Chris Stapleton is going to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before kickoff at Super Bowl LVII, the NFL announced today, January 24. Additionally, Babyface will sing “America the Beautiful,” and Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
CODA actor Troy Kotsur will perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” in American Sign Language (ASL); Colin Denny will sign “America the Beautiful”; and Justina Miles will sign “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Super Bowl LVII takes place on Sunday, February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game will broadcast on Fox. Rihanna is performing during the halftime show.
The news of Rihanna’s performance was initially announced in September. The pop star took to Instagram on that day to share a photo her tattooed hand holding up a football. Shortly after, the NFL changed their slogan on Instagram from “National Football League” to “National Fenty League.”
Roc Nation, which is in charge of organizing the halftime show, shared Rihanna’s post, adding the caption, “Let’s GO.” Jay-Z’s company also tagged Apple Music, which is replacing Pepsi as sponsor of the show.
Earlier this month, RiRi shared a teaser hyping up her performance. The clip, which was premiered on Apple Music, features the singer appears as a silhouette in a large, empty room. She then begins to walk forward and takes in a number of comments from fans eager for new music.
“Dude, Rihanna, we’ve waited for you,” said one voice, before a newscaster adds, “It’s been six years since the nine-time Grammy-winner dropped an album.”
Rihanna–who’s wearing a show-stopping green furry coat, motions for silence before her 2016 ANTI hit “Needed Me” begins to play.
In Chris Stapleton news, he released a music video for his Joy Oladokun-assisted track “Sweet Symphony” back in October. Of the video, Oladokun shared, “I felt really inspired as a Black kid watching Sesame Streetand the Muppets because we live in a world where our differences separate us, and these shows were so clearly modeled through the art form that differences don’t matter. I love the surrealism and realism that puppet art blends together because it teaches us cool lessons about how we should treat other.”
Listen to the best of Chris Stapleton on Apple Music and Spotify.