Digital Magazine
The evolution of rihanna’s numb dance
From The Diamonds World Tour to the Super Bowl halftime show stage, a brief history on a Rihanna jig that’s now lasted three eras.
BY HARPSICHORD
MARCH 15, 2023
Digital illustration of Rihanna doing the “Numb” dance at The Anti World Tour held in Atlanta in 2016 .
The Song
As the third track on her seventh studio album, Unapologetic, “Numb” is an anomaly in Rihanna’s entire discography, as well as pop and R&B music. The song discusses not truly caring about what people think about the star, and features a verse from Eminem, who turns into his alter ego of stan as he rants. The song includes an interpolation of Kanye West’s 2007 clubbanger, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” with a deep voiced man singing “Let the champagne smash, let that man get cash. Let that man get past, let that man get cash.”
The beat itself is produced by Pop and Oak, and features the incorporation of a pungi. The pungi is a handcrafted bamboo instrument popular in Indian and Pakistani folklore music. Nicknamed the “Flute of a Snake Charmer,” the pungi produces its low-humming sound with the player’s non-interrupted, circular breathing.
The pungi is used for meditation and religious hypnosis, and on “Numb,” Rihanna repeats “I’m going numb, I’m going numb,” under a trance in the hook. She discusses “ecstacy in the air,” alluding to a drug trip. Her vocals are slurred, in an almost drunken state, and simply sounds as if Rihanna herself is having fun, in a rather… unapologetic manner.
The Numb Dance Premieres
Diamonds World Tour (2013)
For her 2013 Complex Magazine cover story, Rihanna made it clear that “Numb” focuses on “being numb to everything around and to say, ‘Fuck you.’” Two months after those words were published, Rihanna finds herself on stage at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York performing its choreography for the first time. As a Kanye West interpolation follows “I’m going Numb, I’m going numb,” a loosely produced pungi dictates Rihanna’s dance moves.
First she moves like a zombie with her back-up dancers, who are dressed like Janet Jackson in “Rhythm Nation.” She continues to move like a zombie on the stage’s stairs. She does a tip toe dance while leaning her back in a forward position. At centerstage, she sways as she extends her left arm to the side.
The Numb Dance: Reloaded
Anti World Tour (2016)
Much of Rihanna’s stage design and setlists for her various tours exploit minimalism. The tour to mark her eighth studio album era, punctuated that Rihanna-ism the most. It had been surprising to hear a slurred down, more sensual take on “Numb”. This tour around, the archival Numb Dance focuses on her sharper, precise body movements. What was once loose choreography is now more refined. On the Anti World Tour, the singer performed the trap&B jaunt in a medley with “Birthday Cake” and “Pour It Up.”
While performing the dance, she stunts in an eagle-like formation. As she struts forward, she dips her head back with her microphone. She then glides forward in robotic motion. And then she does a shoulder-back dab to the amazement of her fans– creating a funny GIF in the process.
The Numb Dance Supersizes
Apple Music Super Bowl 57 Halftime Show (2023)
Born on October 29, 1991 in Auckland, New Zealand, Parris Goebel would eventually become Rihanna’s main choreographer. The artist won a Creative Emmy in 2022 for her dancework showcased in the third volume of Amazon Prime’s Savage x Fenty runway show. She was in charge of the Super Bowl dancing.
When Rihanna is sitting on stage singing “Pour It Up,” her back-up dancers raise their legs to familiar sounding pungi notes that only Rihanna fans would be able to pinpoint. In a way, the middle of Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime set seemed like a glamorous work out session. Arguably, it had been the portion of the show where the pregnant superstar provided intricately detailed choreography breaks. Snuck in the fray of all the back-up dancers on stage is The Numb Dance. It’s soundtracked by the vocals of “Pour It Up” over the beat for “Pose”.
After she’s done singing “Pour It Up,” she marches up stairs onto another platform of her stage. She does a drunken, zombie strut to the center before the camera does a close up of her mean-mugging the viewers. During that facial expression is a shoulder shimmy. She stumbles forward like in her previous times of performing the dance, before proceeding into a dance break for “Pose.” This leads into her new dimension of dancing, where she does a James Brown type hip thrust and rock.
