1. Celestina Owusu-Frimpong
130
To what extent is the identity of your chosen artist consistent across different media
forms?
Rihanna’s identity is very consistent to a great extent across the different media; magazine
cover, music video and album cover. From analysing the media forms, I came across the fact
that Rihanna doesn’t have her name on the album but has the name of the album ‘Loud’
written across the cover. However as big and successful as she is, I guess she doesn’t really
need to as she is known worldwide and will therefore be recognised anywhere. The video in
which I analysed from the album is ‘Only Girl In The world.’ The video links in perfectly with
the song title, as Rihanna is the only person seen in the video dancing around and just being
herself whiles surrounded by a bunch of flowers.
Throughout the different forms of media, the use of the colour red is used all the way
through, the colour red connotes the idea of love, passion, pain and heartbreak. This is
shown through her music lyrically on her album, for example California King Bed, S&M, Skin.
Additionally, the theme runs through the visual such as the red her and the roses around
her, however the colour red could signify danger as well. This is recognised through her song
‘Man Down.’ Furthermore, a close up shot is used for the front cover of her album, the
image shows Rihanna looking down with her eyes shut. The close up on her face
immediately breaks he forth wall, the red lipstick, make-up and red hair makes her look
sexually attractive and therefore it will draw her audiences’ attention directly to her. To add
to that, Rihanna’s face covers the whole album which again makes it all about her and
therefore all the focus will be on her and her beauty. Rihanna is also getting the attention
of her audience by looking seductive on her cover, by doing this she is selling herself as a sex
object which will attract the male gaze more. This adheres to the stereotype of women
being portrayed as sex objects. There’s a lot of close up, as well as medium shot used across
all 3 media. This is could imply that, Rihanna is very comfortable with herself and her body.
Additionally, the close of her face immediately breaks the forth wall, implying ha she is
trying to communicate to the audience. Furthermore, through her shoots, she is showing
her skin which again implies her selling herself to the audience.
Another media form that reminds consistent is her costume. On her front cover, the
audience are unable to see what she has on due to the fact that is a close up on her face.
However, throughout the other two forms of media Rihanna’s costume doesn’t seem to
change. She is seen to be wearing similar designs which is mainly a crop top with either a
skirt or shorts, but in various different colours. Rihanna is a very successful artist who is
known worldwide but then again she isn’t just known for her music but also her fashion.
And with that she has won numerous fashion awards and was recently crown as a fashion
icon. Her album ‘Loud’ was released in 2011, and during that year the crop top was in
fashion. Therefore Rihanna wearing the crop top shows that she’s in fashion by wearing
fashionable clothing.
Another consistent brand of Rihanna throughout is her red hairstyle. Rihanna’s hair change
could have been a representation of a new change, this is because she changed her whole

2. Celestina Owusu-Frimpong
130
look just for this album. Rihanna being a worldwide superstar, she set up a worldwide trend
as it lead to females fans dying their hair the same colour as well because they want to have
her look. On her magazine cover, Rihanna is wearing a white/creamy top which connotes
innocence. This all links in with her new look/change because her previous album ‘Rated R,’
her image was more seductive. Yes, in her ‘Loud’ album cover she still looks seductive
however it doesn’t really have a lot going on unlike ‘Rated R.’
Typography, the album title ‘Loud’ is written in a very simplistic form, this again links in with
my previous comment which is new change as she is going into a completely different image
compared to her previous albums. For example she normally either has her name alongside
her album title or her signature sign ‘R.’ ‘Loud’ is written with spaces in between each letter,
this allows it to stand out as it is the only writing on the album, this is done to get the
audience to focus more of Rihanna’s images as opposed to the title, this suggests how
important her image is. Her image taking over the whole album displaces the importance of
the title of the album, this could mean that the album is based more on her has a person as
she expresses herself a lot more in the album. Also, Rihanna’s red hair became her new
image for quite some time after her album dropped, this is consistent branding as she is
selling point of her image. The red hair together with her bold red lipstick instantly attract
attention form the consumer.
To conclude, I believe that Rihanna has a very consistent identity across her album cover,
magazine cover and music video. Throughout all the media form, Rihanna keeps her image
consistent, this is very important in terms of selling her brand image as it will allow the
audience to be a lot more interested in her branding. Colour scheme, images and
typography all contribute to her new image. The album promotes a very feminine side of
Rihanna, the pink roses shown in the video is very feminine and is also a stereotypical colour
used to represent women’s feminine side. Throughout her art work, it shows Rihanna has a
very important person, this is done through the cinematography used. The close up used on
her for her album cover, emphasises the fact that she’s a very important successful lady and
therefore he image is very important to the audience. The famine image was maintained
though all media forms from her music video in which she wears a pink skirt and top, on her
album cover she maintains her feminine side by wearing the bright red lipstick alongside
with the heavy make-up.