The star stood on a wobbly glass platform 60 feet above a football field, clad in a bright red jumpsuit and defined by a look of impassioned confidence. Even at the very opening of her performance, Rihanna had already made undoubted halftime history as a symbol of female power.
In addition to Rihanna’s feminist impact during the show, viewers noticed the singer motioning toward her stomach and an outfit that accentuated what appeared to be a baby bump. Immediately, Rihanna’s halftime show has grown beyond a representation of mere feminism. The performance stands as a symbol of 21st century motherhood and crafts an empowering image of pregnancy that breaks through a glass ceiling of stereotypes.
Often, pregnancy is associated with a stigma of emotional instability and general weakness. The unjustified perspective has grown out of a misinterpretation of real pregnancy symptoms, such as hormonal alterations and discomfort, that simply come with the difficulty of growing a human within one’s uterus. Rihanna inarguably breaks down stereotypes of incompetency, for her vocals remained impeccable, her dancing immaculate and the execution of her halftime show near-perfect.
By maintaining a standard of putting on jaw-dropping show all while carrying a fetus, Rihanna ensures that pregnant women not only have the capability to be strong performers in their careers but also leaders in their fields. The staging choices of placing Rihanna on an elevated platform and commanding a field of dancers, all while dressing her in a fiery red one-piece, also contributes to a lasting impression of pregnant women being unstoppable, independent forces.
Through dance, Rihanna vigorously broke down the view of pregnant women as inherently non-sexual people. Often, pregnancy and its natural effects of internal discomfort and weight gain unjustly pushes pregnant women into a stereotype of unattractiveness and thus a lack of sexual empowerment. Still, by continuing to dance seductively, especially with the fierce, sexual choreography of “Rude Boy,” Rihanna maintained that pregnancy does not mean a loss of glamor in any sense.
Despite an array of reviews hailing Rihanna’s powerful show, critics have frequented the term “low-energy” in criticizing Rihanna’s performance. One Twitter user called it “boring,” “horrible,” and “the worst Halftime show [they’ve] ever watched.”
However, critics must recall that independence during pregnancy does not mean an entire disregard for taking precautions with one’s health while carrying a fetus. Naturally, Rihanna would not be able to execute more intense choreography. Still, recognizing the impact of Rihanna’s brilliant stage presence itself considering her pregnancy is essential to seeing the legacy that her halftime show will hold over the concept of American motherhood and female empowerment.
Ultimately, all 112 million viewers of Rihanna’s show were left with a new vision regarding the capability of pregnant women in the modern era. By putting on an engaging, energetic performance, Rihanna left a historical impression of mothers as individuals that can continue embracing themselves as sexual, powerful people while simultaneously raising the next generation. After all, the world would fall into disarray without the great sacrifice that pregnant women take on during the process of bearing new life. As Rihanna gracefully showed the nation during the Superbowl, pregnant women can too be “diamonds in the sky.”