Rihanna works it in comeback performance at Super Bowl 2023

Even the biggest pop superstars might want to do a low-key warm-up before returning to the global stage.

But for Rihanna, it’s clearly go big or stay home — and sing a lullaby to  her 9-month-son.

Indeed, the anticipation for Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show — midway through the big game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35 — was ratcheted up so high simply because the 34-year-old singer is practically coming out of semi-retirement as a performer.

This was a moment that the Navy — as Rihanna’s fans are known — has been waiting for, even if it happened in a surprise club cameo downtown at S.O.B.’s.

Instead, that comeback performance happened on the biggest of all stages at State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona. And the superstar delivered the biggest of surprises — not with any guest performers, but with the revelation that her second child is on the way. Rubbing her baby bump a la Beyoncé at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Ri-Ri had online speculation running rampant before it was officially confirmed by reps that she is indeed pregnant after her performance.

With or without that reveal, though, Rihanna made you remember just how many hits that she had — no wonder she changed her set list 39(!) times.

Kicking off with “Bitch Better Have My Money” — riding one of the floating platforms that she and her white-suited dancers had — a red-outfitted Rihanna seemed to be reminding us all of just who she was when she sang, “Don’t act like you forgot.”

Given her vast catalog, it was an edgier choice than might have been expected for the Super Bowl, but it was clearly her statement that she wasn’t going to play the game — and play it safe — for the NFL.

Similarly, “Where Have You Been” played differently as a comeback number than it might otherwise have. It was as if to say, “I’ve been everywhere, man,” while announcing that she’s officially back.

Then she ran through a string of hits including “Only Girl (In the World),” “We Found Love,” “Rude Boy,” and, in a surprise, “Pour It Up” (which could have been dropped in favor of “Don’t Stop the Music,” “S&M” or even her Oscar-nominated ballad “Lift Me Up”). Through it all, she sounded and looked fab — we missed you, Ri-Ri! — but, pregnant or not, she’s never been the greatest live performer. Certainly, she can’t dance and sing like previous Super Bowl halftime headliners Beyoncé or Lady Gaga. One could even argue that Jennifer Lopez is a better live entertainer.

That’s where Rihanna could have used some guest performers who were part of some of her biggest hits. Where was Drake — who was in town for his own Super Bowl party last night — on “Work”? And how did Jay-Z — whose Roc Nation produces the halftime show — not come out for “Umbrella”?

Rihanna also performed other hits in which she she was a featured artist, including the DJ Khaled-led “Wild Thoughts,” the Kanye West-helmed “All of the Lights” and another Jay-Z joint, “Run This Town.” (Again, where was Jay??)

But she brought it all home with one of her best — and biggest — songs as a solo artist: “Diamonds,” on which she shined her brightest of the night.

Rihanna — who reportedly had previously turned down the Super Bowl in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s long battle with the NFL — had been largely MIA from music before dropping her “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” single “Lift Me Up” in October. Before that, her last studio album, “Anti,” was released way back in 2016.

After that, the singer turned her focus to her Fenty Beauty business and her Savage x Fenty lingerie line, becoming a billionaire in the process. And she’s been making major moves in her personal life too, giving birth to her first child — a son with rapper A$AP Rocky whose name has not been revealed — in May 2022.

So clearly — 18 after years after the Barbados-born diva released her debut single, “Pon de Replay” — this is all the beginning of Rihanna 2.0. And we are all here for it.