Some Alabama State University students are thrilled to see Rihanna perform at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, her first time performing since 2016. The Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 13.
According to Variety magazine, rumored guests for the halftime show performance include Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation is executive producing the show. Past collaborators such as Calvin Harris, Drake, Eminem, SZA and DJ Khaled, as well as her partner A$AP Rocky, are also speculated to potentially join Rihanna on stage.
Peyton London, a sophomore who majors in physical therapy said, “I have not seen Rihanna in 6 years and everybody loves RiRi.”
Symone Greenwood, a freshman who majors in dance, has similar feelings.
“Exciting is an understatement I do not know how many years (its been) since Rihanna performed been a lot of her music has been out since the 90’s so everybody gets to know what is going on and we get somebody that everybody gets to listen to I’m excited for Rihanna and her dancers to perform,” she said.
Aaron McNeil, a freshman psychology major said, “I think it’s outstanding for her and her career. Several people make it their business to follow what she and other celebrities do and that’s led to society as a whole forgetting that the same people we see on TV are just that, people. At the end of the day Rihanna is allowed to further her career because it is her career.”
Jayleeyah Davis, a freshman social work major, her appearance during the halftime show may be confusing to some people given her past statements.
“From a fan standpoint, I think we’re all excited to see Rihanna perform and we know it will be entertaining,” Davis said. “From the stance of the Black person in America, her choosing to perform is contradictory. She initially rejected the offer in 2019 to perform at the Super Bowl in support of Colin Kaepernick and his protest for Black Lives Matter. Her choosing to perform now that his controversy has passed looks like performative activism, and only choosing to decline for her image at the time. I think it will be interesting to see how people respond to her choice to perform or if they will just look past it for entertainment purposes.”
Desmond Lanehart, a junior majoring in social work feels Rihanna should not be performing and that someone else with lesser fame should be.
“We should have new people performing at Super Bowl instead of the mainstream artist,” Lanehart said. “We should have the new upcoming artists to perform instead of mainstream artists like Rihanna. She is already famous.”