--- title: Watch Rihanna, Demi Lovato at the Global Citizen Festival description: Over 60,000 people convened in Central Park on Saturday for the annual Global Citizen Festival to end world poverty, headlined by Rihanna. canonical: https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-26T18:30:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:59.033Z og:title: Watch Rihanna, Demi Lovato at the Global Citizen Festival og:description: Major Lazer, Metallica, and more lent their voices to ending world poverty. og:url: https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt680dd9c81ba6d65a/6988a78e8e06011e0a4679c8/rihanna-gcf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2847 og:image:height: 1601 og:image:alt: 2016 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Rihanna, Demi Lovato at the Global Citizen Festival twitter:description: Major Lazer, Metallica, and more lent their voices to ending world poverty. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt680dd9c81ba6d65a/6988a78e8e06011e0a4679c8/rihanna-gcf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Rihanna Sing at NYC's Global Citizen Festival > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 26, 2016 6:30 PM UTC  Singer Rihanna performs onstage at the 2016 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 at Central Park on September 24, 2016 in New York City. Singer Rihanna performs onstage at the 2016 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 at Central Park on September 24, 2016 in New York City. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 26, 2016 6:30 PM UTC For a crowd of more than 60,000 in Manhattan’s Central Park, [pop goddess Rihanna](http://time.com/4501886/rihanna-fenty-puma-show-paris-fashion-week/?iid=sr-link7) closed out the seven-plus-hour annual [Global Citizen Festival](https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/) with an energetic performance that spanned her history of major hits, from upbeat “Umbrella” to emotional renditions of “Stay” and “Love on the Brain.” The Barbadian singer added her name to an extensive list of stars who have lent their celebrity to Global Citizen’s efforts to end world poverty; Beyoncé was last year’s headliner. [Other performers](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3%5FC7BwcV0kBlJbBFHTPJQ) at Saturday’s massive outdoor festival included [Demi Lovato](http://motto.time.com/4423146/demi-lovato-hillary-clinton/?iid=sr-link1), Metallica, Kendrick Lamar, [Major Lazer](http://time.com/4418948/justin-bieber-cold-water-ed-sheeran-diplo/?iid=sr-link1), Ellie Goulding, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Pearl Jam’s [Eddie Vedder](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/rock-not-as-hard-pearl-jams-eddie-vedder-to-release-solo-ukelele-album/?iid=sr-link2) — but it was really Rihanna’s night, as the thousands of attendees waited it out after dark for RiRi to grace the stage. The _Anti_ singer started her set about 30 minutes delayed; Chris Martin graciously performed an improvised version of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” to appease the restless crowd, asking concertgoers for their patience as Rihanna was making herself “five percent more gorgeous,” he guessed. The musical acts were mixed with calls to action from celebrity speakers like Neil Patrick Harris and Priyanka Chopra, and even a special video message from First Lady Michelle Obama. Attendees snagged tickets to the free event, which is in its fifth year, by performing “actions” like calling, tweeting, or sending messages to world leaders to support a series of poverty-ending initiatives. “Lately my office has been flooded with phone calls and tweets from many of you. Thanks Rihanna!” joked Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in another video message broadcast to the crowd. See some moments from the fest below. > [](https://twitter.com/GlblCtznImpact/status/780419868374032388) > [](https://twitter.com/GlblCtzn/status/780129313987276800) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/"},"headline":"Watch Rihanna Sing at NYC's Global Citizen Festival","datePublished":"2016-09-26T18:30:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:59.033Z","description":"The social action concert was a day-long celebration of efforts to eradicate world poverty","url":"https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt680dd9c81ba6d65a/6988a78e8e06011e0a4679c8/rihanna-gcf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt680dd9c81ba6d65a/6988a78e8e06011e0a4679c8/rihanna-gcf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 - Show","caption":"2016 Global Citizen Festival In Central Park To End Extreme Poverty By 2030 - Show","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4507766/watch-rihanna-global-citizen-festival/","name":"Watch Rihanna Sing at NYC's Global Citizen Festival"}}]}] ```