PHOENIX -- Are you ready for some Rihanna? The Grammy award-winning artist is set to make her long-awaited return to music when she takes the stage and performs at the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show tonight at State Farm Stadium.
Leading up to that performance, Rihanna sat down for an interview and dove into a variety of topics ranging from the upcoming show, how she's preparing for it both mentally and physically, what it means for the culture, and what her favorite album was to record. While she didn't reveal any major secrets about what's to come, we have already broken down and predicted what we could see.
Below, you can find a full breakdown of everything Rihanna said Thursday about what is expected to be a fantastical show that, as she stated, is crafted to be a "celebration."
Question: You're spending a lot of time preparing for the show and probably didn't get any sleep, but you still look like you're glowing from within. Is it the Fenty highlighter or are you just excited to hang out with us this morning?
Rihanna: "The Fenty highlighter is definitely helping today because I have yet to sleep. We were working at the venue all last night and I kind of just stayed there, ended up in prep and somehow I'm here at a press conference right now."
Q: How are you getting mentally ready for a performance like this?
Rihanna: "Sunday. That's the one. I've been so focused on the Super Bowl, I totally forgot that my birthday is coming up. I totally forgot about Valentine's Day. I am just like Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. It's a lot of preparation, a lot of moving parts. This is the week that it really is being tested. Everyone, we're just tightening up everything. Everybody is dialing in, everybody is tuning up, and a lot of moving parts. I mean, it's literally like three to four hundred people breaking the stage down and building it back up and getting it out in eight minutes. It's incredible. It's almost impossible. ... We're excited to do the Super Bowl. We've been working on it for a while and every day it just gets closer and closer to the finished product and today is a really big rehearsal. [The rehearsal is] a really important one so that's going to be crucial for Sunday."
Q: What has it been like for this moment to happen at this time in your career?
Rihanna: "It feels like it could have only been now. I mean, when I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like 'You sure? Like, I'm three months postpartum, should I be making major decisions like this right now? Like, I might regret this.' When you become a mom there's something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world, you can do anything and 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 me to do this this year. It's important for representation. It's important for my son to see that."
Q: What her grade school teacher said about Rihanna: She is sure of herself and displays a positive attitude. She's friendly. She takes a leading role in group activities and she expresses her ideas clearly and intelligently, and she's very relaxed in acting out ideas. ... We've seen you evolve over the years, but you still seem like that little girl.
Rihanna" "That was trippy to hear you read that out because I feel like you were kind of describing me right now, especially the relaxed part. That's a Caribbean thing. ... A lot of more core values have never left me. A lot of the lessons I've learned in my earliest years I have never forgotten and I carry them throughout my life and my career."
Q: What was it like putting this show together, starting with the setlist?
Rihanna: "The setlist was the biggest challenge. That was the hardest, hardest part. Deciding how to maximize 13 minutes, but also celebrate. That's what this show is going to be. It's going to be a celebration of my catalog and the best way that we could have put it together. You only have 13 minutes. That's a challenge. You're trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it's difficult. You know, some songs we had to lose because of that and that's going to be okay, but I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down."
Q: Was there trial and error during rehearsals?
Rihanna: "Oh yeah. Oh my god. There are probably about 39 versions of the setlist right now. I think we're on our 39th. I mean, every little change counts. Whether I want a guitar cut out, something muted, something added or just put in a whole new song or take out a whole song. Every time I make a change, something has to be updated and that's a new version."
Q: It seems like you always know the right time to jump in and take control. That's challenging for women. We're always nervous about coming off as too controlling or too bossy but sometimes you know in your gut what the right thing is for you, so how much have you been really getting into the details?
Rihanna: "I'm definitely not one that's worried about becoming too bossy. I've been bossy all my life ever since I was a little girl. I promise you this. Hell, I'm annoying, too. I know some people get irritated but it's riding on me. There are a lot of people who are a part of this show and a huge part of the reasons why this show is going to be as incredible as it is, and I couldn't have done it without them. But at the end of the day, if it flops or it flies, my name has to stand by that and so I really get involved with every aspect of anything that I do. Whether it's the Super Bowl or a makeup product or whether it's Savage lingerie, whatever I do I'm that annoying girl who is going to talk about everything. I want to see the copy on the website, I want to name every lipstick that I make. I care about it. I love it. I really do."
Q: What has it been like physically getting ready for this performance?
Rihanna: "The physical challenge has definitely been immense for many reasons. I haven't done this in a minute, first things first. You're just running around for 13 minutes trying to put a two-hour set in 13 minutes, and you're going to see on Sunday from the time it starts it just never ends until it's the very last second. ... It's a jam-packed show and it takes a toll on your body. It really does."
Q: Are you hoping to incorporate any Caribbean culture into the show?
Rihanna: "That's a big part of why this is important for me to do this show. Representation -- representing for immigrants, representing my country Barbados, representing for Black women everywhere. I think that's really important. That's key for people to see the possibilities and I'm honored to be here and be doing this this year."
Q: Difference now balancing a child and work?
Rihanna: "Yes, it's very different. The balance is almost impossible because no matter how you look at it work is always going to be something that is going to rob you of time with your child. That's the currency now. That's where it goes. The magnitude of how much it weighs when you make decisions on what you're going to say yes to, and it has to be worth it."
Q: What is the cultural significance for you performing at the Super Bowl?
Rihanna: "It's a long way from home, right? It's a long way from home. It's a beautiful journey that I'm on and I could have never guessed that I would have made it here, so it's a celebration of that. I'm excited to do that. I'm really excited to have Barbados on the Super Bowl stage."
Q: How was that period for you during your break from music? Do you feel now refreshed and ready to get back to music?
Rihanna: "The pandemic in a weird way forced me to slow down. When you have all these boundaries and restraints and rules and you have to stay home, you kind of get creative with ways to stay entertained in a way. Road tripping was one of those things that I've always loved. I just usually road trip while I'm on tour, so I got to feel the things I love about tour without having the commitment of the show every single day. It's nice to appreciate that time. I really enjoyed it actually."
Q: How do you feel about this latest chapter in your music-making career?
Rihanna: "Musically I'm feeling open. I'm feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, and might not ever make sense to my fans, the people that know the music I've put out. I just want to play. I want to have fun. I want to have fun with music."
Q: What was your favorite album to record?
Rihanna: "I really enjoyed recording Loud and Diamonds. I was on the road for both of those albums when I created them. I was on tour one album, making the next and then I came back and toured that album and made the next, and then Anti was the first time that I took my time making an album while not being on tour. That frustrated my fans a bit and here I am doing it again to them, but Anti for sure top favorite album I've ever made."
Q: What was the most important thing you learned to succeed in the music industry?
Rihanna: "To stay humble. Stay humble. If not, this industry will humble you one way or the other. My humility came from my childhood growing up in the Caribbean and growing up in my household with my mom. She is a humble woman. Her mom was a very humble woman, and I've never lost sight of that. That's very important to me. I often fear the pedestal that the world can put you on, and I always want to feel my feet on the ground. That makes me feel safe."
