midnightdawn Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) Quote Red and white—conveying fire and blankness—were such perfect colors for Rihanna to strobe at us tonight. Over 18 years in the spotlight, the singer has left no doubt that she’s a woman of depth and range, with wild fascinations and gut-held convictions and a rich personal life. But by now, we should understand that she’s never going to show us all of that—because no artist ever could, and because she’s not going to bullshit us otherwise. Rihanna will instead give us blazing-hot surfaces. She’ll insist that attitude and fashion is enough, because it can be, because this is pop. Quote So no one should be surprised by what her Super Bowl performance was: an act of radical minimalism, seasoned with lovable humanity. It was austere yet scruffy, flat yet real. Some halftime performers have dazzled through exertion. Some have done so by sending messages. Many have failed, or at least flailed, in the process. But Rihanna wanted us mesmerized by the thing itself, by the images and the sounds, and she largely succeeded. Plus, she graciously implied a bonbon of personal revelation: She’s pregnant again! Quote The show started abruptly, with the camera close on her face and the queasy beat of “***** Better Have My Money” lurching to life. The disorientation fit with where she was: up in the air, on one of the many suspended platforms that’d ascend and descend throughout the show, arranging like stairs or championship pedestals. High-flying feats are always cool, and while other halftime shows have featured levitating-superhero illusions, Rihanna opted for industrial-chic honesty. The platforms aligned all of the action onto one vertical plane, drawing attention to the performance’s fundamental nature as a screen event happening in a stadium. Quote After letting our eyes adjust to the circus, Rihanna did something important: She put one hand behind her head and bared her teeth, like a demon on a trucker’s windshield. Thank goodness she brought her sharpest weapons, her facial expressions, into battle. She rolled her eyes and smirked. She powdered her face (a business plug so shameless it circled into being noble) and touched her crotch (dare you be offended by the miracle of life?). These moments told us not to take anything we were seeing too seriously. When it looked like she was just barely trying to hit the choreography, or when it seemed like she was dueting with a backing track, that’s because she was. Irony and insouciance can be distancing qualities in a performance, but here they were a kind of earnestness. Quote The pops of personality and shrugs of imperfection also were vital because they broke up a pageant of precision. Rihanna’s dancers, modeling the innovative use of hooded puffers as crop tops, wobbled and swayed as one organism. When she sang, she did so clearly and strongly as the setlist pounded through a selection of anthemic hits: “We Found Love,” “Umbrella,” Ye’s “All of the Lights.” The continuity was numbing at times, especially due to the predominance of EDM pop and midtempo singalongs. But when the strident rhythm was interrupted by something lithe and syncopated —“Work,” “Wild Thoughts,” “Pour It Up”—it gave a fun chance for Rihanna’s nuclear-cleanup crew to register the change with its bodies. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2023/02/rihanna-super-bowl-halftime-show/673033/ Edited February 13, 2023 by midnightdawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingWitch Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Of course it was amazing ,only the stans didn't like it which means nothing when the GP is more important Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaner69 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 How do you get praised for doing nothing lol Rihanna girl that was not something to clap at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noahfence Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Radical minimalism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afferty Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarticle Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 The backhanded praise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HASHTAGPOW Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Queen of minimalism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthteller Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Queen of minimal effort Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Both Sides Now Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 She dared to bring boring performances back to the mainstream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@michael Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 I really liked that it was just a long catwalk and overhead platforms. Really minimal but there were like 200 backup dancers so it still felt grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slobro Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 The entire article serving Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaws Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diocles Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica19 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) https://giphy.com/gifs/nfl-sports-football-sport-qdNqMhlD3ShBNChsDK Edited February 13, 2023 by Jessica19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Not levitating in the air while simultaneously announcing your pregnancy being “minimal” They really are trying hard to cope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solaria Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Me when I have to make up words to reach my essay word count Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzmyth Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 TBH... this 20 seconds prove that people in here are OVERREACTING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madonno Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 There's nothing minimalist about floating stages and 200 backups dancers. That's quite the opposite of minimalist in fact Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaram Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 These articles must be paid, because there was nothing minimalistic except Rihanna's live vocals and dance skills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 That's a lot of words for a flop performance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AintNoOtherMe Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Gaslighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunbathinganimal Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillingYourCareer Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Minimalism as a new excuse for laziness? Here for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iknowplaces Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 14 minutes ago, Zaram said: These articles must be paid, because there was nothing minimalistic except Rihanna's live vocals and dance skills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Beautiful Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 "radical minimalism" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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