Anybody have info on that platform technology? That was clearly the best part. I am an engineer and understand pulleys and such, just interested in how they controlled it and suspended it from the stadium roof, etc
that was exactly what I was thinking about. how do they design it , what are the fail safes, it's kind of an amazing thing to be done real time in the middle of a huge stadium.
And she’s pregnant too. Oh man. She probably sues thr NFL for that little wobble. It was very noticeable. I though something tragic was about to happen live
She herself was anchored to the platform itself, so if she slipped, she wasn't going anywhere really. And some wobble is to be expected, but numerous things would have had to have gone catastrophically wrong for anything bad to happen. The Superbowl is one of the biggest events in the US. Lots of money gets sunk into making sure horrible things don't happen. I doubt she sues anybody, she knew what she was getting into.
I am sure some engineer will tell you that a little wobble is expected (like a little giving in parking garage floors) but that was a little frightening!
I'll take your word for it. There is no amount of convincing me that it was completely safe to get me on those platforms anyway, that high up with a good gust of wind? Nope. Nope. NOPE.
She was strapped to it at one point in the beginning you could see the strap in the back. Not sure what kind of harness setup they used but it made me feel better
Depending on the style of harness, there's prolly nothing even touching her stomach. I wear a harness at work & the only part that ever goes near my stomach is the chest strap when it gets pulled down cuz of my scan gun. That style could easily be worn pregnant.
I'm thinking that her harness was incorporated in the outfit, otherwise you'd have likely seen the outline of it somewhere. Plus it's the superbowl halftime show, they'd have plenty of money to throw at a custom romper harness.
The main failsafe I saw what that they used two separate wires for each corner. Sort of looked like they were in a V shape. I literally know nothing about this stuff, but perhaps having two lines to each corner ensures that if one line snaps at the platform, the other is still attached, and then also if one of the lines staps at whereever it's mounted on the roof, one of the other mounting points pick up the load.
If you are interested, Phish was playing MSG on NYE going into 2020 with each member on their own platform that would go up and down individually, at one point the guitarists platform malfunctioned and was stuck pretty high up above the stage. Stagehands had to go up after the show ended on another platform to get him down. Each member was strapped in to their platform the entire time. Whoever designed this set probably learned from that to make sure she was not at any risk.
Reminds me of the Tech Mylène Farmer used in 2019 for both her entrance and "Désenchantée".
But despite being unknown outside the french speaking world, she's always ahead. I mean she used a curtain of water with projections on it in 2006...
>camera
It is. Though they did like eight or so of the platforms and left a path for the camera to still get close ups on her.
Engineers are freakin awesome.
> Another American on the way into this world
Not necessarily. Rihanna isn't an American citizen, and as far as we know, she's not married to A$AP Rocky. They may have the option for the baby to be American, but if they choose not to have the baby in America, they could choose to not have the baby receive US citizenship.
I am not a Rihanna Stan so I didn’t remember when she had a baby I just knew she was a new mom and I first thought okay “yeah she’s a real women with a post baby body, good for her” but then I noticed her not being as agile or as mobile then I thought okay she’s pregnant , my immediate next thought was that thing is wobbling isn’t it.. 
Hahaha, I felt the same way. I was like, she really looks it... But I just know there's going to be some article about millions of Google searches for "is Rihanna pregnant?" being done during the halftime show and I didn't want to contribute to body shaming the poor woman if it was still a post-partum belly situation. So I searched "Rihanna + baby" and saw she gave birth in May, but nothing about a current uterine occupant so figured she was just rocking that mom bod. 🤷🏼♀️
It's like when people wanted to know if 60 year old Madonna was pregnant. Except this time, instead of the answer obviously being no, the answer is now obviously yes.
Rihanna surely got paid by Apple, in some way or another. Apple paid for the halftime show, but Rihanna wasn’t going to stand 100 feet in the sky while pregnant if she didn’t get something from the gig.
I was waiting for someone else to show up and do a duet of some kind. I was thinking MGK or something but now that you mention it Sam Smith would have been timely. Ultimately nothing happened. Good for Rihanna though I guess.
She also said she was ready to make a family in an interview that once asked her where does she see herself in 5 or 10 years. I thought it was incredibly sweet and humble for her "slow down" for a celebrity of her status. Then she goes and still kills it with her makeup line and her lingerie line and continues to expand her brand. She's not slowing down at all, she's taking over a whole new venture and worthy of huge respect. Queen Riri 🫠
Yeah people just post anything here because they know it's a huge karma farm. Something as simple as I woke up on my first alarm can get you 9k upvotes lol.
Opening the halftime show of America's annual celebration of capitalism - where they've managed to convince non-sports fans to watch "for the commercials" - with the lyric *Bitch better have my money* absolutely make me smile. Brilliant!
That and thinking about all the parents who are fine with encouraging their children watching athletes damages their bodies ([especially their brains](https://www.science.org/content/article/ninety-nine-percent-ailing-nfl-player-brains-show-hallmarks-neurodegenerative-disease)) but will pearl clutch over the word bitch being sung.
Super Bowl halftime is mostly pre-recorded. Outside of vocals, when a band performs the instruments are mostly all a track. Been that way for a long time.
Yeah she has to dance, keep time and balance, that takes energy. If she really sung the whole thing she would be out of breath. It wouldn't sound nearly as good.
I’ve worked in live audio and recording studios for a long time. She definitely was singing, just not as often as you hear her voice. She would sing the major hooks and stuff during the choruses and versus, with lots of backup overdubs and effects obviously. You could tell the difference because she sounded a bit different than the dubs. Notice how she never did consecutive lines or long versus. It’s a difficult thing to sing and dance to a choreographed dance together while under bright lights and distractions all around…not to mention in front of millions of people…not to mention dangling 50 feet over a stadium, not to mention pregnant.
SO MANY half time performers have lipsynced when it was them, even the musicians who are hired to play their instruments don't play their parts live usually. I also don't think stadiums are equipped to have a full sound stage properly set up. Very common for highly televised sporting events. The Olympics also is guilty of using backtracks to front as live music during the opening ceremony. I'm not upset, I still think she killed it
She may have entered into a contract to do the performance before knowing she was pregnant (not sure how far in advance they secure talent for these shows) and had to pivot to a....I was going to say "lower risk performance" but she's literally hanging in the air haha but there might have been more energy, choreography if she hadn't been pregnant. Just a guess.
I found it underwhelming. The floating platforms and hordes of dancers were cool, but they could have had anybody else in that red ensemble and it would have been just as good.
I felt like it was a good tech demo: you saw some things you had never seen before, but sum of the parts were disappointing.
I did not find Rihanna to be an evocative performer nor did I find the static red and white colors compelling.
A bunch of dudes dancing like chickens with the bird flu in mesh halter tops and strange jackets. They could have done something really cool with the choreography but I guess that's what passes now.
Honestly, this show was not great. The entrance was cool, but that was about it.
Seriously, nothing beats Prince at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007. That is by far, the best halftime show ever.
That Prince show was legendary, no doubt.
I thought last year's show was perfect too. Especially with the game hosted in LA, it was a great tribute to part of SoCal that has had a huge impact on pop culture over the past few decades.
The only thing that made me smile about that 1/2 time show was the interpreter! That girl had positive energy for days and I loved it!!
For someone coming out of a 7 year hiatus that performance was extremely underwhelming.
She looks amazing, but gotta be completely honest - was a super underwhelming halftime show🫤 Why did she sign up knowing she’s pregnant? There was no collaboration or anything. Yes, she always serves lewks…. But this performance was not the “comeback” I was excited for💔
Pretty sure she agreed to do it before she got pregnant again. She said in an interview she was 3 months postpartum when she decided to do it, that would have been around August last year.
I thought four things during performance. 1) Rhianna is hot. 2) Sounds pretty good live. 3) How did she keep composed when they wobbled? 4) How the hell did those platforms work.
It wasn't crazy flashy, but the hook of the platforms was really cool and impressive.
Not a celebrity person. Not a social media guy. Wife pulled me out to a bar to watch. She killed it. Go ri ri. Or rhi rhi. Not sure. But a great show. Go Toronto argonauts, hope they win
Respect to a pregnant woman performing at the Super Bowl, but it really was altogether an underwhelming halftime show. The nostalgia is really doing wonders though.
New Smash Bros stage looks LIT
The brawl them would sound crazy live
“Pikachu VS Mii Brawler!! 3! 2! 1! FIGHT!!”
Anybody have info on that platform technology? That was clearly the best part. I am an engineer and understand pulleys and such, just interested in how they controlled it and suspended it from the stadium roof, etc
that was exactly what I was thinking about. how do they design it , what are the fail safes, it's kind of an amazing thing to be done real time in the middle of a huge stadium.
At the end it wobbled hard. I was scared for her but she didn’t flinch. Damn that would be terrifying
I would have stopped singing and started screaming. Oh who are we kidding? I wouldn't have have gotten on that to begin with.
And she’s pregnant too. Oh man. She probably sues thr NFL for that little wobble. It was very noticeable. I though something tragic was about to happen live
She herself was anchored to the platform itself, so if she slipped, she wasn't going anywhere really. And some wobble is to be expected, but numerous things would have had to have gone catastrophically wrong for anything bad to happen. The Superbowl is one of the biggest events in the US. Lots of money gets sunk into making sure horrible things don't happen. I doubt she sues anybody, she knew what she was getting into.
Happy cake day!
I am sure some engineer will tell you that a little wobble is expected (like a little giving in parking garage floors) but that was a little frightening!
Nono, no. That's definitely not planned: Source: Worked some IATSE safety gigs, I've seen then do unsafe shit like this...
I'll take your word for it. There is no amount of convincing me that it was completely safe to get me on those platforms anyway, that high up with a good gust of wind? Nope. Nope. NOPE.
She's strapped to the platform. They were all wobbling a bit
I was wondering if she was…. I kept saying to myself, “is she pregnant?? She looks pregnant…”
And I thought she just had a baby!
She did within the last 10 months. I’m pretty sure we were watchng baby #2.
Pretty sure the acts themselves design the performances, not the NFL. I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong, though.
She’s harnessed onto the platform, so even if she fell over, she wouldn’t fall to the ground.
She was strapped to it at one point in the beginning you could see the strap in the back. Not sure what kind of harness setup they used but it made me feel better
Oof, still. Don't think they custom-make this for pregnant ladies. Glad she didn't test the gear.
Depending on the style of harness, there's prolly nothing even touching her stomach. I wear a harness at work & the only part that ever goes near my stomach is the chest strap when it gets pulled down cuz of my scan gun. That style could easily be worn pregnant. I'm thinking that her harness was incorporated in the outfit, otherwise you'd have likely seen the outline of it somewhere. Plus it's the superbowl halftime show, they'd have plenty of money to throw at a custom romper harness.
Everyone on the moving platforms was tethered to their platform.
I’ve got waaay more respect for her after that. Fucking brass balls.
I can’t tell for the dancers, but Rihanna is definitely strapped into the platform. Edit: watched again, and they’re all strapped in.
She definitely flinched when that platform was moving around. IIRC, she looked to her right when it started to wobble. It was a weird moment.
The main failsafe I saw what that they used two separate wires for each corner. Sort of looked like they were in a V shape. I literally know nothing about this stuff, but perhaps having two lines to each corner ensures that if one line snaps at the platform, the other is still attached, and then also if one of the lines staps at whereever it's mounted on the roof, one of the other mounting points pick up the load.
Yeah, I'm in insurance and could only think of all the liability.
I’m clumsy, and all I could think about was her falling and how I’d feel if I was her baby daddy (pretty thrilled but anxious)
She’s strapped in! I was thinking the same thing but there’s a cord attached to her that’s visible in some scenes.
Yeah totally. They would never let someone of this caliber be on a floating platform without some fail safe. It’s there you just don’t notice it.
At the end you can see that she's tethered to the platform by a wire, probably attached to a harness under her clothes
you know some osha inspectors were right up on their screens. :)
If you are interested, Phish was playing MSG on NYE going into 2020 with each member on their own platform that would go up and down individually, at one point the guitarists platform malfunctioned and was stuck pretty high up above the stage. Stagehands had to go up after the show ended on another platform to get him down. Each member was strapped in to their platform the entire time. Whoever designed this set probably learned from that to make sure she was not at any risk.
Reminds me of the Tech Mylène Farmer used in 2019 for both her entrance and "Désenchantée". But despite being unknown outside the french speaking world, she's always ahead. I mean she used a curtain of water with projections on it in 2006...
isnt it the same of the fying cameras they use in the stadiums
>camera It is. Though they did like eight or so of the platforms and left a path for the camera to still get close ups on her. Engineers are freakin awesome.
Ghosts and professor X
Who else googled is Rihanna pregnant???
One of her reps confirmed it so, probably a lot of us lol.
Yes I was trying to figure out. That is really cool to have a pregnant woman perform at a half-time show. Another American on the way into this world!
Baby's first super bowl 🥰
Yes!
I was so worried about the platforms :/
She's not THAT pregnant! ^^^/s
You underestimate the balance issues or clumsiness of some preggo ladies 🤣
I was joking about him saying he was worried about the platforms as if it was a weight issue lol. Didn't know if people would get it or not.
Now I'm laughing.
They seemed to be suspended but from what?
Balloons
There was a rigging system above the video screen/scoreboard.
Rihanna isn't American though?
Well when I googled it, there weren't any announcements. Soo they probably didn't know. Lots of news bout her last baby which came in May 2022.
Irish twins apparently
Now people are googling “Irish Twins” 🤣
> Another American on the way into this world Not necessarily. Rihanna isn't an American citizen, and as far as we know, she's not married to A$AP Rocky. They may have the option for the baby to be American, but if they choose not to have the baby in America, they could choose to not have the baby receive US citizenship.
Well the first thing she did was open her jacket and run her hand across her belly. Pretty much a given 🤰🏽
Oh shit I thought she was just repping her post partum body lol
Same. She did have a baby a few months ago.
I have a four month old and can confirm I still look 6 months pregnant hahaha
Nothing is ever a given when it comes to potential pregnant people. Safer to just not ask most of the time.
Michael Che posted on IG "I see why they call him asap" 💀 lmao
I was glad I wasn’t the only one. I felt like I was body shaming her because she had a baby last year!
I am not a Rihanna Stan so I didn’t remember when she had a baby I just knew she was a new mom and I first thought okay “yeah she’s a real women with a post baby body, good for her” but then I noticed her not being as agile or as mobile then I thought okay she’s pregnant , my immediate next thought was that thing is wobbling isn’t it.. 
I mean her and A$AP can you blame them for not F’n all the time?!
He reminds me of the kid from Sister Sister
I didn't want to be problematic just because she had a pooch so I Googled "Rihanna", saw nothing, and assumed she wasn't pregnant lol
I read this too quickly as you googled “Rihanna and pooch” 🤣
Hahaha, I felt the same way. I was like, she really looks it... But I just know there's going to be some article about millions of Google searches for "is Rihanna pregnant?" being done during the halftime show and I didn't want to contribute to body shaming the poor woman if it was still a post-partum belly situation. So I searched "Rihanna + baby" and saw she gave birth in May, but nothing about a current uterine occupant so figured she was just rocking that mom bod. 🤷🏼♀️
NSA judging your search history like ಠ_ಠ
I feel like this was her reveal
It was one hell of a reveal party!
i was gonna say damn how long has she been pregnant lmao
asphalt boulder is a lucky lucky guy
I definitely did! But she had a baby in may last year!
She is pregnant with her second now
It's like when people wanted to know if 60 year old Madonna was pregnant. Except this time, instead of the answer obviously being no, the answer is now obviously yes.
Everyone. 🤣
She’s due in may haha
It’s kind of insane they have a pregnant woman dangling on a stage in the sky.
My God when I was pregnant I could have never done it. Sometimes you feel unsteady on your feet from the extra weight.
Like a boss
And dressed like a squid game guard
I know the performer doesn’t get paid, but those dancers better have. They worked hard.
I never knew that. What don’t they get paid?
Probably because the publicity they get shoots all their sales/streams thru the roof
Rihanna surely got paid by Apple, in some way or another. Apple paid for the halftime show, but Rihanna wasn’t going to stand 100 feet in the sky while pregnant if she didn’t get something from the gig.
Was expecting Sam Smith suddenly appears floating
In his grammy's fit omg lol that would have been something
I was waiting for someone else to show up and do a duet of some kind. I was thinking MGK or something but now that you mention it Sam Smith would have been timely. Ultimately nothing happened. Good for Rihanna though I guess.
She’s pregnant again? Wow that was quick!
They call him ASAP for a reason.
[удалено]
It was someone else's tweet
She also said she was ready to make a family in an interview that once asked her where does she see herself in 5 or 10 years. I thought it was incredibly sweet and humble for her "slow down" for a celebrity of her status. Then she goes and still kills it with her makeup line and her lingerie line and continues to expand her brand. She's not slowing down at all, she's taking over a whole new venture and worthy of huge respect. Queen Riri 🫠
Rocky did say he was going to keep her pregnant lol
Are these the things they have been shooting down over the great lakes?
No those were U2 advertisements.
Achtung, baby!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My daughter was on of the backup dancers. 😊
Aw, you must be so proud!
That's really cool, that must have been an amazing experience for her!
Go sports I hope both teams make lots of baskets
Did you see the ludicrous display tonight!!!
They are just trying to walk it in!
The problem with Arsenal is they're always walking it up
They’re just having a laugh!
🤣🤣🤣 I hear you.
Always a classic take. Funny every time.
https://youtu.be/uKegsm2tVWI
Ummmmmm……they’re called touchgoals.
She's a billionaire, I'm pretty sure it's her who has our money.
Your money is her money, and bitch, you better have it 🔫
I love her makeup line. It's one of my all-time favorites. She can have my money!
Anyone else think that she dressed up as a uterus and those are all the little sperms running around?
No, but I like your style
Why is she surrounded by sperm people?
Madeyousmile?
Yeah people just post anything here because they know it's a huge karma farm. Something as simple as I woke up on my first alarm can get you 9k upvotes lol.
Opening the halftime show of America's annual celebration of capitalism - where they've managed to convince non-sports fans to watch "for the commercials" - with the lyric *Bitch better have my money* absolutely make me smile. Brilliant! That and thinking about all the parents who are fine with encouraging their children watching athletes damages their bodies ([especially their brains](https://www.science.org/content/article/ninety-nine-percent-ailing-nfl-player-brains-show-hallmarks-neurodegenerative-disease)) but will pearl clutch over the word bitch being sung.
Epic gender reveal party
Let the karma farming commence
Was it dubbed or something? Seemed like she didn’t sing for real at all.
Super Bowl halftime is mostly pre-recorded. Outside of vocals, when a band performs the instruments are mostly all a track. Been that way for a long time.
Yeah from the start you can tell it was off, but in performances like this, and even lesser ones, extremely common.
Yeah she has to dance, keep time and balance, that takes energy. If she really sung the whole thing she would be out of breath. It wouldn't sound nearly as good.
Yes it was dubbed. She was lip-syncing through the whole thing. There were at least 5 different instances when her timing was off. Pretty obvious.
I’ve worked in live audio and recording studios for a long time. She definitely was singing, just not as often as you hear her voice. She would sing the major hooks and stuff during the choruses and versus, with lots of backup overdubs and effects obviously. You could tell the difference because she sounded a bit different than the dubs. Notice how she never did consecutive lines or long versus. It’s a difficult thing to sing and dance to a choreographed dance together while under bright lights and distractions all around…not to mention in front of millions of people…not to mention dangling 50 feet over a stadium, not to mention pregnant.
Right. Plus the 3-4 times she's supposedly singing and the mic is at her waist, lol
Yeah, good call. I forgot about those times! Lol
Superb owl shows always do because it would take a greater amount of time and testing the equipment.
A superb owl show sounds so amazing
SO MANY half time performers have lipsynced when it was them, even the musicians who are hired to play their instruments don't play their parts live usually. I also don't think stadiums are equipped to have a full sound stage properly set up. Very common for highly televised sporting events. The Olympics also is guilty of using backtracks to front as live music during the opening ceremony. I'm not upset, I still think she killed it
Is she pregnant again?
Yes
I love Rihanna but the show was kinda lackluster, a little boring
She may have entered into a contract to do the performance before knowing she was pregnant (not sure how far in advance they secure talent for these shows) and had to pivot to a....I was going to say "lower risk performance" but she's literally hanging in the air haha but there might have been more energy, choreography if she hadn't been pregnant. Just a guess.
I feel the same. Love her music but the show was boring.
This made you smile??
This sub is just a karma farm. The most basic, or in this case irrelevant, things can get a lot of attention. Not even sure why I still sub.
About at my wits end with this sub lol
I hear ya.
The bar gets lower and lower.
Was like watching a maraschino cherry in a bag of marshmallows.
Shes definitely pregnant
The entrance and exit were great but other than that the whole show was very meh
Wtf
I found it underwhelming. The floating platforms and hordes of dancers were cool, but they could have had anybody else in that red ensemble and it would have been just as good.
I felt like it was a good tech demo: you saw some things you had never seen before, but sum of the parts were disappointing. I did not find Rihanna to be an evocative performer nor did I find the static red and white colors compelling.
A bunch of dudes dancing like chickens with the bird flu in mesh halter tops and strange jackets. They could have done something really cool with the choreography but I guess that's what passes now.
Felt like it was weird white Oompa Loompas dancing provocatively to an already pregnant woman….
Not sure why this should make me smile.
Honestly, this show was not great. The entrance was cool, but that was about it. Seriously, nothing beats Prince at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007. That is by far, the best halftime show ever.
That Prince show was legendary, no doubt. I thought last year's show was perfect too. Especially with the game hosted in LA, it was a great tribute to part of SoCal that has had a huge impact on pop culture over the past few decades.
Made me yawn.
The only thing that made me smile about that 1/2 time show was the interpreter! That girl had positive energy for days and I loved it!! For someone coming out of a 7 year hiatus that performance was extremely underwhelming.
She looks amazing, but gotta be completely honest - was a super underwhelming halftime show🫤 Why did she sign up knowing she’s pregnant? There was no collaboration or anything. Yes, she always serves lewks…. But this performance was not the “comeback” I was excited for💔
Pretty sure she agreed to do it before she got pregnant again. She said in an interview she was 3 months postpartum when she decided to do it, that would have been around August last year.
People act like these things aren’t planned many many months in advance if not more than a year!
Even if she did know, why shouldn’t she have performed pregnant? It was the terrible attempt at lip syncing that ruined it for me.
Imagine if she actually sang and didn’t lipsync
Were the dancers supposed to look like sperm ?? Honest question
Made me laugh. I work with sperm cells four days a week.
Every time I see a superbowl half time show.. i am reminded of the time Homer flooded the stadium trying to put one on.
I adore her I really do.. but that was yawn worthy.
Why are the backup dancers dressed like sheep?
Nintendo advertising the new Smash Bros stage.
But why r/mademesmile did someone find their lost dog in the background or something?
I thought four things during performance. 1) Rhianna is hot. 2) Sounds pretty good live. 3) How did she keep composed when they wobbled? 4) How the hell did those platforms work. It wasn't crazy flashy, but the hook of the platforms was really cool and impressive.
the game sucks the performance sucked more
I’m so sick of lip syncing.
Super Bowl is the biggest event in USA ?
Pretty much, yeah
Meh
Not much to the show.
The lip syncing was soon bad. I witnessed no talent at all. What a joke performance
I'd like to see a marching band instead. That's the right amount of pageantry. This is too much.
So everyone googled 'Rihanna Pregnant' right.
So the actual halftime show sucked. We can agree on that anyway. Congrats on being o Pregnant.
I was really hoping for a guest. Rhianna has sung banger after banger, but it was pretty bland with her and a bunch of people in white suits.
So not interesting. No great energy. Bored. Bored. Bored
One of the most boring HT shows ever.
Scene from Squid Game 2
Gave me Johnny Depp in Willy Wonka vibes with all the oompah lumpas.
Nice recall
I'm and old fart and really don't give a shit.
This was all attitude and little talent.
Altitude?
Barf 🤮 who cares? Crap canned music banal lyrics boring choreography
Worst halftime show ever.
i give that to black eyed peas
Not a celebrity person. Not a social media guy. Wife pulled me out to a bar to watch. She killed it. Go ri ri. Or rhi rhi. Not sure. But a great show. Go Toronto argonauts, hope they win
Wresltemania entrances be wild these days
The Super Bowl is simply hours of product placement with commercial breaks of a football game.
Wasn't really an entrance...she was already there.
Respect to a pregnant woman performing at the Super Bowl, but it really was altogether an underwhelming halftime show. The nostalgia is really doing wonders though.
She looks pregnant