Themes are cool too, but obviously tying that in to a performer is a logistical challenge. That’s one of the things that made last year’s West Coast hip hop emphasis cool, whereas The Weeknd and Rihanna had no obvious connection to the venue - hell, they aren’t even American.
It’s specifically current popular music that people on this board generally disdain. Current movies and TV shows have plenty of appreciative threads. Music, hardly any.
Well, she isn’t an Elvis or the Beatles type famous. But then again she isn’t controversial as they were either, which is where a lot of generation crossing fame comes from. Although she is a self described good girl gone bad. 
I really don’t see why people would distain her, her music is generally non-confrontational. I guess some people just don’t appreciate new things anymore at some point. Or maybe some people associate her with Dr Dre and Eminem, who they do see as controversial.
I don’t know why you would say people seem to be “proud” of their ignorance. I think you are imputing intention of your own invention. And I’m not sure why.
Nor do I disdain her. She - and her type of music - just doesn’t interest me. When I was in grade/high school listening to top-40 on the radio, I’m sure I would’ve known the words to all of her hits.
Personally, I am just somewhat bemused as someone who was - at one time - VERY into popular music, that I am now so out of so much of popular culture. I’m not proud of it. Instead, I’m wondering how it happened? What is the media I am not consuming, etc. I know I dislike the vast majority of rap, hiphop I have heard, so I never intentionally listen to radio that would play it. And since I was a teen, I never really cared for male or female pop vocalists. So I’m not really interested in exposing myself to music I’m pretty sure I won’t care for, just so I can say, “Oh yeah! I heard that song of his/hers!”
I’ve posted elsewhere how I feel myself increasingly irrelevant. And my failure to appreciate most of SNL’s musical guests. Popular culture and marketing seems increasingly aimed at someone other than me. Which I’m fine with - but I continue to find curious.
Were folk my age always as unaware of superstars? I was raised in the time of TV music specials, where it seemed more likely that everyone, young and old, would gather around the TV and see the biggest stars in film, comedy, and music.
Like I said, I certainly knew of Rhianna’s name and fame, but she wasn’t even as omnipresent (to me) as Beyonce. Just listened to Umbrella. Never heard it. Making music is my biggest hobby, so I’m pretty good at remembering music that catches my interest (and much that doesn’t.) Maybe I’ve been somewhere that it was playing in the background, but if so, it didn’t register other than as just another female pop song of the type I’ve heard forever and am not interested in.
I think my musical tastes gelled at some point - likely around my college years in the late 70s-early 80s. And then after that, with work and family, I just got more and more out of it. And now, I focus on folk who write, sing and play the sort of acoustic music I prefer to see, hear, and play. No, Joe Newberry and April Verch are unlikely to highlight next year’s halftime! 
One gets the sense in the “Rock and roll hallf of fame” threads that we have a distinct demographic here. Music tastes tend to become fixed in a person around the ages of 15-25. That is not obviously true of TV or cinema.
I don’t get how anyone can watch that show and not be impressed; a specific take on the music isn’t the point. I have no interest whatsoever in country music, but were I to witness a major league top line country act really putting on a big time show, surely I’d be forced to admit the production was excellent. I am confident Garth Brooks, famously a hell of a showman, put on some pretty awesome live shows.
Of course basically no one is.
Rihanna is not an A++ music superstar; very, very few acts have ever been. That would be reserved for fewer than a dozen artists, the kind of people who literally would struggle to go out in public. Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna, tje Stones at the height of their fame, and a few others. Beyonce is probably at that level right now, and Taylor Swift.
Below that you have A+ listers, absolute legends of music but capable of walking into a Tim Hortons to buy a coffee on their own; Aerosmith, Paul Simon, Drake, Sting.
Rihanna is probably still a step below that, but rather clearly an A. Tens of millions of sales, multiple hits, considerable fashion influence, and crossover media; she’s a decent actress.
Basically they’ve been rolling out A’s every year for a long time now. A-minus at worst.
She was tethered, like all the others who were on those platforms. You could see the tether behind her. If she happened to fall she would not go far and would not have fallen off the platform. I was watching for when she left the platform, and sure enough, one of the dancers behind her snuck up and unclipped her so she could walk around - clearly planned. I don’t pay attention to this stuff that much but I am sure at some point she will be asked about the performance and will reveal how she felt about the height of the platform and how safety was done.
Uninformed viewer opinion. I only know about her and Chris Brown; I’ve never heard a single song from her.
It was honestly ridiculous. I guess it was impressive, but visually I found it to be almost ludicrous.
I’m not the audience for this music, but last year they had rappers and I do not listen to rap…but I thought it was kind of amazing.
Impressed? Well, I readily acknowledge that a lot of money and technology were spent. So in that respect, it “impressed” me. The primary reason my wife and I watch the SB is because it is a spectacle. While we watch it, we discuss who various aspects were aimed at, who paid for what why, and why certain choices were made.
So I was VERY impressed by the halftime show. Just wasn’t personally entertained by it. And it didn’t foster any particular opinion of the performer. Like I said, I have long ago ceased to be entertained by most expensive spectacle I’ve encountered.
I’ll go so far as to say I preferred it vastly over last year’s hiphop halftime and the previous one by Weeknd. The hiphop music was just very much not to my taste, and The Weeknd seemed to be sending some message that I didn’t understand. To me, Rhianna just seemed like one of many basically interchangeable popular female singers of the past couple decades.
A lot of acts involve dancers. This is the first time I asked myself (and the group assembled to watch the game) “Why do singers have dancers? What’s the point of that?” I’m getting old. I just want a singer to come out, sing a few songs, and leave. I don’t appreciate the spectacle any more (if I ever did)
Well, they have to fill-up a whole football field with something. I recall past shows where they added a “stunt audience” to a live performance down on the field to give the whole thing some energy.
Space. It’s about space. A singer in the middle of a football field is too small, too far from the audience. It would look really weird in person.
As I write, a Rihanna song is playing in the cafe I’m sitting in. It’s hard to see how anyone who pays the slightest attention to popular culture could not know who she is.
Is there also an announcement that she’s the singer? Do you expect people to remember the background music that’s playing when they’re trying to figure out how to order a up of coffee? I promise you, I could order my coffee and walk out of there and not be able to tell you if there was music playing in the background or not.
Adding to that, pop music all sounds very similar these days. Perhaps Rhianna has a special sound that others can detect but I am with you - I have heard the songs but would not know who the artist is.
Love Ri-Ri. Hubby mentioned the post-partum weight, only I guess it wasn’t at all post-partum. Was disappointed by the medley because I generally hate when I only hear a piece of song I like. Also wished Eminem made a surprise appearance. No way it wasn’t at least partially recorded because Rhianna songs all have many vocal tracks overlaying each other.
So, after all my complaints, still love me some Ri-Ri.
I think it is incumbent upon those of us who are old people to appreciate that there are legit big name stars who we couldn’t pick out of a lineup.
Rhianna is a top shelf performer, as big as anyone we can expect to perform at the Super Bowl. I couldn’t name any of her songs, but that’s a me problem.
Just remember that the goal of the Superbowl is to sell ads during the Superbowl (and, if they must, decide who is the best football team for the season), and you get more money for ads if there are more people viewing.
The people putting on the Superbowl would not be smart to have a halftime spectacle that appeals to the people who are already planning on tuning in to see the football part, or now even the advertising part.
When the halftime performance is a 180 from the desires of the football crowd, the people putting on the show are doing something right.
I enjoy Rihanna’s music, though I couldn’t say I am a fan, I just find it engaging pop fluff. I thought her half time show was OK, but not spectacular.
This was the first half time show that I can recall where I thought “I’ll bet this is better if you’re in the stadium”. Usually, the Super Bowl half time shows are pitched more towards the cameras and the home audience than the stadium audience. But I thought the platforms and the mass dance movements probably played better to the stadium audience and the fireworks during the performance would have been spectacular to the stadium audience (I thought it was a little endearing that Rihanna actually paused briefly to watch the fireworks erupting above her).
I was impressed by the choreography. How dozens of people in what must have been very warm costumes could move in unison that expertly (and remember exactly what moves to make) is beyond me. As someone else mentioned, however, there wasn’t much change in the presentation (costumes and lighting) from beginning to end. Still, she’s a very talented performer and she gave us an entertaining 15 minutes.
I was somewhat familiar with Rhianna from my time in radio and recognized several songs, the ones that were suitable for an Adult Contemporary station. I always enjoyed playing (and cranking up) “We Found Love in a Hopeless Place” because it really kicked ass and sounded great on the studio speakers. I also liked the idea of people finding love in a hopeless place. It’s the romantic in me.
Do you really consider it a “problem”, or is that just a phrase?
Good point.
My wife and I have realized we are incompatible at viewing the SB with anyone else. We want to watch - and comment on - all aspects of the spectacle. But the way we do so doesn’t mesh with people who want to focus on the game, talk over the commercials, talk over the announcers, etc. And if we have folk over, we have to spend time “hosting.”
The SB and SNL are some of the most reliable ways for us to see some of what passes for modern culture these days. We used to try to watch the Oscars and Emmys to accomplish the same thing, but those just dragged so, and we had so little interest in th biggest films/music/performers.
So we very much enjoyed just watching it ourselves with a big bowl of chips and guac. And discussing it with you all today.