Rihanna

RIHANNA Star Profile

BIOGRAPHY AND GENRE Rihanna was born in Barbados on the 20th February 1988. At the age of 16 she as sign by the record label Def Jam records and in 2005 released her first album: Music of the Sun which sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Rihanna’s music genre is a mix of R&B, Reggae, Pop, dancehall, hip-hop and dance-pop which are heard in her most well known songs: Unfaithful, Umbrella, Disturbia, Take a Bow and Diamonds. More recently Work and This is What You Came For.

EARLY MUSIC VIDEOS Rihanna’s first music video was Pon De Replay released in 2005 followed by If it’s lovin’ that you want and SOS.

Rihanna’s image in these videos are still showing her youthful side however areas of her body such as chest and legs are exposed attracting the male gaze.

RECENT MUSIC VIDEOS Rihanna’s star image nowadays is mainly about the sex appeal she shows in her videos. She is seen naked in her videos which draws in the male gaze further. It seems as though it is no longer about the music she is making but rather the revealing choice of outfit she chooses to wear or not wear. In her newest video ‘Needed Me’ with Drake she is seen wearing minimal clothing and promoting violence by holding a gun.

HOW RIHANNA IS PORTRAYED

Rihanna’s style consists of mainly revealing, tight outfits to show off her feminine assets. She usually wears red lip stick and dark

smoky eye shadows which creates sex appeal. Most of her outfits show off her chest or legs which is their to attract the attention of

males. She often dances in the music videos which can be portrayed as sexual and her body language is very flirtatious.

Alcohol and cigarettes are reoccurring props to occur in her videos.

CAMERA AND EDITING Rihanna is the main focus of her music videos and the framing is taken up almost always by her. Throughout the videos there are close ups of Rihanna and she is centralised in the rule of thirds. The close up allow emotion to be shown and there are also tracking shots of her face and body.

RIHANNA AS A ROLE MODEL

Rihanna has a wide fan base ranging from younger to older people. Many look up to Rihanna and call her a role model. From Rihanna’s videos you can see that she is very much sexualised all the time either by outfit choice or from camera angles. Younger audiences may see this as a correct was to act which in turn may reflect badly on Rihanna. The public perception of Rihanna is that she’s quite a strong female after dealing with an abusive relationship with Chris Brown and speaking out about her abuse shows Rihanna as a positive role model as others could have found strength in her to come forward and get help. I think people see Rihanna as quite grounded, apart from getting older and being displayed in a sexual manner she hasn’t changed all that much from when she first started singing which shows she is true to herself.