CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s arguably been one of the most anticipated Super Bowl halftimes in the modern era.

Rihanna has been relatively underground musically since her 2016 album, “Anti.” She released a single, “Believe It,” with Partynextdoor in 2020 and contributed the ballad, “Lift Me Up, ” to the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack.

But mostly, fans have had to be satiated with news and social media check-ins during her pregnancy and eventually enjoy photos of the bouncing baby boy Rihanna made with her S.O., rapper A$AP Rocky. Being a smart artist and billionaire businesswoman with nearly 20 years in the music business, when Rihanna decides to announce her comeback, she’s savvy enough to schedule a big football game around her hugely anticipated performance.

Every fan and pundit expected a big and bold performance featuring some special secret guests, but we were all apparently wrong.

Skipping a fancy entrance, Rihanna just appeared in the sky over the State Farm Stadium field on a floating stage surrounded by dancers on other platforms and on the main stage that looked a bit like a fashion runway. She opened with a few bars of “B**** Betta Have My Money” before charging into a medley of her 18-year trail of hits that featured snippets of about a dozen songs, including “Only Girl In the World,” “Work,” “Love In A Hopeless Place” and more.

Dressed in extreme red pants and shirt and a baggy red coat, Rihanna allowed her hoody-clad dancers to do much of the heavy lifting dancing, keeping her movement to a few signature moves while they handled the writhing and wiggling. She sat on a riser during the trap groove of “Pour It Up” and refreshed her makeup midset, with her signature brand Fenty, no doubt, before doing some light rhythmic hopping during a snatch of “All of the Lights.” She

Rihanna ended her set once again floating above the field with the double shot of two of her biggest hits “Umbrella” and “Diamonds.”

Then there was more football.

While some fans were unimpressed and actively let down by Rihanna’s relatively subdued performance, many fans immediately began speculating on whether her economic movement and big baggy outfit, opened to her seemingly bumpy belly was a very special surprise guest.

Eventually, following the performance, a rep for Rihanna confirmed that Rihanna is indeed pregnant with her and A$AP Rocky’s second child before the fan speculation crashed Twitter.

That big news will certainly change unhappy fans views of the performance. With no guests, no new singles, no upcoming tour announcement and just a 13-minute medley of hits and a chance to bask in her superstar glow the performance was objectively underwhelming by Super Bowl and Rihanna standards.

But the end result of Rihanna’s performance is the same as if it had been amazing. Million of people fans are now talking about what Rihanna’s got gestating musically and in her superstar womb.

Set List:

1. “B— Better Have My Money”

2. “Where Have You Been?”

3. “Only Girl in the World”

4. “We Found Love”

5. “Rude Boy”

6. “Work”

7. “Wild Thoughts”

8. “Pour It Up”

9. “All of the Lights”

10. “Run This Town”

11. “Umbrella”

12. “Diamonds”