Show producer Jesse Collins talks about Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance
by Ana Walia | Mon, 13 Feb 2023 17:40:10 GMT
Jesse Collins talks about Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Image Source: Pitchfork 

Jesse Collins talks about Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance.

Super Bowl Halftime Show Producer Jesse Collins spoke to Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier about Rihanna’s performance. According to the show proudcer, a lot went behind the sequences to accomplish the visually beautiful performance, which also included floating stages amidst Rihanna's severe fear of heights, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Rihanna is terrified of heights, but she successfully pulled it off during the show, and Jesse commended her creative director, Willo Perron, who worked on the idea with their choreographer, Parris Goebel, and it was simply incredible. He went on to say that just about everything appeared to be in order.

The floating stages came into play, according to the show's producer, as a result of concerns regarding how much weight could've been placed on the State Farm Stadium field, which supposedly resulted in grief for the players during Sunday night's game. Both teams' players struggled to maintain their footing, urging several to switch cleats. Jesse Collins characterized the field as a sponge that was unable to support the mass of the stages and dancers. He continued that they were like, we can only accomplish this much on the field, therefore we'll put it all in the air, adding that despite her fear, Rihanna felt more at ease up at the top. At the top, she loved and admired it.

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Aside from Rihanna's pregnancy, which decided to make her the first pregnant woman to headline the halftime show, the surprising part for viewers was that she executed her 13-minute medley with no special appearances, even though collaborators JAY-Z, DJ Khaled, and her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky, were all present the stadium watching the performance.

Jesse Collins said of the singer performing alone that he thinks it was just her excitement and eagerness to make the assertion she was capable of carrying this thing, which she did. Rihanna is the first woman to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show pregnant. Jesse continued by stating that people simply wanted to see her, therefore she needed to put on a show for them, which she did people haven't even seen her dance like that in a long time, and he assumed it was simply spectacular.

Jesse Collins noted that everything about the performance was kept so secret that some of the crew were still betting on what the first song would be on the day of the performance. To keep it all secret, they had to rehearse on the outskirts of Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, adding that it was a lot of work. The show's producer then asked how he kept Rihanna's pregnancy a secret to which he said that was difficult and mentioned that to be honest, as soon as it's finished he was like let's get her down and all he wants to do is get her back up. It took a lot of planning and nerves, and he is just glad to be a part of it.

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Jesse Collins, a TV producer, admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that there was some pressure after last year's epic, Emmy-winning Super Bowl halftime show with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and others, but working with Rihanna made the process easy. She's a lot of fun, a lot of cool, and she's never stressed adding that the singer would say that she is going to do this quickly. Jesse said Rihanna was never affected by the pressure and she was just in it from the beginning and was warm and let everyone have fun with it. He noted that there's always pressure with this show as they worked for six months for 13 minutes but this was an opportunity to work with a global superstar and help her re-enter the music industry.

During Apple Music's Super Bowl Halftime Show, Rihanna wasn't the only one making history. Justina Miles, an American sign language (ASL) interpreter also turned out to be one of the most memorable performers at the show and the videos of her performance went viral, fully embracing Rihanna's setlist of hits while dancing and signing for deaf viewers.

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Justina Miles made history as the first female deaf performer to sign during the Super Bowl halftime show. The 20-year-old also performed during the pre-shows "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which was performed by Abbott Elementary's Sheryl Lee Ralph. The interpreter shared with CNBC ahead of the game that she values the opportunity to allow all deaf individuals to listen to these songs and not skip out on the full Super Bowl experience.





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