Baby fever! Rihanna made her epic stage comeback at the 2023 Super Bowl LVII halftime show, where she revealed that she is pregnant with baby No. 2.

The “Diamonds” artist native, 34, opened with her hit “Bitch Better Have My Money,” wearing an all-red ensemble while performing on a suspended stage. RiRi then sang her other hits, including “We Found Love, “Rude Boy” and “Work.” While she sang, it appeared that Rihanna cradled her growing baby bump.

Just days prior to the stadium event, the Barbados native teased fans with a dramatic teaser trailer, which made it clear that the 15-minute show would be extraordinary. In the 30-second video, Rihanna’s silhouette could be seen onscreen as fans were heard in the background wondering what happened to her. The moment the lights came up, the Fenty Beauty founder put her finger to her lips to silence the crowd as her track “Needed Me” began to play. 

In the months leading up to her show-stopping performance, Rihanna expressed her appreciation and nerves surrounding the news that she would headline the halftime show. 

“I can’t believe I even said ‘yes,’” RiRi told Entertainment Tonight in November 2022. “It was one of those things that, even when I announced it, I was like, ‘OK, I can’t take it back. Now, it’s, like, final.’ The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, it’s an entertainer’s dream to be on a stage like that. But it’s nerve-racking. You want to get it right. You know, everybody’s watching. And they’re rooting for you. And I want to get it right.”

When it came to choreographing and planning her setlist, the “Love the Way You Lie” songstress explained how she approached the task, noting that while she had to decide “how to maximize 13 minutes,” it was also a time for her to “celebrate.”

“That’s what this show’s gonna be, it’s gonna be a celebration of my catalog in the best way we could have put it together,” she said. “And you only have 13 minutes. That’s the challenge. So, you’re trying to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes. So, it’s difficult. You know, some songs we have to lose because of that, and that’s gonna be OK. But I think we did a pretty good job of narrowing it down.”

The Battleship actress confirmed that she would be the star of the February 2023 halftime show by sharing an Instagram photo in November 2022. The image only showed what appeared to be her arm holding up an NFL football. Shortly afterward, the NFL’s Twitter account announced that she was going to “take the stage for the first ever Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show on 2.12.23.” 

Aside from her shining moment on the Super Bowl stage, Rihanna’s fans have also been begging the Grammy Award winner to release a new album. RiRi did, in fact, drop two songs for the Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again.” However, she has not yet announced whether she is creating a full album. 

Nevertheless, the proud mom — who welcomed her baby boy with boyfriend A$AP Rocky in May 2022 — noted that she is “open to exploring, discovering, creating, things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to [her] fans,” during the Apple Music Press Conference on Thursday, February 9. 

“I just want to play. I want to have fun,” she concluded. “I want to have fun with music.”