Rihanna performed at the Superbowl 57 halftime show this year after taking over a five-year break from performing. She was accompanied by a special guest but it was not what anyone expected. 

Usually, the Super Bowl halftime show is made up of two or three performers who come together to make a compilation of all their top hits. Rihanna, however, did not need another performer as she has 31 songs that have reached the top ten in the U.S. She was able to make a compilation of 13 of her top songs ranging from “Work” and “Wild Thoughts” to “Umbrella” and “Only Girl (In the World).” Her performance was 13 minutes long, so she performed about a minute-long snippet of each song.

 Rihanna also sang parts of the song “All of the Lights” by Kanye West ft. Rihanna and Kid Cudi. Since she chose to sing a song not completely sung by her, many people thought Kanye West was going to be her special guest. That was not the case, in fact, no one ended up joining Rihanna on stage throughout her performance. Her “special guest” was actually her expecting a baby. Rihanna wore a tight red bodysuit and a red puffer coat over the top. The tight bodysuit allowed viewers to clearly see her baby bump. People noticed and started to freak out. She had not previously announced her pregnancy, but by the end of the show, it was clear to the audience that her baby on the way was the “special guest” she was referring to. This would be her and A$AP Rocky’s second child together. 

With her pregnancy, she was not able to do as much dancing, outfit changes or extravagant moves as in past halftime performances, but she was able to make up for it with her stage and backup dancers. Rihanna had a clear, levitating platform that she stood on during a good portion of the performance, it would rise up to the ceiling and come down to the rest of the stage where she would be able to get off and join her backup dancers at times. She had around 80 backup dancers all dressed in similar outfits to her, except in white instead of red. This allowed her to stand out at all times. 

The lights during the performance were also something that made up for the lack of dancing. The whole performance stage was made up of multiple separate stages. Each stage had over 500 lights that were programmed to move along with Rihanna’s performance. The performance was very entertaining and a great watch. Many people agree as the performance had 118.7 million viewers across all platforms.