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This past Sunday, the world timed in for a halftime show by popstar Rihanna, who made her way back to the stage after a six-year hiatus, at the 56th Super Bowl in Arizona, USA.
There was also the small matter of a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, which was a splendid battle of the quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, whose Chiefs turned the screws in the fourth quarter to walk away with the win.
A small contingent of media and friends of ESPN gathered in Sandton at the Black Brick apartments to watch the festivities while enjoying some culinary delights from J Something’s new restaurant, which you can read about in more detail in #trending this week.
Now, as for the halftime show, this annual tradition has grown in prestige and significance as the years have gone by, with the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince and Beyoncé all shutting down their performances.
Last year, this show provided a moment in time through the efforts of Dr Dre and his ensemble of legendary acts.
Honestly, it was good to see the bad girl Riri back in action and for someone who isn’t the most vocally gifted, the pipes sounded clear and the delivery was true.
This was a celebration of her catalogue, which started off quite impressively with Bitch Better Have My Money.
Her stage for the most part hangs above the arena, a clear plexiglass platform where she stands atop draped in red, revealing her baby bump as she is expecting a second child with rapper A$ap Rocky.
Riri made sure to subtly boast the success of her cosmetic line Fenty in the stage's layout, as well as stopping to apply some mid-way through a song. Fans are dotingly referring to her halftime performance as the Fenty Bowl.
Chic product placement. Perhaps this was a ploy in part to deflect from the rather standard performance, on the whole.
Watch the full performance here.
This artist's fans will revel in her set, but it did become a little flaccid after a while. She relies heavily on her dancers; a tight troop of technicians clad in white who follow the singer around a striking set, but it didn’t really do what Dr Dre's set did last year.
You see that set tied into the Super Bowl being held in Los Angeles and they wove the story of Compton into that, while paying homage to the producer's monumental catalogue of rap music. Riri's performance was somewhat rudimentary, even though her efforts have been seeing her trend highly across the world.
Her songs flow into each other well, like a graceful medley, a rhythmic walk down memory lane. A picturesque moment was provided when she did the hit song Diamonds suspended in the air as the lights in the stadium were dimmed and cellphone lights accentuated to look like little diamonds shining brightly in the evening.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
