Howard Stern has claimed Rihanna lip-synched most of her Super Bowl performance on Sunday – and was caught off guard by multiple mic errors.
The 34-year-old singer, who revealed during the performance that she was pregnant with her second child, delighted fans with a catalog of her greatest hits, but the 69-year-old star told listeners of The Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM on Monday, that he thinks she’s miming.
He said: “You know, I don’t even know why she bothered to show up. I could be wrong, but in my opinion, 85 percent of that performance was lip-synching.
“Well the big sign might be when she puts the mic next to her knees and her lips don’t move and the other voices go,
Co-host Robin Quivers said she couldn’t be sure if Rihanna sang the whole time.
Has she? Howard Stern has claimed Rihanna lip-synched most of her Super Bowl performance on Sunday – and was caught off guard by multiple mic errors
Stern added, “I had a theory, Rihanna wasn’t lip-synching, but she put the mic near her vagina so the new baby could sing. The baby sang Backup.’
Rihanna shocked fans when she revealed she was pregnant with her second child during her Super Bowl performance on Sunday
She shares her first child, who was born on May 13, 2022, with rapper A$AP Rocky, who kept a low profile at the event. The two have kept their growing family under the radar, and so far neither musician has shared their child’s name.
A star representative confirmed the baby news shortly after the show ended.
It’s her first live television appearance since 2018, where she shared the stage with DJ Khaled to sing Wild Thoughts at the Grammy Awards.
Rihanna kicked off the show on a platform high above the field belting out her single “B**** Better Have My Money.” She wore a baggy, scarlet jumpsuit that hid her curves and was belted loosely.
The hitmaker paired the suit with a pair of chunky red trainers. The platform on which she was suspended then lowered to the field where she joined a crowd of dancers in white on stage.
She kept her dance moves to a minimum, leaving the backup dancers to fill the gap.
Rihanna stuck to the hits and didn’t reveal any new songs during her performance, which included 12 songs. She freaked out the crowd when she switched to Where Have You Been, followed by the hit song Only Girl (In The World).
No limits: He said: ‘You know, I don’t even know why she bothered to show up. I could be wrong, but in my opinion, 85 percent of that performance was lip-sync.” We thought (lip-sync?) the other voices go: oh dear; Fans were quick to support Stern on social media over the lip sync claims
We Found Love, Rude Boy and their hit work followed, although their collaborator Drake did not appear on the later song. She continued with Wild Thoughts and Pour It Up.
The hitmaker made some controversial song choices, including an excerpt of her verse from rapper Kanye West’s All Of The Lights, and she also performed part of Jay-Z’s Run This Town, which also starred West in his original version.
West fell out of favor after making numerous anti-Semitic comments, including reportedly praising Adolf Hitler.
Rihanna ended her performance with the double hit of Umbrella and then Diamonds to finish.
Forgoing some of the pyrotechnics of recent Super Bowl halftime performances, she apparently bet her fans would be happy to see her without the added theatrics.
The superstar, who was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, hasn’t released a solo album since January 2016. Her only solo music in the last seven years came in October when she released Lift Me Up as a tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman for the Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which earned the singer an Oscar nomination.
Big reveal: Rihanna shocked fans when she revealed she was pregnant with her second child during her Super Bowl performance on Sunday