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Rihanna won’t be getting compensated for her much-anticipated Super Bowl show.
Despite being the stage for the fashion mogul’s long-awaited musical comeback, like other Super Bowl alumni, she won’t be getting paid.
Rihanna previously turned down a chance to perform at the sports event in 2019, in support of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick who took a knee in protest of police brutality and systemic racism.
“I just couldn’t be a sellout,” she told Vogue at the time, “I couldn’t be an enabler.”
Now in 2023, the pop star is finally taking her turn on the stage.
“I felt like it was now or never for me,” Rihanna said in an interview with AP News months ago. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that.”
But while her performance may be broadcast to a projected audience of 192 million, she will be dedicating her time for the honour alone.
Previous headliners, like Michael Jackson, Prince, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, were also not paid for the performance, but that’s not to say appearing the Super Bowl doesn’t have its benefits.
When Lady Gaga took the stage in 2017, she gained a 1000% increase in sales across the board according to Forbes. Jennifer Lopez gained 2.3 million new followers across social media from her performance in 2020.
Hopefully Rihanna will see a similar boost as halftime shows can build up high costs in production. The Weeknd was said to have spent $7 million of his own cash to make sure his show was up to par.
The upcoming Super Bowl will be her return to music after six years, last releasing the track Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in 2017. The song earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.
“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. 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,” she said at a press conference ahead of the show.
The Super Bowl LVII will air on Sunday, Feb. 12