TV producer Jesse Collins said there was some pressure following last year’s epic, Emmy-winning Super Bowl halftime show with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and more, but working with Rihanna made the process easy.
“She’s a lot of fun, very cool, never stressed. Just like, ‘All right, I’m going to go do this real quick.’ The pressure never got to her. She just was in it from day one, and really warm and let everybody have fun with it,” Collins told The Hollywood Reporter moments after Rihanna blazed the stage Sunday at the State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
“I think there’s always pressure with this show,” added Collins, who also produced The Weeknd’s 2021 halftime show. “You work so hard, six months for 13 minutes. [This was] an opportunity to work with a global superstar and her re-entry into music.”
Rihanna last performed live at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Before that, she was on the road promoting her album Anti, released in 2016.
Collins won the outstanding variety show (live) Emmy for last year’s halftime show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Jay-Z, who also produced the spectacle. He has also produced the Grammy Awards, Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BET Awards, American Music Awards and more.
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Rihanna’s performance — where she announced she was pregnant — was exciting and energetic, and she sang a number of her popular hits, including “Work,” “Diamonds” and “Umbrella.”
“I just feel great,” he said of Rihanna’s show. “I feel like her vision was executed. She shocked the world and the Navy’s [Rihanna’s fans] happy, and I’m just glad we got another great one in the books.
“We couldn’t have a massive stage on the field because of the grass and so they put it in the air and it was just brilliant,” he added. “It was just a great idea of where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
