SHE has become something of an enigma in the six years since she last released an album.
But Rihanna is finally gearing up to let fans see behind the curtain, signing a huge deal with Apple to document her return to the stage in 2023.
The Umbrella singer, who gave birth to a son this year, will perform the biggest single gig of her life on February 12 when she headlines American football’s Super Bowl half-time show.
And the cameras for her behind-the-scenes documentary will be there to capture it all.
A music insider said: “There is a massive appetite for everything to do with Rihanna, especially as this will be her major return to the stage for the first time in years. She will be recorded during rehearsals and meetings in the lead-up to the big night and give an insight into what her life is really like now she is returning to pop as a mum.
“Rihanna is a massive force to be reckoned with when it comes to music and so Apple has paid millions.
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“The Super Bowl is one of, if not the, biggest stages in the world, so her show was always going to be huge. Add on top of that it’s a live comeback and the pressure is immense.
“She is keen for the world to remember why she is one of the greatest performers of all time.”
The US sporting event will take place at the 63,000-capacity State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
This year’s event saw Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J Blige and 50 Cent all take to the stage.
Previous shows by Madonna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have all pulled in more than 110million viewers around the globe.
Rihanna went to No3 this month with her stripped-back ballad Lift Me Up.
Recorded across five countries, the single was taken from the soundtrack of the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and is a tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman, who starred in the first Black Panther film and died of cancer aged 43 in 2020.
Rihanna has also released a second song from the soundtrack called Born Again.
She has been away for far too long.
And I speak for most of the world when I say I can’t wait to see her back on stage where she belongs.
MILEY CYRUS turns 30 today and is celebrating in style by teaming up with her godmother Dolly Parton.
They posed in this snap to announce that Dolly will co-host Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party for US telly. The country music icon is taking over from comedian Pete Davidson.
It will air live from Miami, Florida, where they will perform and be joined by special guests.
Here, it will be Eurovision success story Sam Ryder helping Brits welcome in 2023.
The Space Man singer will sing hits from throughout the decades in the lead up to midnight.
He said yesterday: “I can’t think of a better way to round off 2022 than singing some of my favourite songs with some very special guests. It’s been such an incredible 12 months full of fabulous blessings thanks to fabulous people, and I’m so excited to bring in 2023 with you. As always, thank you for the opportunity.”
ROMAN KEMP has revealed how he pooed himself at a garage.
The Capital FM radio host said: “Recently I . . . this is really disgusting so I apologise in advance . . . but I accidentally s**t myself at a garage.
“I had to get back in the car then proceed to remove my pants and find a way of getting them in the bin.
“I wasn’t ill – well, I might have been a bit. But how funny is that?”
Yet Roman – son of Spandau Ballet bassist and former EastEnders actor Martin and singer Shirlie, one half of Eighties pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie – insists he felt not a bit of embarrassment.
He said: “It’s life. It happens to everyone and that’s what was so funny.”
He added that as a kid his parents made him feel he could do anything in life, which now saves his blushes when things don’t go quite to plan.
In fact, Roman, pictured at the opening of F1 team Alpha Tauri’s flagship store in Knightsbridge, West London, reckons his inability to ever feel humiliation is one of his best traits in showbiz.
Discussing his upbringing on the Straight Up podcast, he said: “What it did for me was create no embarrassment – the most powerful thing I have in my arsenal.
“That embarrassment level just doesn’t really exist in our family.”
EURYTHMICS star Dave Stewart has donated £50,000 to a young musician diagnosed with a rare brain tumour.
Faye Fantarrow, from Sunderland, who has been tipped for musical success by the BBC and has been mentored by Dave, is attempting to raise £450,000 to take part in a potentially life-saving clinical trial in the US.
The diagnosis – her third time with cancer – came in August and Dave’s Eurythmics bandmate Annie Lennox is among those to have donated.
Dave said of the singer: “I love you and your amazing creativity Faye, you’re one of the great songwriters/artists of our time and we need you.”
She’s set up a Just Giving page for donations and a fundraising gig at Pop Recs in Sunderland will take place this Saturday.
SO it turns out Liam Gallagher isn’t all sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.
The former OASIS frontman was obsessed with kids’ memory toy Bop It, according to 5IVE singer Scott Robinson.
Scott said he was invited to Liam’s room when they were in Brazil after a day of drinking together.
Scott recalled: “He is p***ed out of his nut and he takes us to his hotel and this is when you think it’s going to get so rock ’n’ roll, right? He wants to play Bop It. And he gets a f***ing Bop It out of his room and we are standing in a circle.”
Laughing, Scott added: “He was s**t at Bop It. That was the exact weekend Liam got off the plane and got arrested for saying, ‘That hostess wants stabbing’.”
On the Way Back When podcast with Keith Lemon and Lucie Cave, Scott said Liam was keen to slate his brother NOEL even then.
He added: “Liam says, ‘I want to show you the new album’. Every song he wrote, he says, ‘This is legendary’. Every song Noel wrote, he’d go, ‘This is s***e’.”
Some things never change.
MICA PARIS is convinced the late Whitney Houston had a crush on her.
She met the US superstar while on a TV show in Germany and says the I Have Nothing singer flirted with her.
Mica said: “She was lovely and asked me out for dinner but we were chatting away and she was playing footsie under the table. I’ve never said it, but I think she had a little crush on me and, to be honest, I was a bit intimidated by it.”
Mica told Jackie Brambles on her Greatest Hits Radio show: “I wasn’t used to that, I’d just come out of the church.
“But she was a really good person and sometimes I sit down and I think I’m so grateful I’m still here.”
KELLY ROWLAND is in talks to play Donna Summer in a biopic.
The Destiny’s Child singer has long spoken about being a fan of the disco queen, who died in 2012.
Donna had a string of huge hits through the eighties and nineties including I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby, and Kelly wants to bring her story to the big screen.
She told US radio: “Donna Summer has an illustrious life and it’s so beautiful.
“Seeing it on screen would be so incredibly entertaining and mind-blowing and worth watching for anyone.”
QUENTIN TARANTINO believes Marvel is to blame for there being fewer major movie stars.
The Pulp Fiction director said: “Part of the ‘Marvelisation’ of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they’re not movie stars. Right?
“Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times… but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.
“My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made. And they’re the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement.”
Speaking on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Quentin added: “They are the entire representation of this era of films right now. There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”
JESSICA CHASTAIN looked gorgeous in green for the premiere of her TV series George & Tammy – but she is hoping her next role will be as a baddie.
She plays country singer Tammy Wynette in the show opposite Michael Shannon as her third husband, musician George Jones.
But Jess, wearing this £7,200 Michael Kors dress, is now hoping for a turn as a Bond villain.
She said at the event in LA: “When I started in the industry about ten years ago everyone kept asking me, ‘Would you like to be a Bond Girl?’
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“For a woman in the industry, it was like, ‘Ooh, the pinnacle of success to play a Bond Girl’.
“For me, I was like, ‘No, I want to be the villain’. I love this idea of Bond being afraid of me. So anyone wants to call me with a Bond-villain role, I’m there.”
