The news came after much speculation over who the show’s headliner would be. And ever since Rihanna tweeted an image of her hand holding an American football, the internet has been celebrating with hilarious memes making light of the star’s long hiatus.

So what exactly has Rihanna been up to since … instead of releasing R9? Here’s everything you need to know.

Fenty

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Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, she launched herself as an entrepreneur and introduced the launch of her cosmetic line Fenty Beauty in 2017. Since then, Rihanna has slowly been working on building her beauty empire.

Fenty is partnered with the luxury fashion powerhouse LVMH, the conglomerate behind successful brands such as Louis Vuitton. With the backing of a powerful partner, Rihanna launched Fenty as a “beauty for all” brand that represents every woman, as per its motto.

Following the immense commercial success of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna expanded the brand with a lingerie line Savage x Fenty in 2018 and skincare line Fenty Skin in 2020.

Both her cosmetics and lingerie line cater to a diverse range of skin colours and body types, garnering a lot of attention and appreciation from the beauty and fashion industries for setting the standard for inclusivity.

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Charity work

Rihanna’s non-profit organisation, the Clara Lionel Foundation, donated more than US$22 million to various charities aiding Covid-19 relief efforts.

The Clara Lionel Foundation announced on its website that donations have gone towards organisations such as Direct Relief, Feeding America, Partners in Health, the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the International Rescue Committee and more.

Rihanna has been an active spokesperson for climate change throughout her career. In January of this year, she pledged US$15 million to fight climate change in partnership with American internet entrepreneur Jack Dorsey’s charity the Start Small Foundation, per CNBC.

A national hero

Rihanna received the high honour of being named a national hero in her homeland by Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley in 2021. “May you continue to shine like a diamond,” Mottley told her.

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Rihanna is among 10 others who share the same honour in Barbados, per The Guardian.

Motherhood

Rihanna had previously shared in an interview with Elle that she is going to be a super protective mum, even going as far as to say she is going to be “psycho about it”. Sure enough, she has shielded her son from the public, so much so that even his name is a secret.

The new parents have only been spotted in public a handful of times in the past few months, usually hand in hand leaving studio sessions or late night dinners. Rihanna has been seen in multiple cute outfits on each of these outings. The new mother is embracing herself and is in no rush to lose the post baby weight, a source told Us Weekly.

Anticipation for R9

Rihanna reassured her fans in a red carpet interview last year that her next album, which is reggae inspired, is still one of her top priorities, as reported by Billboard. She has already hyped fans up by telling them to “expect the unexpected”, as R9 is going to be very different from her previous work, per the Associated Press.

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She also posted a video to Instagram of a dog bobbing his head to “Jump Around” by House of Pain, which she captioned “update: me listening to R9 by myself and refusing to release it”.

And now that Rihanna has announced her Super Bowl performance, her Navy fan base have once again started to wonder if they dare to hope for the release of the much-anticipated R9.