Super Bowl is the final game of the National Football League (NFL) which determines the champion team of the season. Since 1966, it has taken the place of the NFL Championship Game as the season-ending game for each NFL season. One marquee event of this game is the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Since the 90s the show has featured major singers headlining this show starting from Michael Jackson’s show in 1993. This has contributed to increased interest in the Super Bowl both nationally and among television viewers. For the 2023 edition of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the headliner was Rihanna.
This was her first show in many years as she last performed during the 60th Grammy Awards. The show was a huge success owing to her first performance in five years.
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Why Artists Are Not Paid For Super Bowl Halftime Show
The Super Bowl organizers don’t ever pay the artists who headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Therefore artists performing for the show do it for free. This means that even Rihanna didn’t get paid for the halftime show. The NFL however does bear the associated costs of the halftime show. They are responsible for the organization of the entire show and pay the expenses and production costs.
The crew is compensated for the show. The NFL spokesperson has reiterated that they only handle the production costs. Though one should not feel bad for Rihanna. The exposure provided by the show often ends up boosting sales and streams for the headlining artist. The performance also results in increased social media following. Similarly, in the case of Rihanna, it was reported that searches for Fenty Beauty increased by 880%. Similarly, streams of her catalog online were also boosted and her songs were trending on streaming platforms.
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Rihanna’s Powerful Halftime Show Performance
Even though Rihanna didn’t get paid for the Super Bowl performance, it was still a blockbuster hit. The audience enjoyed Rihanna’s performance after her absence from singing for many years. She belted out hits after hits like ‘B***h Better Have My Money’, ‘We Found Love’, ‘Rude Boy’, ‘Work’ and many more before closing the show with ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Diamonds’. Even though the performance was low energy owing to Rihanna’s pregnancy, the audience and performers more than made up for the intensity.
Many famous faces also turned up at the stadium just to watch Rihanna perform. Stars that were spotted in the crowd were Cara Delevingne, Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy, Paul Rudd, Questlove, Adele, Quinta Brunson, A$AP Rocky, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Hart, LeBron James, Paul McCartney, Gordon Ramsey, Elon Musk and many more graced the stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Cara Delevingne also wore a top that said ‘Rihanna Concert Interrupted By A Football Game But Whatever’, a sentiment that was echoed by many fans.
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