The week before the Super Bowl was an exhilarating time on Archmere’s campus. As Philadelphia’s own team, the Eagles, were preparing to face the Kansas City Chiefs, talk of the big game could be heard all throughout campus. Yet students were not only talking about the actual football that would be played that Sunday night, many passionately discussed what some called the big attraction of the game: Rihanna’s halftime performance. Known by many as one of the main queens of pop during the 2000s and 2010s, the time period when current Archmere students were growing up, her music has undoubtedly shaped many Auks’ taste in pop music. Besides affecting Archmere students, her music has had an immense influ- ence on pop culture and has brought together her ginormous fan base who call themselves the Rihanna Navy. Although she has not re- leased an album since 2016, she has been busy with some other exciting life events including the birth of her first child and running her own beauty brand, Fenty Beauty. Sufficient to say, by not having released an album for the past seven years, Rihanna built up a lot of excitement and anticipation for her Super Bowl halftime performance, and in my opinion, she certainly did not disappoint.

From the very start of her perfor- mance, Rihanna had her audience completely engaged. In a pyramid-like scheme Rihanna was elevated above the stage on a platform with her background dancers on platforms in stag- gering heights below her. The singer sported an all-red outfit with pants and jacket opened in the middle to reveal a tighter metallic bodysuit.

This outfit incited debates all across America, not because of the nature of the outfit itself but instead because of how it made many viewers question if the singer was pregnant again. Although many guessed that she just appeared pregnant due to postpartum from giving birth to her son in May, after the performance Rihanna revealed she was in fact pregnant again. Aside from this, as the show continued Rhianan delivered a simple yet memorable performance, with a red and white theme that put her iconic discography on display. Singing fan favorites such as “Where Have You Been,” “All of the Lights,” “We Found Love,” and “Umbrella,” Rihanna surely did not disappoint her “Navy.” In particular her performance of “All of the Lights” was quite the spectacle. As the opening lyrics could be heard, background dancers began to rush the field holding their arms out in a T shape. Before singing, Rihanna quickly applied some makeup to promote her brand Fenty Beauty, a definite iconic moment of the show. Shortly after this Rihanna sang one of her first big hits, “Umbrella,” while on an elevated platform. The star ended her incredible performance with a bang by dramatically singing “Diamonds” as she ascended farther up in the air and fireworks exploded above her, a truly spectacular way to end her spectacular performance. Archmere sophomore Caeli McAlonan is a Rihanna superfan and described her performance as “truly spectacular and one of the best halftime performances ever”—a testament very well justified by the star’s perfor- mance and one that all viewers, fans of Rihanna or not, can surely attest to.