Facebook
X
LinkdIn
Copy Link
Surprise! Rihanna is pregnant again.
This was the big takeaway from the Grammy-winning singer’s Super Bowl Halftime show, her first solo live performance in seven years. The thirty-four-year-old took a step back from her music career to focus on other projects such as her successful make-up and lingerie line Fenty, before giving birth to her first child in May 2022.
Rihanna’s return to the spotlight was not met without criticism. Some Republicans blasted the NFL’s choice to have Rihanna perform due to her aggressively left-wing political views. Others took issue with the performance itself, pointing out that some of her lyrics and dance moves were quite raunchy.
“Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl History,” former president Donald Trump said. “This after insulting far more than half our Nation… with her foul and insulting language.”
The most baffling accusation was that Rihanna’s red jumpsuit was a nod to Satan. Sometimes performers just wear red because it pops on stage! And why would Rihanna need to be so subtle after all of Hollywood yas-queen’d two freaks dressed in actual Satanic garb — complete with devil horns — at the Grammys last week?
I understand the impulse to reject all aspects of pop culture given its frequent anti-religious and anti-family messaging. But Rihanna’s pregnant performance actually gives conservatives the opportunity to highlight the beauty of pregnancy and life.
Rihanna stood proudly on a floating platform and rubbed her hand along her baby bump. Her outfit was constructed to further emphasize her pregnancy. As she sang the words “I’m alive” during her song “Diamonds”, Rihanna again caressed the growing life inside of her.
Rihanna became the first pregnant woman to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show and sent an important counter-cultural message: women’s lives aren’t over after they have children. Unlike actress Michelle Williams, who suggested she couldn’t have won a Golden Globe without aborting her baby, Rihanna showed that women can still succeed at the highest level while embracing the gift of fertility. She also affirmed the pro-life position that fetuses are alive.
After the birth of her first child, Rihanna said being a mom is “the best feeling, the best.”
It is “the most love I’ve ever known,” she added. “I can’t describe it. It’s new. It’s fascinating.”
Rihanna previously said she wouldn’t perform at the Super Bowl because she wanted to stand in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the infamous NFL anthem-kneeler. However, in recent interviews, it appears becoming a mother has softened her heart and mad her priority family over politics.
“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,” she explained. “It’s important for my son to see that.”
Rapper A$AP Rocky looked on with pride from the sidelines as he watched the mother of his children perform on one of the world’s biggest stages.
Sure, Rihanna’s political views suck and I could have done without some of the more risqué moments from the show, such as the crotch-grab. But sometimes we have to remember not to make the perfect the enemy of the good. I would take Rihanna’s pregnant performance any day over Beyonce’s Black Lives Matter tribute or Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s stripper-adjacent showing.
