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The pop stars have been dropping hints.
By Alexandra Blogier — Written on Jan 30, 2023
Rumors are swirling that Rihanna will bring out Taylor Swift during her upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show performance.
The Barbados native is headlining the much-anticipated performance at the Super Bowl LVII, which will be held on February 12, 2023.
The performance will be Rihanna's first time on stage since she performed at the Grammy Awards in 2018.
Super Bowl Halftime shows are known for their surprise guests so speculation is mounting that Rihanna has some guest performers up her sleeve.
Will Taylor Swift perform with Rihanna at the Super Bowl Halftime Show?
There have been multiple clues that Rihanna will bring out Swift during her show and fans are abuzz with excitement about the rumor.
Here are all the clues.
A trailer for Rihanna's performance included a Taylor Swift reference that fans think is a clue about a guest performance.
Rihanna dropped the trailer for her Halftime show, starting with the voice-over “It’s been 2,190 days.”
While this was previously assumed to be referring to Rihanna's lengthy musical hiatus, Swifties heard something different.
Avid Swift fans noted that the same number came up in Swift’s song “Glitch.”
The “Glitch” lyric goes, “It’s been 2,190 days since our love blackout.”
While the number could just be a coincidence, some fans think the shared use of 2,190 days is a hint that Swift will join Rihanna for her performance.
Taylor Swift was rumored to be performing at the Super Bowl before Rihanna was confirmed.
Before Rihanna confirmed her upcoming performance in September 2022 — with an Instagram of her tattooed hand holding a football — Swift was pipped to be headlining.
Variety Magazine reported that Swift was speculated to be taking on the performance now that Apple Music is the show's official sponsor — Apple Music was once the only streaming platform with Swift's music.
Apple Music's sponsorship comes as Pepsi ended its 10-year run as the Halftime Show's sponsor. Given that Swift has a partnership with Pepsi's rival Coca-Cola, fans speculated that the change in sponsor would free Swift up to perform at the show.
Taylor Swift has used NFL games to promote her music before.
Posting on Twitter on October 20, 2022, Swift announced that she’d be sharing the teaser trailer for her Midnights album during the 3rd quarter of Thursday Night Football.
In a video, Swift said, “If you tune into the Thursday night football game on Amazon Prime, I’m going to be showing a first look at the secret projects I’ve been working on very hard for a very long time, getting ready for the Midnights album.”
She went on to say that fans would see the work, if they tuned into the game, “before the Midnights album came out.”
Her newly-named connection to the NFL could mean that she’s involved in the Super Bowl, as well.
Taylor Swift's ‘Eras’ Tour will begin in the same stadium as the Super Bowl.
Swift announced that she’d be performing at 20 different NFL venues for her 27-date ‘Eras’ Tour.
The Eras Tour starts on March 18, 2023 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The stadium, which is home of the Arizona Cardinals, is the same venue where the Super Bowl is being held just one month earlier.
Swift will hit other NFL stadiums for the tour, in cities including Detroit, Atlanta, Tampa, and Chicago.
She’ll end the U.S. leg of the tour by performing for two nights in Los Angeles at the SoFi Stadium.
Taylor Swift wrote a song for Rihanna.
A joint Super Bowl performance wouldn't be possible without some kind of collaboration, right? Luckily, Swift and Rihanna have indirectly worked together before.
While dating Calvin Harris, Swift collaborated with the DJ on a song that she wrote using the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg.
The 2016 track, “This Is What You Came For,” ended up being a hit by Rihanna and Harris.
The under-the-radar collaboration could be another clue that the two pop stars might sing together at the Super Bowl.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.