Rihanna will perform in the Super Bowl LVII halftime show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12.

In a social media post Sunday afternoon, the NFL shared a photo of Rihanna’s hand holding an official league football with the caption “Let’s GO,” ending the drama of who would perform after rumors circulated last week that Taylor Swift turned down an offer from the league.

Let’s GO – @rihanna @rocnation #SBLVII @AppleMusic @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/xmIXK5jsRg

— NFL (@NFL) September 25, 2022

Next month, Swift’s new album, “Midnights,” will be released, and reports surfaced this weekend that in the following months, Swift would continue a process of re-recording her first six albums.

Last season, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak performed at Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. More than 120 million viewers watched that performance, according to the NFL.

Last week, the NFL announced a multiyear partnership with Apple Music for the halftime shows, and Rihanna’s will be the first.

“We couldn’t think of a more appropriate partner for the world’s most-watched musical performance,” NFL SVP of partner strategy Nana-Yaw Asamoah said last week in a statement.

Rihanna, 34, has released eight studio albums across her career, winning nine Grammy Awards and 13 American Music Awards along the way.

The decision represents a change from 2019, when Rihanna said she turned down an offer to perform at the Super Bowl to show solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.

Rihanna told Vogue in a 2019 story that she would have been an “enabler” if she had performed at that season’s Super Bowl in Atlanta.

“I couldn’t dare do that,” she said. “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people.”

Maroon 5 performed in that Super Bowl, with Big Boi and Travis Scott also taking part.