CREDIT: MATT SLOCUM/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rihanna performed a medley of her songs at the Super Bowl halftime show.

If you’ve ever met someone from Barbados, you’ll know that they will find any reason to tell someone where they come from. Twenty-one years living on ‘the rock’ and I still hold a sense of pride telling someone that “I is a Bajan!”

I recently migrated to Canada to pursue my degree and since then I’ve told my friends and family a million times that I refuse to lose my accent. In expressing how much I love being from Barbados, you can imagine how I was feeling when I saw Rihanna performing during the Superbowl halftime show.

First of all, when she revealed her baby bump my instant response was, “we’re getting another baby!” and I’m positive that I wasn’t the only Bajan who had the experience of saying this.


With Barbados comprising of 288,295 people, there is a strong sense of community that travels through the 166-square miles that the island sits on. I feel confident in saying that Barbadians were already proud to call Rihanna their national hero and even more now that she has accomplished this incredible milestone in her career.

Whilst there were many locals showing their support on social media, the one video that I related the most to was a TikTok by Deena Fares (@iamafreshavocado) that depicted a feeling of pride, joy and of course increased bragging rights of our girl Robyn Rihanna Fenty. I found it hilarious when Fares said “...I’m from Rihanna'” as opposed to saying she was from Barbados.

Rihanna holds such close ties with Barbados that anyone in the world will relate the country to her. That takes us back to when she was given the title of National Hero and expressed how proud she is to be a Bajan.

“I’m gonna be a Bajan ‘til the day I die,” said RiRi.

With that, Barbados will forever be my home and thanks to Rihanna, I hold an even stronger sense of pride representing Barbados as my home country.

I will forever be proud to be a Bajan.