Super Bowl
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Rihanna is down to joke, but the Super Bowl LVII halftime queen wasn’t laughing when league MVP and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was tricked into thinking she had called him the G.O.A.T. “That’s so mean. He is mean, O.K.,” Rihanna said when she was told about a bit where former NFL wideout Brandon Marshall punk’d Mahomes during a press event on Wednesday.
Marshall caught up with RihRih during her press day on Thursday (Feb. 9) and described how he told Mahomes that the singer had heaped praise on him before revealing that he was lying.
“I’m so sorry you went through that,” Rihanna said with a smile when Marshall asked her to actually say something nice about Mahomes. “I still think you’re great.”
“Rihanna came out and said that you are the greatest quarterback ever. Hearing that how does that make you feel?,” Marshall asked Mahomes during the QB’s Q&A session earlier this week. “It makes you feel great,” Mahomes responded. “Whatever Rihanna says is like the gospels. So I’m glad that she went with me for that honor.”
The two-time Super Bowl QB then turned KC red when Marshall added, “She didn’t. I was messing with you.”
Jokes aside, Rihanna is gearing up to blow minds on Sunday (Feb. 12) in Glendale, Arizona when Mahomes takes on the Philadelphia Eagles in the big game in her first live performance in seven years. “It feels like it could have only been now,” she said during a sit down with Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis to talk about her Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show set.
“When I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like, [hisses] ‘You sure?’ I’m three months postpartum. Should I be making major decisions like this right now? I might regret this,” she said. “But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all … It’s important for my son to see that.”
Check out Rihanna’s response and the original Mahomes video below.
Ever since Rihanna was announced as the headliner of the Super Bowl LVII halftime show over four months ago, part of the fun for longtime fans has been trying to guess which of her many, many hits her setlist will include. Typically, Super Bowl halftime performers are given between 12 and 15 minutes to play on the world’s biggest stage — so even if Rihanna opts to perform an ultra-efficient mega-mix at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. on Sunday night (Feb. 12), she probably won’t be able to squeeze in anywhere close to her 14 career Hot 100 chart-toppers, let alone all of her 31 career top 10 singles.
So which hits are making the Super Bowl, and which ones are being left outside the stadium? Although Rihanna’s setlist is being kept tightly under wraps, it’s safe to assume that some of her defining smashes (“Umbrella,” “We Found Love,” “Diamonds,” “Rude Boy,” “Work,” “SOS”) will be featured alongside a combination of notable hits that work in a Super Bowl context (“Only Girl (in the World),” “Where Have You Been,” “Pon de Replay,” “Disturbia,” “Don’t Stop the Music,” “This is What You Came For”).
Toss in a ballad or two, and save some time for recent single “Lift Me Up” (which is nominated for the best original song Oscar — Rihanna would be smart to appeal to Academy voters on the largest platform possible!), and you’re looking at a robust setlist, full of hits and stuffed to the brim. But the truth is, Rihanna could create a memorable Super Bowl show using none of those aforementioned songs — that’s how many career hits she’s accrued. And while there’s a good sense of which Rihanna hits won’t be performed at the Super Bowl, a fair amount of them deserve to be hoisted back up for the world to see.
Here are 10 Rihanna songs that, in all likelihood, won’t be played during the Super Bowl halftime show… but if we’re being honest, they really should be.
Zach Braff and Donald Faison tell us more, tell us more about T-Mobile Home Internet in a new Super Bowl commercial on Thursday (Feb. 9), set to the tune of the Grease hit “Summer Nights” and featuring Danny Zuko himself, John Travolta.
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The one-minute, Panay Films-produced ad opens with Travolta feeling frustrated over installing home Internet as the opening notes of “Summer Nights” begin to play. That’s when Faison and Braff jump in to help their neighbor out. “Try T-Mobile, it sets up so fast/ It’s like WiFi that runs on 5G/ Home internet from T-Mobile?/ Wait ’til you see!” the trio sings, switching up the lyrics to the iconic song.
“It was such an honor to sing and dance with John,” Braff said in a statement to Billboard. “Donald and I are both fans of musical theater, so getting the opportunity to perform ‘Summer Nights’ with Danny Zuko himself was beyond our wildest fantasies. John could not have been more kind and humble. Donald and I both took turns peppering him with questions about his many beloved roles and he was so generous with his funny anecdotes. Donald had MANY Face/Off questions. I got to ask all about the dance sequence in Pulp Fiction. We had so much fun.”
Faison added: “It was a joy to work with John Travolta and to sing our version of such an iconic song. I couldn’t believe it when Zach and I were told it was going to happen. We danced with joy over FaceTime!”
Billboard also snagged an exclusive video of Faison and Braff having an absolute blast recording the song in the studio. Check it out below, and catch the T-Mobile Home Internet commercial when it airs during Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, with kick-off at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
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Andy Reid is best known as one of the best football minds in the NFL today, but nobody would confuse him for being an expert on modern-day Hip-Hop. During a media session on Wednesday (Feb. 8), the Kansas City Chiefs head coach was asked to name the top three rappers alive and the results were hilarious.
Andy Reid, 64, was at the podium fielding questions from members of the media ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl contest against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (Feb. 12). Among the reporters in the room, former NFL player Brandon Marshall used the moment to test Coach Reid’s Hip-Hop knowledge and the results were actually shocking.
“Do the Fat Boys count as one rapper?” Reid fired back, according to a report from local outlet The Kansas City Star. “All right, Jay-Z, shoot, I don’t know. I’m missing Master P. Yeah, I’m giving you all the old ones. Lil Wayne, wasn’t he just at our place? Who was just at our place?”
As the outlet notes, the name Coach Reid was searching for was Lil Jon, who was a halftime performer at the AFC Divisional Playoffs game versus the Jacksonville Jaguars at Arrowhead. Close, but no cigar, kind sir.
We’re actually impressed that Coach Andy Reid had the swiftness to name that many rappers but it figures that many of the stars he’s coached over the years blasted their tunes and put Reid up on game.
Check out the hilarious exchange below.
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Photo: Getty
We get an inside scoop on Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime show from some of the producers behind the show. Madonna claps back at backlash over her looks, Bad Bunny and Christina Aguilera will be honored at the GLAAD Awards. Billboard unveils our top 10 greatest rappers of all time and more!
Talk about good timing! Rihanna’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday (Feb. 12) comes just 18 days before final-round voting begins for the 2023 Oscars. Rihanna, of course, is nominated for best original song for co-writing “Lift Me Up,” her soulful ballad from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
While it’s not yet known if “Lift Me Up” will be in Rihanna’s setlist during her halftime show, it’s very likely that it will be. You don’t get to be one of the biggest music stars on the planet without seizing golden opportunities. If Rihanna does perform the song during her set, this will amount to the most-viewed “For Your Consideration” ad of all time.
The annual Oscar nominees luncheon is set for Monday, Feb. 13, the day after the Super Bowl. Final-round voting extends from March 2 at 9 a.m. PT to March 7 at 5 p.m. PT.
This exquisite timing makes up for a rare bit of bad timing in Rihanna’s gilded career last fall when “Lift Me Up” was released. The song debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Nov. 12, 2022, kept out of the top spot by Taylor Swift’s megahit “Anti-Hero,” then in its second week on top. “Lift Me Up” just missed becoming Rihanna’s 15th No. 1 on Billboard’s flagship songs chart.
Rihanna co-wrote “Lift Me Up” with Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson. This year’s other nominees for best original song are “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman (Diane Warren), “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick (Lady Gaga and BloodPop), “Naatu Naatu” from RRR (M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose) and “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once (Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski).
The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12.
After months of anticipation, we’re just days away from Rihanna taking the stage for the Super Bowl LVII halftime show. Ahead of the big event, Billboard chatted with the show’s executive producer Jesse Collins and President of Jesse Collins Entertainment, Dionne Harmon.
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“She’s working hard […] It’s going to be a halftime show like none other,” Collins told Billboard at the Golden Globes afterparty on Jan. 10, adding that he hopes the superstar performs “all” her major hits.
Harmon, who says she’s excited for the “music, fashion, glamour” of RiRi’s performance, later joked, “Maybe she can just take over the whole game.”
Watch the full interview above.
The newly rebranded Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being produced by DPS with Roc Nation, will take place on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona. The performance marks Rihanna’s first in five years.
The 34-year-old pop star, who welcomed her first child with A$AP Rocky in May 2022, is still fresh off releasing her first pieces of new music in six years with “Lift Me Up,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 last November, and “Born Again” as part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn,” Jay-Z, former collaboration and founder of Roc Nation, previously said in a statement. “A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”
Missy Elliott and Jack Harlow had a blast filming their Doritos Super Bowl LVII commercial. But according to the “Work It” legend, the hilarious 90-second spot just scratches the surface of the belly laughs they shared on set during their first-ever in-person meeting.
OK, sorry, that’s not true.
Missy realized while speaking to Billboard this week that they actually (almost) met before, but she just forgot. “I never met Jack before. Wait … lies,” Elliott laughed while recalling that she thought they had never crossed paths, but that Harlow reminded her on set that they were in the same studio years ago when he was an up-and-comer. While they didn’t connect then, she was blown away by how “sweet and kind” Harlow was during the shoot.
In a teaser ad released last week, Elliott chilled at her studio as Harlow called up looking for a collab, though Missy shot down the idea of a “love triangle” with the incredulous, “I don’t know about that.” Though the love triangle bit isn’t in the in the final cut, Missy said they “laughed as if we had met years back, especially when we had to keep doing those lines. It would be fun to do those bloopers of us doing the skit.”
The final product, though, has plenty of twists and surprises. Harlow said it was an honor to finally meet Elliott in person, describing her as someone who is “very special to me … super special. And, not for nothing, “completely down to Earth and an open book … she left me inspired.” He said they joked and laughed their way through the script about Jack discovering that the magic element his music is missing is a tasty triangle.
Of course that triangle looks like a Doritos chip, but in Jack’s mind, it’s transformed into a musical triangle, and when he threatens to quit hip-hop to pursue triangle greatness, Missy warns him that it’s a fool’s errand. “I gotta do me, Missy,” Harlow tells her in the ad titled “Jack’s New Angle.” Cut to Jack rocking an arena while hitting the ‘angle, teaching a room full of prodigies how to correctly strike the three-sided instrument and budding triangalists mobbing a music store that is suddenly sold out of the least respected percussion piece of an orchestra.
Thanks to Harlow, triangles become a worldwide phenomenon, and though he’s the pioneer, in the end Harlow loses out to none other than Sir Elton John — in a surprise cameo — for Triangle Player of the Year.
Harlow said it’s a “big honor” to be part of the big game for the first time, especially partnering with the maker of his favorite childhood snack on the ad. When reminded that Elliott played halftime with Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz in 2015 and then went on to star in a 2020 Pepsi SB ad, Harlow said he would feel “blessed” if he could pull a reverse Missy and play the halftime show in the future. “I look up to her so much, so it was very special to me,” he said of their collab.
“We were laughing and joking and having a good time, but I also just wanted to hear stories about some of the things she did and where her head was at when she was making music early in her career,” he said of the between-shots chatter; Elliott said their downtime also included discussions of possibly getting together to work on another project in the future. As for the surprise John cameo, Harlow called it the “cherry on top … that’s an icon that reaches everyone and adds even more legitimacy to the ad. He’s so iconic and accomplished, a genius. I was thrilled that he a part of it.”
Though they did not meet in person, Harlow said being in an ad with John was “a nice start” and he’s confident they’ll meet in the future IRL. Harlow, who will make his big screen acting debut in the upcoming reboot of White Men Can’t Jump, said he was challenged at times to come up with some “different energy” on the shoot promoting the sweet and tangy BBQ Doritos line, but he appreciated the challenge.
Neither would reveal their pick to win the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, with Harlow saying he’s “messy” and just loves “drama,” so he would like to see a thrilling, overtime game. Elliott added that she doesn’t “want to get on nobody’s bad side,” so she’s keeping her pick mum and just gearing up to watch the game, and the commercial, of course.
“I will be up early to watch [the commercial],” Elliott said of her plans for Wednesday (Feb. 8), when the full spot drops. “I don’t think there’s a bigger platform of people that are watching you.”
Check out the full ad that will air on Sunday (Feb. 12) during the big game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., above.
Diddy doesn’t do jingles, but he sure knows how to make a hit song.
That’s why Uber One tapped the hip-hop/R&B chart-topper for its 2023 Super Bowl commercial, in which Diddy tries to help the food delivery membership service come up with a song sure to convert customers, with a little assistance from his musician friends.
A trio of executives with Uber One assures the producer that jingles are out of the question. “We’re talking about a hit song,” one of them says. “You want a hit?” Diddy replies, before “This Is How We Do It” singer Montell Jordan appears in the booth, singing a new Uber-fied version of his 1995 seven-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit.
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“Uber One can save you/ On rides and eats/ Yeah it’s kinda sweet,” he sings, before the next artist, Donna Lewis, takes her turn in the studio. “Uber One saves you forever/ Rides and eats, save on whatever,” she peacefully sings into the mic to the tune of her 1996 Hot 100 No. 2 track, “I Love You Always Forever.” Diddy approves, happily exclaiming, “OK, Donna!”
Kelis is the next artist to step into the studio, though she seems unimpressed that Diddy is getting a shape-up to his beard as she provides new lyrics to her 2003 Hot 100 top five hit “Milkshake.” “Your milkshakes cost way less than before/ This membership is better than yours,” she sings, before Diddy asks his barber if he’s a fan of milkshakes.
It isn’t until “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” singers Ylvis cause chaos in the booth that Diddy brings in the big guns to the studio: “What Is Love” singer Haddaway, who breathes new life into his signature song for Uber One. “Uber One/ Uber One saves me, saves me/ Way more,” he croons, much to Diddy’s delight — but sadly, not the Uber One executives.
Watch Diddy’s Super Bowl commercial for Uber One in the video above.
Adele is heading to Super Bowl LVII, but only for one reason: Rihanna‘s highly anticipated return to the live stage.
During her Las Vegas residency show on Friday (Feb. 3), the British songstress revealed to the audience that she’ll be attending the big game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 12. But it’s not because she’s interested in watching the face-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m going just for Rihanna,” Adele joked with an audience member at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which was caught on video and shared on social media. I don’t give a flying f—.”
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Next Sunday’s newly rebranded Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show — produced by DPS with Roc Nation — will mark Rihanna’s first live performance in five years.
The 34-year-old pop star, who welcomed her first child with A$AP Rocky in May 2022, is still fresh off releasing her first pieces of new music in six years with “Lift Me Up,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 last November, and “Born Again” as part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
Super Bowl Halftime Show musical director Adam Blackstone recently teased what’s in store for RiRi’s big return.
“The story that she wants to tell is, ‘Let’s be epic.’ Let’s let this be a moment in time that people will have never seen or heard before,” Blackstone, who previously worked with Rihanna on her Savage x Fenty fashion shows, told Good Morning America on Jan. 31. “We’re forcing the concert in the middle of the biggest sporting event in the world.”
As for potential onstage collaborations, Blackstone kept his lips sealed, but assured, “I think you’ll be in for a surprise.”