Rihanna performing on an arena stage in 2008 — 2008

Rihanna performing on stage in 2010 — 2010

Rihanna smiling at a film premiere in 2012 — 2012

Seven decks over the grass · Glendale, 12 February 2023

Rihanna

For the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show she never touched the field: seven stages hung from trusses over the grass, and only at the end was she lowered to the ground. Her places hang the same way. Lower the seven decks, then bring her down.

Photographs: Jason Lander, 3 June 2008, CC BY 2.0; dephisticate, 12 August 2010, CC BY 2.0; Liam Mendes, 10 April 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0; DoD News (EJ Hersom), 11 November 2014, CC BY 2.0.

Seven decks · 9 places · one field

Lower the platforms,
then bring her down.

In Glendale seven floating stages hung over the field from trusses, to keep the show off the grass. Here each deck holds one of her places, in story order. Lower one and its place opens. The decks are ours; what each place says comes from the sources one click away.

Seven decks hang at the truss. Lower one.

0 of 7 down

Lower a deck and its place opens here, with how to visit.

Westbury · Waterford · Saint Michael, Barbados · 1988–2005

A stall in the street,
a drill sergeant who sang.

Aerial view of Bridgetown, Barbados, with the wharf and the city centre — Bridgetown from the air, 2008. Rihanna Drive is in Westbury, on the edge of the city; the house is not shown. Barry haynes · CC BY-SA 3.0

20 February 1988 · named, not mapped

Rihanna Drive

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on 20 February 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados. She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and helped her father sell clothes from a stall in the street.

The Government of Barbados renamed Westbury New Road, the street she grew up on, Rihanna Drive; her site reported it on 1 December 2017. Her own label, Westbury Road Entertainment, founded in 2005, is named after her childhood home.

On 22 February 2008 Prime Minister David Thompson proclaimed Rihanna Day, which Barbadians mark every year.

A residential road where people live: the family house is private, and the road is named here, not mapped. The photograph is Bridgetown from the air.

Sources

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Bridgetown, Barbados

Live marketplace results for tours of Bridgetown. Her family’s house is private and not part of any visit.

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Rihanna in Barbados in 2021 — Rihanna in Barbados, 4 February 2021, the year she was named a National Hero. U.S. Embassy Bridgetown · Public domain

A Welcome to Combermere sign above the scoreboard at the school cricket ground — The cricket ground at Combermere School, Waterford, 2006. Djr xi · CC BY-SA 3.0

About 1999–2004 · Waterford, Saint Michael, on the outskirts of Bridgetown, Barbados

Combermere School

She went to Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and then Combermere School, and left at 16 to pursue music. At 11 she joined the Barbados Cadet Corps; her drill sergeant was the singer Shontelle.

Combermere is home to the Number 3 Cadet Company. In 2003 she formed a trio with two classmates. The American producer Evan Rogers later recalled that once she walked into the room, he barely noticed the other two.

The school was founded in 1695 as the Drax Parish School; the cricketer Sir Frank Worrell is among its old boys.

A working secondary school, not open to visitors: see it from Highway 3.

Sources

Connecticut · New York City · 2004–2005

An audition,
and a long wait for a contract.

Times Square in Manhattan at dusk — Midtown Manhattan, 2009. A view of the city only: the office where she auditioned is not identified. Francisco Diez · CC BY 2.0

Early 2005 · named, not mapped

Jay-Z’s office at Def Jam

Early in 2005 she auditioned in New York City for Jay-Z and Antonio “L.A.” Reid. Reid told Jay-Z not to let her leave without a deal, and she waited in Jay-Z’s office while lawyers finished a six-album contract with Def Jam.

She was the first artist signed to Syndicated Rhythm Productions, Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken’s company, and Rogers brought her and her mother to Connecticut to record demos.

25 May 2005Pon de Replay, her first single, came out on 25 May 2005 and reached number two on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

Not mapped: the pages read do not say where the office was. The photograph is Midtown Manhattan.

Sources

Jay-Z’s own places are in the Jay-Z World.

1111 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles · 2007–2009

Ten weeks under Umbrella,
then a Grammy downtown.

The canopy is closed: ten panels.

In 2007 Umbrella spent ten weeks in a row at number one in the UK and seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

Sources

The exterior of the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles — The Staples Center, Los Angeles, July 2007, months before the 2008 Grammys. Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0

10 February 2008 · 1111 South Figueroa Street, downtown Los Angeles

The 50th Grammys

The 50th Grammy Awards were held at the Staples Center on 10 February 2008. Umbrella, with Jay-Z, won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration; it was also up for Record and Song of the Year.

She performed with The Time, singing Umbrella, Don’t Stop the Music and the Time’s Jungle Love.

A working arena, now called Crypto.com Arena: see it from Figueroa Street, or go to a game or a show.

Sources

Knightsbridge · Atlantic Avenue · the Marais · 2017–2019

Forty shades in Knightsbridge,
a house in Paris.

8 September 2017 · 109–125 Knightsbridge, London

Harvey Nichols

In the UK it was sold only at Harvey Nichols until May 2019. Time singled out its range of 40 foundation shades.

Fenty Beauty went on sale on 8 September 2017, in Sephora shops and online in the United States.

LVMH had signed a deal in 2016 to make it through Kendo, its cosmetics incubator.

A department store, open daily: walk in from Knightsbridge or Sloane Street.

Sources

The rusted-steel canopy of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn — The Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, 2024. CityLimitsJunction · CC0

September 2019 · 620 Atlantic Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, New York

Savage X Fenty at Barclays

Its September 2019 show was staged at the Barclays Center.

Her lingerie label Savage X Fenty launched in 2018 with a show at New York Fashion Week that September.

She stepped down as its chief executive in June 2023.

A working arena: see it from Atlantic Avenue, or go to a game or a show.

Sources

A street corner in the Marais, Paris — Rue Vieille-du-Temple in the Marais, Paris, 2015. The 2019 shop is not shown. Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0

22 May 2019 · Le Marais, Paris (the temporary shop’s address is not given)

A pop-up in the Marais

On 22 May 2019 she showed Fenty, her fashion house with LVMH, at a preview of a pop-up shop in the Marais. She was the first woman to create an original brand for LVMH, and the first woman of colour to lead one of its houses.

The clothes went on sale there that Friday and online a week after the preview.

In February 2021 she and LVMH agreed to pause the label and put the work into Savage X Fenty.

The 2019 shop was temporary and has gone; the Marais is a public quarter to walk. The photograph is Rue Vieille-du-Temple.

Sources

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Le Marais, Paris

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The Gothic Parliament Buildings of Barbados seen across the water — The Parliament Buildings across the Careenage, Bridgetown, 2014; National Heroes Square is just behind them. Barry haynes · CC BY-SA 4.0

Broad Street, Bridgetown · 30 November 2021

The Right Excellent
Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

On 30 November 2021, the night Barbados became a republic, Prime Minister Mia Mottley named her a National Hero at the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in Heroes Square.

She was the eleventh National Hero of Barbados, and the second woman. She may put “The Right Excellent” before her name.

In September 2018 the government had already made her an ambassador, with education, tourism and investment in her brief. Her Clara Lionel Foundation, founded in 2012, is named after her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite.

A public square in the middle of Bridgetown, open at all hours. The Parliament Buildings stand on its north side.

Sources

Visit Barbados

Places to stay in Barbados

Barbados · See the listings

The tourism board’s own list of hotels and resorts across the island. Filter by St Michael for Bridgetown, Heroes Square and Combermere. Its page shows no rates. Pictured: the Parliament Buildings by Heroes Square.

See places to stay

North 95th Avenue, Glendale, Arizona · 12 February 2023

Seven decks,
and then the ground.

Super Bowl LVII · North 95th Avenue, Glendale, Arizona

State Farm Stadium

She and her dancers performed on seven floating stages hung 15 to 60 feet above the field from Brunel trusses; Tait built them. Keeping the show in the air spared the stadium’s turf, 100,000 square feet of hybrid Bermuda grass; at the end she was lowered to the ground.

She was pregnant during the show; it was confirmed afterwards that she was expecting her second child. More than 121 million people watched on television and online, the most for any halftime show in US television history at the time.

The show, produced by Roc Nation with Jesse Collins and directed by Hamish Hamilton, won two Emmys from five nominations, including for production design. The stadium runs behind-the-scenes tours of 75 to 90 minutes from Gate 2, and field roll-in tours two days before a game.

Home of the Arizona Cardinals: in on game and event days, or on a stadium tour from Gate 2.

Sources

State Farm Stadium

State Farm Stadium tours

Glendale, Arizona · See SeatGeek

Behind-the-scenes tours of 75 to 90 minutes start at Gate 2, by the Cardinals team shop; field roll-in tours run at 2pm and 4pm two days before a game. Tickets on SeatGeek.

See tours

Katy Perry played the halftime show in the same stadium in 2015: see the Katy Perry World.

Where it is now

Down on the grass:
7 places to go.

In Bridgetown, Combermere School is about 2.6 km from National Heroes Square. In the United States the places are far apart: Brooklyn, downtown Los Angeles and Glendale outside Phoenix. Knightsbridge and the Marais are a train ride apart.

Where it is now

7 places you can visit, from Bridgetown to Glendale. The family house on Rihanna Drive is private, and the 2005 office is not identified, so both are named, not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

Site reference · Restricted access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working secondary school, not open to visitors: see it from Highway 3.
Area reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public square in the middle of Bridgetown, open at all hours. The Parliament Buildings stand on its north side.

The cricket ground at Combermere School, Waterford, 2006. Djr xi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Waterford, Saint Michael, on the outskirts of Bridgetown, Barbados
Combermere School
She went to Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and then Combermere School, and left at 16 to pursue music.
A working secondary school, not open to visitors: see it from Highway 3.
Sources
The Parliament Buildings across the Careenage, Bridgetown, 2014; National Heroes Square is just behind them. Barry haynes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Broad Street, Bridgetown, Barbados, in front of the Parliament Buildings
National Heroes Square, Bridgetown
On 30 November 2021, the night Barbados became a republic, Prime Minister Mia Mottley named her a National Hero at the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in Heroes Square.
A public square in the middle of Bridgetown, open at all hours. The Parliament Buildings stand on its north side.
Sources

Stay

A room in Barbados.

The tourism board’s own list of places to stay.

Visit Barbados

Places to stay in Barbados

Barbados · See the listings

The tourism board’s own list of hotels and resorts across the island. Filter by St Michael for Bridgetown, Heroes Square and Combermere. Its page shows no rates. Pictured: the Parliament Buildings by Heroes Square.

See places to stay

Go there

A stadium and two walks.

Tours of State Farm Stadium, Bridgetown and the Marais.

State Farm Stadium

State Farm Stadium tours

Glendale, Arizona · See SeatGeek

Behind-the-scenes tours of 75 to 90 minutes start at Gate 2, by the Cardinals team shop; field roll-in tours run at 2pm and 4pm two days before a game. Tickets on SeatGeek.

See tours

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