Rihanna says finding a work-life balance has been ‘impossible’ since birth of son ahead of Super Bowl

Rihanna has said her work-life balance is now “very different” since having her son – admitting it has been “almost impossible” to get it right.

Rihanna is headlining the Super Bowl half-time show this Sunday night at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The13-minute live performance, her first in seven years, will also be the first time Rihanna has take to the stage since giving birth to her son – who she shares with A$AP Rocky – in May 2022.

Although she has stepped back from music in recent years, she has built a business empire with her Fenty beauty and fashion brands.

Speaking at the Apple Music pre-game press conference on Thursday, the Barbadian star, 34, said her priorities had changed since becoming a mother and that work commitments have to be “worth it”.

“The balance is almost impossible because no matter how you look at it, work is always something that’s going to rob you of time with your child,” she said.

“That’s the currency now and that’s where it goes, the magnitude of how much it weighs. When you make decisions on what you’re going to say yes to. It has to be worth it.”

However, the star said becoming a mother had made her feel like she can “take on the world” – adding she felt it was important to do the performance for her son.

She said: “When I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like, ‘Are you sure? I’m three months postpartum, should I be making major decisions like this right now? Like, I might regret this.’

“But when you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world. You can do anything, and the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world.

“So as scary as that was, because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all.”

The star added: “And it’s important for me to do this, this year it’s important for representation and it’s important for my son to see that.”

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will go head-to-head on Sunday night.

Rihanna will perform during the half-time show – which has rapidly become one of the most prestigious live performance slots of the year.

Last year, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira performed, with the likes of Katy Perry, Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, The Rolling Stones, plus Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson among those to have gone before her.

Various special guests are expected to join her on stage during the rapid performance. At the press conference, Rihanna described preparations for Sunday’s show, saying the physical training had been “immense” but that curating the setlist had been “the biggest challenge” – with around 39 iterations having already been produced.

@BadGalRiri | Rihanna - In pictures

Rihanna previously declined to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show out of solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who became recognised around the world for taking a knee to protest racial injustice in the US.

Rihanna’s show marks her highly anticipated return to music, which began in October 2022 when she released her first new song since 2016, Life Me Up.

The tune was featured in the Marvel Studios film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. The song earned the beauty her first Golden Globe nomination and her first Academy Award nomination, both for Best Original Song.