Rihanna was just honored as one of the most influential and important artists of our time via MTV’s Vanguard Award, and it seems like she took those accolades to heart and brought beyond her A-game for this weekend’s Made in America performance. Sadly, I may have experience FOMO for the first time in my life when I realized that moving across the country prohibited me from attending. You may have had a similar excuse for not being there.
But physical presence has never been necessary to enjoy all things Rihanna, as her frequently-acclaimed and practically-perfect Instagram has proven time and again. With full knowledge that not all of her navy could schlep to Philadelphia this weekend — no, not even for Beyonce’s birthday — Rihanna posted all the best moments from her performance on Instagram. She even dabbled in meme-captioning for one of them! Guess her new boo Drake is rubbing off on her… ! Enjoy the brief recap via her own carefully curated photos and videos below.
She kicks everything off with just a quick post to thank her fans, and reveal the enormous crowd gathered for her set
She also mentioned that her family was in town for the festival. One thing is for sure, no festival’s VIP area is popping like the one at Jay Z’s festival is.
Another photo to highlight how badass her backup dancers are
That mid-air shot is clutch.
I’m loving this Robin Hood moment she rocked for the set. Robins need to stick together, I assume
She’d look cute in the little hat, too.
Another crowd flex shot… we’re almost to the good stuff
She never fails to give her fans love.
For the fiftieth time, Rihanna can sing and this live rendition of Anti‘s most soulful banger “Love on the Brain” proves it
That extra run she puts in there is… f*cking amazing.
Switching things up immediately, here she is humping the sky to the opening noir-symphony of the Travis Scott-produced “Woo”
I love how it kind of looks like she’s walking the plank. Maybe her look’s inspiration was actually Peter Pan?
Given Chris Brown’s recent headline-grabbing entanglement, maybe Rihanna felt the need to reclaim this song by performing it. Or maybe she’s just feeling extra sexy lately.
No matter its history, this song still goes.
Maybe the meme-making of her new boo Drake is rubbing off on Rihanna a bit, because she captioned this snippet of herself dancing to the psychedelic “Same Ol Mistakes” with this hilarious ode to Labor Day Weekend: “When you realize you got Monday off”
All vibes, no feels.
Here’s a blessedly long extended video of her performing “Sex with Me,” arguably the best song on Anti
I say arguably because I’ve already laid down my own gauntlet that “Love on the Brain” claims that spot — but whatever you select as your top choice, I think we can all agree that relegating this song to bonus track status was some sort of god awful mistake that the universe will have to overlook as we all move forward into a full embrace of Anti as a classic.
You might’ve noticed this one up top…
Caption: #MadeinBarbados. Mic. Drop.
