What can’t you say about Rihanna’s Superbowl Halftime Show performance? It’s everything you’d ever expect from the superstar. It was absolutely iconic. From the field covered with perfectly synchronize dancers to levitating on a glass stage hundreds of feet above the crowd, not one bit of mesmerizing theatrics was spared.
Plus, no one guessed that her special guest would be her baby bump. In my opinion, a much better choice than bringing one of the artists featured in her perfectly curated medley of hits.
The fan in me sang along to every song while the marketer in me noticed that little detail… when she “touched up” her makeup while walking down the catwalk before grabbing the mic to continue singing.
The detail was almost minuscule compared to the scale of her performance, but it put one name on the tip of everyone’s tongue and on the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Fenty Beauty.
According to the Wall Street Journal a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl costs between 6 and 7 million dollars. Money saved. But in my opinion, the money saved isn’t what made that moment so smart - it was the fact that the moment happened when everyone was watching. In fact, it’s likely that there were more people watching the Halftime Show than the actual game (that assumption is probably obvious I just don’t have any data on hand to back it up).
The placement also made sense with who Rihanna is and it was seamlessly integrated into the performance. Jay-Z wearing a Tidal t-shirt probably wouldn’t have hit the same way. From my perspective, this is largely in part to the fact that Rihanna has been intentional about making sure that Fenty was aligned with her. One way, in particular, was turning the Fenty fashion shows into incredible musical performances.
The Fenty shows integrate unforgettable performers like Nas, Shaholly Ayers, and Ricky Martin as influencers to position itself as a truly inclusive brand made for every-body. While this may seem obvious from our seat, it’s truly genius. In one fell swoop, Rihanna establishes her brand as a legitimate beauty/fashion brand while keeping herself relevant in the music scene.
Rihanna is clearly having a moment and I’m here for it. From her tracks on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack to her reintroduction as a musical performer during the Superbowl, she has been impossible to miss over the last few months. And based on how intelligent every business move she’s made has been thus far (I mean she was the youngest artist to become a billionaire) it’s hard not to believe that this is one long teaser campaign for something even bigger on the horizon for RiRi. I mean, I wouldn’t mind a new album, what about you?
In other news, someone’s pretending to be me.
Yep, I’ve finally made it. Someone has copied my Instagram account in an attempt to trick my friends into giving them a password or getting them to “invest” in some scam. They’ve copied my bio word for word, duplicated posts, and captions, and have begun following and DMing my friends and followers causing a lot of confusion.
As someone who is still recovering from identity theft, this infuriates me beyond words — but I won’t go into how disgusting I think this is today. Instead, I just want to remind you of a few things:
Never click on links in a DM from anyone unless you are 110% certain it is coming from someone you know and trust.
Never Cash-app, Venmo, or Zelle anyone who “guarantees” an ROI. There is no guarantee in anything involving money. Period.
Here are the top 10 scams going on on Instagram. If you get messages like these, it’s a big red flag.
Apparently, Instagram takes forever to take these fake accounts down. So if you have a moment, please report this account to help get this removed faster before anyone gets scammed by it.