Sam Amico
Apple Music has taken the reigns for the Super Bowl from Pepsi. Now, the company is trying to make a splash in its first attempt at stopping the show.
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So it has tabbed none other than Rihanna to headline this year’s Super Bowl halftime act.
The NFL posted the announcement on its own website, full of buzzwords and manufactured excitement. But it couldn’t hold a candle to Rhianna’s announcement on Instagram — and she said nothing.
All she did was hold up a football and have a picture snapped of it.
In an interesting twist, she said she turned down the chance to headline before. She was asked to be part of the Super Bowl Halftime Show back in 2019. At that time she was citing her support of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“I couldn’t dare do that. For what?” Rihanna told Vogue. “Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all. I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
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Last season, more than 120 million viewers took in the Super Bowl Halftime Show. It was a flashback classic that featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the actual game.
“We are proud to welcome Apple Music to the NFL family as our new partner for the iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show,” Nana-Yaw Asamoah, the NFL’s senior vice president of partner strategy, said in a statement. “We couldn’t think of a more appropriate partner for the world’s most-watched musical performance than Apple Music, a service that entertains, inspires, and motivates millions of people around the world through the intersection of music and technology.”
