Rihanna Talks About Her Return to the Stage For Super Bowl Halftime Show Transcript

Pretty crisp Monday morning here in Times Square. It’s been a long night there in Scottsdale for Michael Strahan. Let’s go back to him.

George, this has not been a long night; this has been a very early morning. Different way to look at it. But the star of Super Bowl Sunday in our GMA cover story is, of course, Rihanna, the undisputed winner last night with that incredible halftime show singing hit after hit. I sat down with her to talk about her big return to the stage, being an Oscar nominee, and, of course, what’s next. I met up with nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna, just days ahead of our Super Bowl LVII halftime show. Why was this the time?

There were so many things that I felt like I had to overcome in order to even do this. I had just become a mom, literally, and I had not been on tour for seven years, so to go from that to Super Bowl, it was one of those things that I knew would be a challenge.

Yeah. Just like the rest of her fans, I too can’t wait to see her get back to work. When I heard you were doing the Super Bowl, I was like, “Okay. You’re going to be at the halftime. I get a front row seat and I’m like, “You needed me.”

Oh, my god. That’s a song?

Do you need a backup?

I mean … You?

Yeah. That was a rehearsal.

It wasn’t terrible.

You don’t have to lie.

I’ve heard worse.

Do you ever think about how many people are watching you when you’re out there?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Really?

Yes.

How do you overcome that? That’s overwhelming.

I have not been able to do that, still to this day. The camera represents so many people, a huge audience, and the camera at a Super Bowl, it’s one of the biggest audiences.

While Rihanna continues to run this town, she’s lifting fans’ hopes for new music with her 2022 Oscar-nominated song, Lift Me Up.

(02:23)
How did that come about?

Brian Cooper, he reached out to me and he asked if I would be interested in doing a song for the film. When I saw the film, I felt like this is so powerful. The sense of motherhood and how much strength that embodies. Right? I felt that when I watched the film and it hit me.

A lot of your fans, you know what they want.

More.

More. They want more. They want a new album. They want new music.

I know.

Can you update us on that?

They are waiting. I’m excited to actually put new music out, but I don’t have any updates for you on that yet.

Can I tell you a little secret I know about it?

Tell me.

I’m singing background.

(03:18)
Well, we both got a big laugh about that, but Rihanna didn’t know I was serious. I really was, you guys. But you know what? We are waiting for new music, but we will just take the halftime show that we had yesterday because she was absolutely amazing. We’re just looking forward to anything she can give us in the future, Robin.

We do want more, and we want more Michael Strahan, and we will in a little bit because we got to thank you guys at Fox for sharing that interview with us. Means so much, Michael.

(03:44)
Well, hey there, GMA fans. Robin Roberts here. Thanks for checking out our YouTube channel. Lots of great stuff here. So, go on, click the subscribe button, right over here, to get more of awesome videos and content from GMA every day, any time. We thank you for watching and we’ll see you in the morning on GMA.