What was the super bowl halftime show

The pop star hinted at her performance at Super Bowl LVII by posting a photo of a football to her Instagram Sunday. 

Official Twitter accounts for Apple Music and the NFL then confirmed Rihanna's performance Sunday. "It's on," read a tweet from Apple Music.

Following the announcement, Jay-Z said Sunday in a news release that Rihanna is "a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn."

The rapper added: "A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment."

Seth Dudowsky, NFL Head of Music, said in a statement he was “thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage.”

"Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career. We look forward to collaborating with Rihanna, Roc Nation and Apple Music to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance,” Dudowsky added.

USA TODAY has reached out to Rihanna's representatives for comment.

The upcoming Super Bowl will feature the first halftime show sponsored by Apple Music; previous shows since 2013 were sponsored by Pepsi (which also first sponsored the 2007 show).

The 2022 halftime show featured several headliners: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Mary J. Blige, plus surprise cameos from 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak. 

Dr. Dre joined Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1 Sunday and shared that he "can't wait to see what she's going to do." 

"I just like her and what she does, and her get down, and how she approaches her artistry and the whole nine," the rapper said. "It's fantastic. She has the opportunity to really blow us away. I know we set the bar extremely high." 

He also has a piece of advice for Rihanna ahead of her halftime show performance. 

"Put the right people around you, and have fun. That's basically what it is, making sure you have the right creative people around you," Dr. Dre said.

Other halftime performers in the last decade include The Weeknd, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé.

2022 Super Bowl halftime:Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Snoop, Dre, Kendrick Lamar prove fiery mix in Super Bowl halftime show

In an interview with Vogue in October 2019, Rihanna said she turned down the opportunity to perform at the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show in Atlanta. The Grammy-winning singer confirmed she did so to stand in solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who became the subject of controversy after kneeling during a pregame national anthem in protest of police brutality and social inequality in 2016.

"I couldn’t dare do that," she told the magazine. "For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way."

Kaepernick accused the NFL of colluding to keep him out of the league in a case that was eventually settled in early 2019. That same year, the NFL partnered with Roc Nation (which manages Rihanna) to help pick performers for the Super Bowl and strategize on the halftime show. 

With sales of more than 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna ranks as one of the best-selling female artists ever. Her last album was 2016's “Anti.” Rihanna last performed publicly at the Grammy Awards in 2018. 

Super Bowl LVII is scheduled to take place Feb. 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The Super Bowl halftime show stage has seen some of the most memorable performances in music history — and a few we'd like to erase from our brains.

This year, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige will be providing the halftime entertainment. The five music legends have combined for a total of 43 Grammy Awards and produced numerous hit songs, so they are expected to deliver stellar performances when the Bengals and Rams head to their locker rooms.

Where will they land on the spectrum? That remains to be seen. For now, let's take a look back at the best and worst halftime shows in Super Bowl history.

MORE: How much are Super Bowl halftime show performers paid?

Best Super Bowl halftime shows

Michael Jackson (1993)

Jackson appeared on stage and stood there for nearly two minutes, driving fans into a frenzy. The King of Pop, indeed.

His set list included "Billie Jean," "Black or White," "We Are the World," and "Heal the World," so there may have been a slight sense of disappointment considering he didn't feature more of his uptempo hits. Still, Jackson deserves credit for changing how we perceived what a halftime show could truly be.

Prince (2007)

Leave it to Prince to make it feel like a torrential downpour was part of the plan. He sang and cycled through guitars as only he could and had the crowd hitting the high notes of "Purple Rain" before he allowed that silly football game to follow his concert.

Other performers deserve to be in the conversation for the best Super Bowl halftime show ever, but man, good luck arguing against Prince.

Beyonce (2013)

Visuals galore! Sparks are flying out of that guitar! Wait, Destiny's Child has arrived! She's doing the "Single Ladies" dance! 

Energy beams flowed right out of television sets and into living rooms that night. We were one with the Beyonce.

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira (2020)

Imagine complaining about this show because a couple of attractive women dared to shake their hips. What a bunch of dorks.

J-Lo and Shakira celebrated Latin culture and electrified the audience. Just a dynamic duo dominating like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in the 2016 NBA Finals.

Worst Super Bowl halftime shows

New Kids on the Block (1991)

Don't blame New Kids on the Block for this. The boy band was stuck doing the most Disney-fied production possible. A family-friendly show? Absolutely. Entertaining? Not at all.

Look, if you don't let NKOTB belt out "You Got It (The Right Stuff)," then you made a serious mistake.

Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton (2000)

Again, too much of a Mickey Mouse flavor. Allow talented singers to perform their own songs. This isn't that hard.

Unless you were a big fan of Kangol hats and random narration, this was a swing and a miss.

The Black Eyed Peas (2011)

Weird futuristic suits, bad autotune, inconsistent audio levels. There's Usher half-heartedly dancing around. Apparently Slash is doing something.

Let's get it started in here? No. Stop it. Right now.

Maroon 5 (2019)

Cameos from Big Boi, Travis Scott and SpongeBob SquarePants — yep, that happened — couldn't save this Super Bowl stinker. You forgot what took place immediately after Adam Levine and Co. left the stage.