Star Image - Rihanna

 

 

R I H A N N A

 

 

 

Basic Details, Relevant Genres & Early Star Image 

 

 

Rihanna (originally Robyn Rihanna Fenty) leads a very successful music career due to her significant star image, her range of genres and other roles in terms of media and using these as pathways to success. Rihanna is different from other artists because of her wide target audience in terms of the genres she covers (e.g. R&B, pop, reggae, hip hop and dance). Starting from the beginning, her star image was very innocent. She was moulded in a way to fit the norm of typical teenage girls. This was her starting point. As you can see she was structured in a way to make her seem normal, just like any other teenage girl. Her innocence was conveyed by her natural features. In this way she was able to create a character that everyday girls aspired to be like. This work well with the confidence she showed in what she wore (crop tops, ripped jeans) as maybe in everyday life this wouldn't be acceptable and so a desirability in her female fan base grew as they wanted to be like her. This image was carried through her earlier videos as if to create and impression, as she was a new artist, this image would have been important to keep the audience interested as it isn't usual to have a young independent artist (rather than girl band) that young girls can look up to. She was made into a role model.

 

 

 

 

Development of Star Image

 

 Gradually, over the years Rihanna's career has thrived on her appearance and motifs. She is mainly known in the modern days of her career that she is known for her sex appeal, her

emotions at the time and her style. All of these being reflected in the artwork of each album.

Her main motif is her hair. Her hair colours/styles represent the stages she is going through in her life as well as making a statement to draw in a wider audience. It could be said that with each album she is introducing a new persona, one that is not exposed often in the real world and can only be expressed through music. This is beneficial to her as her audience keeps interest. As shown to the right her innocence was soon taken over by an attempt to creating an older character. Cleverly she was still able to keep her teenaged attitudes yet she widened her audience as people took her more seriously when she decided to cut it short. This made her appear more mature and seemed as if she could relate to older audiences as she was taking her career more seriously. This was a kick start to the planned and perhaps not so planned stages of her life/experiences. After this came she decided to take this a little bit further and gained her first bit of sex appeal. Instead of the gentle teenaged make up she was transformed into a woman with short

hair that matched her dark make up, making her more sexy. This difference obviously got her more attention as now she was now a 'grown-up' experimenting with new things in order to gain fame. At this point she was also gaining more recognition for her tattoos. This was then a beginning to another motif (getting inked). In 2010 her career took a dip due to negative life events she had experienced. This was symbolised hugely in her album

'Rated R'. Her image changed completely. She was changed into a character that came across as careless but not in a positive way. Her style changed into more daring. As her outfits got more revealing her attitude got more aggressive. Instead of being an independent young woman, Rihanna started associate with rappers that gave her performance a bit more edge as well as building a new reputation. Her makeup changed from (suitable) to very dirty looking, she almost looked as if she hadn't been washing. This idea was conveyed not only through her image but her videos. A lot of the music she made on this album was very dark and strayed from her roots of pop by as she sung meaningful lyrics that reflected her life at that time. However this was turned around with 'Loud' in 2011 when she turned her music back around and made it bigger than ever. Her image sustained the innocence that she started out with, a respectable amount of sex appeal and an 'act-your-age' image that formed a whole new audience. This album was created based on her happiness. However, her career thrived on this album due to the experimenting she did when creating this album. Many new genres that she had never sold before were introduced which created an even wider audience due to a range of different interests she was offering in terms of music. The album included reggae, which allowed her audience to get in touch with her roots and how she genuinely started out. She was exposing her culture like never before. However, in the most recent times of her career it would seem that she is putting everything into her singing rather than making a statement. Both herself as an individual and her career have benefitted from her calming down and acting more mature.

 

Widening Her Audience

 

 

In the most recent times of her career, Rihanna has expanded her career with many different types of media that add to her capabilities. By spreading herself like this she is enabling the chances of creating a larger fan base. One of the opportunities she has pursued is in the film industry. She has proved that not only is she a world wide known singer that people love, she can also gain exposure through acting. She has acted in a few well known films along with very famous actors that we are all familiar with. For example, one of the most famous movies would be Battleship (2012) starring the one and only Liam Neeson! However, this is not only the only way she has targeted a wider audience, she also has her own clothing line. Riri partnered up with River Island and started her own clothing line and a very successful one at that. Rihanna said her clothes are aimed at a variety of women, but said they are all pieces she would wear herself.

 

“I would wear everything here. I was being a little bit selfish. I designed everything that I would want to wear, and for the women that I’m with”

 

 

RIVER ISLAND PRESENTS: THE AUTUMN RIHANNA FOR RIVER ISLAND LAUNCH

 

How Is She Sold?

Throughout her career from start to finish close ups have been used to highlight her image. The camera is always focussed on her and she will always be in shot. The majority of the time, if she is not the only thing in the frame she will be shown doing something seductive or continuous eye contact will be used to ensure that she is the main focus. In this way the hair statement as noted above are reinforced to reflect her mood and what she stands for. If the shot includes people, they tend to be focussing on her and surrounding her which also creates an effect that draws our attention as an audience to what they're looking at. The use of editing reinforces this as cutting to close ups is a regular feature that but emphasis on her faces. Her face is a chosen image as it highlights her beauty and her eye contact with the camera. This is a way to connect with her audience and letting them feel more involved with the video.

 

 

Why is She Popular in Present Day?

Rihanna's fame has stemmed from her constant pushing of boundaries in today society. Her clothes are always very revealing but not in a way that she wouldn't look respectable. She rocks the sex appeal goal. In this way, her fan base and even those who claim to dislike her/her music aspire to be as confident as she is. Also, as mentioned before she participates in many different genres which gives people an opportunity to enjoy all aspects of her music. Also, her influences are very famous singers which may make her more attractive to fans. Bob Marley and Madonna are those who drive Rihanna and also are from either ends of the spectrum. Once people know this they tend to dip their toe into her music career which benefits her. Also, in todays society, to gain exposure social networking sites (e.g. Twitter/FB/Instagram) are very important. Those who aspire to be like her gain from getting a constant insight of her life on these sites. Just like many artists Rihanna is constantly updating her fans of what she is doing and sometimes even asking for their opinions to get there more involved. These sites help fan feel like they have more of a connection with her just like they would a friend. In this way she is very trendy and people love that she is doing the same things they do in their spare time. Also her clothing and makeup line come from companies that are particularly popular with teenagers. Therefore, people associated the two and buy what she had taken part in making in order to fit the norm and become more like her.