Here’s How Fans Reacted to Rihanna Performing Her Own Songs at Karaoke

Rihanna surprised fans with an impromptu visit to a New York City karaoke bar.

On Saturday (Dec. 28), the 36-year-old singer and entrepreneur made an unexpected stop at Manhattan’s Girls Love Karaoke, where she took the stage to perform “Needed Me” and “Sex With Me” from her 2016 album, Anti.

In fan-captured footage from the event, RiRi can be heard telling the excited crowd that she only had about five minutes to spare, joking that her “battery” was “about to burn out.” The Grammy-winning superstar, also a mother of two, added a dose of star power to the evening while playfully teasing fans who have been eagerly awaiting new music, nearly nine years after the release of Anti.

Following the performance, Rihanna’s Navy flooded social media with reactions to the karaoke surprise. “Imagine going to [karaoke] night and you get a free Rihanna performance,” one fan wrote on X. Another added, “Awee she’s having fun.” Someone else gushed, “Her voice reminds me of Whitney Houston.”

But not all responses were so positive. “Chii 😭 the mic was bleeding,” one commenter quipped on X. Another person wrote, “Help this is horrible 😭😭.” A third user critiqued, “I didn’t know singing a simple note was this hard.” And yet another questioned, “Is this really Rihanna? My cat can sing better.”

Some disgruntled fans took to social media to call out the Fenty Beauty founder for performing at a karaoke bar instead of focusing on new music.

“So she wanna f— around with karaoke instead of getting her ass in the booth. wtf Rihanna 😒,” one person wrote on X. Another added, “Karaoke to your own 2016 hits with nothing new released?!!?” alongside a Simpsons meme that read “Pathetic.”

Earlier this year, Rihanna — who shares two young children with boyfriend A$AP Rocky — teased that her upcoming music will be worth the wait.

“I already got stuff that I feel like I could make hits out of,” she told ET in April. “Me and Rocky are really trying to figure out who’s gonna use what because it’s so good.”

In March, Rihanna performed live for the first time in eight years when she took the stage for a pre-wedding celebration for the son of Asia’s richest man.