We're less than 24 hours away from what's expected to be the most epic Rihanna concert to date, otherwise known as the 57th annual Super Bowl. The hype has been building ever since it was revealed RiRi would be headlining this year's halftime show, and the singer even dropped a cheeky "Game Day" collection for her lingerie and loungewear brand, Savage x Fenty, teasing the performance with an Instagram caption reading, "We heard there's a football game?" Needless to say, there's plenty of speculation surrounding what songs RiRi will drop in her halftime set, along with the age-old question of whether the star will finally grace her fans with a new album. While we might not have the answers for you just yet, we're here to give you our rundown of the best Rihanna songs to get you in the right mood for Super Bowl Sunday.
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Arguably Rihanna's first major hit in the U.S. and international markets, you can't go to a dance club these days without hearing this classic at some point throughout the night. It's also a go-to karaoke jam, and it's easy to see why, with a towering chorus, unforgettable lyrics and literal bangers (the rock music influences, with spacious drumbeats practically built for an arena performance, basically make the song what it is). The now-iconic music video, directed by Chris Applebaum and featuring Rihanna's nude body covered in silver paint, pretty much solidified the song's status as one of the biggest hits of the year - and eventually, the decade - and kicked off a rewarding musical partnership with Jay-Z which would produce many more hits for years to come.
One of Rihanna's other famous musical partnerships of the 2010s materialised with none other than Scottish DJ Calvin Harris. An electrifying dance-pop song with a pulsing synth beat, "We Found Love" topped the charts in 2011-2012 and became an instant hit with nightclubs everywhere. Critics were less pleased, with many criticising the song's lack of structure and sparse lyrics. Yet the song remains one of RiRi's biggest hits ever, and prompted another collaboration with Harris in 2016 on "This Is What You Came For," with lyrics written by none other than Harris' famous ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift (under a pseudonym, of course).
RiRi took her music in a totally different direction in 2016 when she collaborated with on/off-again boy toy Drake on "Work," the lead single off her eighth studio album Anti. We didn't know it at the moment, but this also marked the last Rihanna album all of us would be getting for a very, very long time (and rumour has it we're still waiting to this day). Returning to dancehall music influences which infused some of her earlier work, critical opinion was mixed at first - some listeners complained about "gibberish" lyrics, before being shut down by writers who understood the Jamaican patois and Creole linguistic references - but improved over time, eventually being selected for several year-end critics' best song lists. With over a billion YouTube views and counting, it's now become an instant classic.
We'd be remiss not to mention Rihanna's breakout hit, "SOS," which first brought the Barbadian songstress to global attention and later became one of the star's signature songs. Similarly to RiRi's debut single, "Pon de Replay," the track features dancehall music influences and brims with the singer's trademark sass and energy. At the time of the song's release, many critics were left wondering whether the young singer would ultimately rise to the same level of superstardom as Beyoncé. Over ten years later, I think we can all safely say Rihanna has fulfilled that prophecy, and then some.