Rihanna has become the latest black musician to perform on the world’s most significant stage. As expected, she delivered an amazing halftime performance in Super Bowl LVII. The nine-time Grammy winner has sung dozens of her greatest hits, including Umbrella, Pour it Up, Rude Boy, Diamonds, and Work.
According to Billboard, Rihanna has fourteen number-one songs and 30 top-ten songs. It wowed audiences in Glendale, Arizona, and the millions of others who watched this year’s Super Bowl on TV. Perhaps most impressively, it also increased the racial and gender diversity of its halftime roster.
Rihanna is now part of an elite sorority that includes Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, and Mary J. In 1977, Ella Fitzgerald became the first. Why is this important? Rihanna and other black women work in an industry dominated by white executives and men (a few of whom are black). It is one of the music industry’s most persistent and widespread problems.
Additionally, according to the Recording Academy, the group that decides which music artists receive a Grammy each year, 69% of its members are male and 67% are white, which is an improvement since implementing its new membership model four years ago. They have nominated Rihanna for 33 Grammy Awards.
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Before Jay Z and Roc Nation began teaming up with the NFL in 2019, very few black musicians appeared on the Super Bowl halftime stage. Last year’s performance, an ode to West Coast hip-hop, saw a change. It was a huge tribute to Dr. Dre and featured many of the artists whose music he produced. It was amazing. My review of Ebony magazine was that Mary J. Blige was the only woman to grace the stage at last year’s show along with Dre, Snoop, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and 50 Cent. This year, Rihanna was the only performer, accompanied by dozens of incredibly talented dancers of all genders.
