Chris Brown showed support for Rihanna during her Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on Sunday, February 12. The “Diamonds” singer, who revealed she’s pregnant with her second baby during the event, wow-ed fans across the country as she put on a jaw-dropping performance from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Stadium — her first time performing at the major concert event of the year. Her ex shared a short message of support for her on his Instagram Story.
As Rihanna performed the gravity-defying, hit-filled halftime show, Chris posted a simple message on his Story, sending her some love. “Go girl,” he wrote, along with a heart and prayer hand emojis.
Rihanna and Chris originally dated from 2007 until 2009. Their relationship became infamous when the couple were slated to perform together at the 2009 Grammys but canceled their appearance after Chris brutally beat the singer. Chris was charged with criminal assault and sentenced to five years of probation. While the 2009 incident became the most infamous of their relationship, they later did rekindle their romance briefly in 2013. Since their final split, the R&B singer has shown some support for his ex, and her new relationship with A$AP Rocky.
Rihanna was announced as the Apple Music Halftime performer back in September. She made the announcement by posting a simple photo of her hand (distinguishable with her tattoos) holding up a football with the NFL logo on it, and the league later confirmed that she would be the performer in a series of tweets.
The Super Bowl halftime show also marked Rihanna’s first public live performance in almost five years. The “Rude Boy” singer’s last time performing live was at the 2018 Grammy Awards, when she joined Bryson Tiller and DJ Khaled for a performance of “Wild Thoughts.” She hasn’t had a concert tour in even longer, with her last tour being for her 2016 album Anti, with her last gig of that run being in Dubai in November of that year, per Setlist.fm.
Not only has it been years since Rihanna performed live, but it’s also been a long time since Rihanna dropped new music. Fans have eagerly been awaiting her ninth studio album for almost seven years. While she’s done some features, the “Work” popstar’s fans have been on the edge of her seat while waiting for new music. Luckily, she satiated the fans’ requests when she dropped the Chadwick Boseman tribute “Lift Me Up” back in October for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Still, she’s kept mum on the new album.
Rihanna seemed to make light of fans’ eagerness for her to return to live performances and to release new music in her first teaser promo for the halftime show back in January. Voices could be heard speaking about how they wanted her to make her return, and she was seen walking out in an extravagant yellow fur coat over a black bodysuit, and before the end of the ad, her tune “Needed Me” played.
In her press conference before the big weekend kicked off, Rihanna also made a joke about her makeup line, which she’s put a lot of focus into in the years since she last performed and released music. Her Savage X Fenty line has made her a billionaire. “The Fenty highlighter is definitely helping today because I have yet to sleep. We were working at the venue all last night and I kind of just stayed there, ended up in a prep, and somehow I’m here,” she quipped during the press conference.