Delaware's Super Bowl 2023 star preps Rihanna for concert, battles Beyoncé for Grammy

Andre Lamar, Delaware News Journal
·3 min read
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Lazy Sundays won't be a thing for Adam Blackstone of Middletown, Delaware — at least not over the next two weekends.

This Sunday he's battling Beyoncé and other stars of the music world for a Grammy Award.

The following Sunday he'll serve as musical director at the 2023 Super Bowl for Rihanna's halftime show during the matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs at State Farm Stadium in Arizona.

Adam Blackstone of Middletown, Del., has been nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his song "Round Midnight," featuring Jazmine Sullivan. Blackstone is pictured as the winner of the Outstanding Music Direction award for the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI halftime show, while attending the 2022 Creative Arts Emmys at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 3, 2022, in Los Angeles.

Blackstone, a native of Trenton, who grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey, and went to college in Philly, is an accomplished songwriter, singer and bassist.

He co-owns BASSic Black Entertainment, which has its own label.

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What's Rihanna's vision for the 2023 Super Bowl?

Rihanna's highly anticipated halftime show will mark her first public performance since the 2018 Grammys.

It'll also be Blackstone's fourth time as musical director at the Super Bowl, ABC's "Good Morning America" reported in a new sit-down interview with him.

Singer Rihanna is working with musical director Adam Blackstone of Middletown, Delaware, for her halftime show at the 2023 Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12. Rihanna is shown arriving for the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sep. 13, 2021, in New York.
Singer Rihanna is working with musical director Adam Blackstone of Middletown, Delaware, for her halftime show at the 2023 Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12. Rihanna is shown arriving for the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sep. 13, 2021, in New York.

Blackstone said his process for creating magic during halftime shows starts with asking his artists what story they want to tell.

Rihanna’s story?

"The story that she wants to tell is just let's be epic. Let this be a moment in time that people will never have had seen or heard before," Blackstone told “GMA.”

Up against Beyoncé

Before Blackstone heads to Arizona for the Super Bowl, he’ll spend this Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles at the 65th annual Grammy Awards.

The music producer is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his song “Round Midnight,” featuring Philadelphia songstress Jazmine Sullivan.

His tough competition includes Beyoncé (“Plastic Off the Sofa”), Mary J. Blige (“Good Morning Gorgeous”), Babyface featuring Ella Mai (“Keeps on Fallin’”) and Snoh Aalegra (“Do 4 Love”).

Beyoncé accepts the Best Rap Performance award for "Savage" onstage during the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at Los Angeles Convention Center on March 14, 2021, in Los Angeles.
Beyoncé accepts the Best Rap Performance award for "Savage" onstage during the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at Los Angeles Convention Center on March 14, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Blackstone and Blige may be competitors now, but they shared the stage at the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, an event for which he also played bass.

It was the first hip-hop halftime show in Super Bowl history and also starred Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent.

He won an Emmy Award last fall for directing that halftime show.

Blackstone can't lose

Blackstone, who couldn't be reached for comment for this story, is headed to the Grammys as an underdog against Queen Bey, similar to the Eagles in 2018 when they played the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

But unlike those Eagles that upset the Patriots, Blackstone can't do anything at this point to alter his fate because voting has ended.

Beyoncé is an award-winning machine tied with Quincy Jones for second place all-time with 28 Grammy wins, per the Recording Academy.

Win or lose at the Grammys, Blackstone already has won by getting to serve as musical director on the biggest concert stage in the country on Super Bowl Sunday.

He'll be working with Rihanna, one of the top artists in the world.

This coming week and the next won't be full of sleepy Sundays for Blackstone, although he'll be living many musicians' biggest dreams at two of music's most prestigious events.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast by CBS TV Network on Sunday, Feb. 5, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. EST. For more info, visit grammy.com.

Super Bowl LVII with the Eagles and Chiefs broadcasts Sunday, Feb. 12, with kickoff at 6:30 p.m. EST on Fox. For more info, visit foxsports.com.

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Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Super Bowl 2023: Rihanna teams up with Delaware star Adam Blackstone