I’m not a Rihanna fan. Never have been. I know she sang a song about an umbrella once, and another about finding love in a hopeless place. (I did see her in "Battleship" and wished I could get those two hours back, though to be fair, that cinematic travesty wasn't particularly her fault.)
But on Sunday night, I was already sitting on the couch, I didn't need a refill, and the news channels were repeating the same UFO speculation I’d been listening to off and on all day. So I watched her halftime Super Bowl performance, and here’s my conclusion: it was awesome.
Not the crotch-grabbing or the gyrating. Not defending that. I also wasn’t a huge fan of singing graphic references to sex or about asking rude boys if they can “get it up” (though apparently one of the more lyrically offensive songs was a number by the artist formerly known as Kanye, who of course, they wouldn’t have trotted out even before he went off the deep end and started blaming Jews for the end the world - but I digress).
But on two major points, Rihanna excelled, with the first being the simple fact that she managed to keep on all her clothes. Which, frankly, is saying something for a sporting event that brought us, well, this:
But alas, the standards these days are low, and at least we didn’t see boob. Or side-boob. Or even clavicle, actually.
But perhaps even more notable than Rihanna’s decided lack of nudity - or, perhaps, the reason for it - was the fact that she appeared to be sporting a prominent baby bump under her layers of neck-to-toe red fabric.
Now, again, as someone who’s not a Rihanna fan, I just figured I was out of the loop here, and that surely this was common knowledge to anyone who's been paying attention to such things. But apparently, Rihanna's expectant status was news even to the singer’s groupies, to the point of having to be publicly confirmed by her rep following the multi-milllion-viewer performance.
Which leads me to Point #2: Rihanna performing the Super Bowl Half-time show with her unborn child in tow is a remarkable moment for women, for motherhood, and for life.
It's not just that performing while visibly pregnant is a rough gig. As someone who's carried two babies to two weeks past their supposed "due date," I can tell you first-hand that it's hard as heck to walk up flight of stairs with a baby doing the Macarena on your diaphragm, much less stand on a floating platform in heels singing in 50-degree weather in front of millions of people. But even beyond the physical stamina points, Rihanna scored a victory she probably didn't even mean to.
For years, abortion giants like Planned Parenthood have convinced millions upon millions of vulnerable, desperate, terrified young women that motherhood will hold them back. That children will be the death of their dreams. That a baby will wreck your world and devastate your potential and mark The End of Life As You Know It. Their message is as clear as a bell and loud as a gong: You can't be a successful woman AND a mom.
And yet here was one of the nation’s most famous music stars standing on one of the biggest, most iconic stages in the world, proving yet again that there is absolutely nothing a mama can’t do, and that children don’t hold you back from your dreams: they usher you into a world more amazing than you ever thought possible.
And in a country in which more than 65 million babies have been slaughtered in the name of convenience, where politicians and abortionists prey on young women by telling them their children will be the death of their ambitions, where so many pregnancies are viewed as life-ending "mistakes," I’ll see Rihanna’s adorable baby bump and take it as an epic win - as is every single child for those mamas who choose life.
So was it the most captivating musical performance ever? Nah. Was it clean enough that you'd want your 7-year-old watching? As a mom of two, I wouldn't. But for every legit criticism of Sunday night's show that one could make, I'll just leave this here:
Tremendous special guest. https://t.co/JeUdS7jb5V
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 13, 2023