1. Values & belief= Intimate love is
precious and important-Rihanna ‘s
song “Unfaithful” sends the message
that those who cheat on their lovers
are cowards
“I don't wanna do this anymore, I
don't wanna hurt him anymore…”
“I don't wanna be...
A murderer”
“A lie I didn't have to tell”
Rihanna is `Daring`-not scared to show off her body
or her sexuality. For example in her song “Rude
Boy”-the graphic and visual content are very
pornographic
Use of costume in Rude Boy; she is wearing tight clothes which
show off her slender body figure. For example she wore the gold
bejewelled dress which exposed and revealed her chest area
(large breasts) and flat tummy. She was also dancing seductively
around the male character in the song; she was touching and
soothing his body up and down. She went down on the floor and
started to sexually crawl like a wild animal (links to the idea of
women being sexually objectified, dehumanised and passive and
therefore having less status than men).
Even in the music “Te amo” (means love in
Spanish) she gets sexually intimate with a
female singer (starts to seductively dance
with her and they both touch each other’s
body in a sexual way)-this suggests that
Rihanna is daring and is not afraid to portray
herself as a neo bisexual; even though she
knows that her audience have already
constructed her as a heterosexual from her
previous image. This also proves that Rihanna
is defiant and “Avant-Garde” because she has
deliberately changed her image of being just
a heterosexual to now being a bisexual, as
she is challenging her audience’s previous
perception of her from her old image with
her latest image (she also admitted that she
had a “crush” on Katy Perry). Despite on
being known as a heterosexual earlier on, she
is not afraid to show the change of her
sexuality within the years of her career
(although this may come as a shock to her
audience). This allows to show that she likes
to challenge the mainstream image of pop
stars (being heterosexual)
3. Rihanna is soulful-her use of
passionate language show
this. A lot of her lyrics consist
around passion, romance and
love “Don't it mean I love
you”
Although her image has changed throughout the
years, from the beginning of her career; she was
first introduced as a young, innocent and
cheerful girl and is recently/currently portrayed
as a dark and highly sexualised women
(embracing womanhood)-she started to wear
revealing or little clothes, and having short hair.
Both her previous and current images present
her as being energetic and dynamic, even though
her new image is a lot more sexualised than
before; Rihanna’s fast paced and wild dance
moves conveys her belief that you should live
your life to the fullest (in the music video `stop
the music`-it conveys the message that she loves
to party night) as well as having the best time off
your life, especially when your young (fulfilling
the serotypes of youth)
Rihanna’s music videos shows that
she values being different and
distinctive from other mainstream
pop stars; this is because she
prefers to be presented as a
shocking, scary, threatening and
intimidating character. In the music
video `Disturbia` the dance and
movement look like possessed
move from a horror choreography
Her new image is hedonistic
(mainly consists of Sex); most
of her songs include sexual
content and is very raunchy;
these content are especially
evident in music videos such
as in `Rude Boy`, `Te amo`,
`Disturbia` and `Pour it out`
4. One of her beliefs and values show that she is
rebellious; throughout the years, Rihanna has
been one of the artists who changed her image
from what mainstream media expects from her
as a pop stars. She use to have long glossy hair
and wear typical feminine bright clothes such as
a red dress or a female night club outfit (`Don’t
stop the music`). However, in recent years she
has rebelled against the `social norm` that
female pop stars should dress glamorously and
in a sophisticated way. This is because she has
started to dress in Goth clothes and presenting
herself as a new and reformed character who
likes to wear dark clothes and dress like a punk
such as having short bronze coloured hair and
wearing black clothes such as a black fishnet
top and a leather black bra). By rebelling against
her old image, Rihanna has set a new trend
where many other artists and females are
starting to style and colour their hair like punks
(e.g. Katy Perry has purple hair in the music
video “Wide Awake”)
5.
6. Rihanna has changed her image from being the innocent colourful girl to a
sassy, sinister, mysterious and oversexed and promiscuous girl. This shows that
the `materials` such as make up and clothes has been used to re-construct her
from being a glamour puss to a licentious and rakish pop star
These previous images
of Rihanna presents her
as a
glamorous, beautiful
and sophisticated
looking artist
Her recent images
portrays her as a
rebellious punk and a
lascivious, seductive and
lustful women
7. “I don't do things for the response or for the controversy. I just live
my life”
“I'm crazy and I don't pretend to be anything else”
These quotations of phrases from Rihanna tells us that she is
constructed as an artist who is down to earth, is a wild chick
and loves to enjoy living life to the fullest instead of just
seeing everything in black and white (`live and let live`) or
living life through following a set of expected strict rules and
conducts and being obedient.
8. This online mail shows that singers
such as Rihanna like to present
themselves as sexual objects and as
an obscene and unchaste characters.
This is because there have been
complains against her and Miley Cyrus
by fans and former singer `Lennox`
saying that their music video is full of
pornographic content ( e.g. `Pour it
out`). This brings out controversies,
such as the representation of women
in the media; many female artists are
being portrayed as being objectified,
passive and dehumanised. Feminist
group have argued that these
representation encourage young girls
to be passive and act as sexual objects
for men. Whilst it is also a social
danger as it has a negative impact on
men because they are encouraged to
treat women as objects in real life.
9. This online `celebrity gossip` tabloid
informs that Rhianna is
seditious, rebellious and
wild, because she has been caught
with cocaine (is illegal to take & is
against the law)
This image of Rihanna shows that she is Extrovert-loves attention. She is
showing her crotch area and bum to her fans during a concert; she loves the
sexual attention she gets from her fans and audience (sexual pleasure through
the act of gazing at her semi-naked body and a specific part of her body) and
she may even knows that this will make a big headline in the tabloids
10. Rihanna has become a fashion icon through collaborating
with the new fashion line and fashion trend; due to her rise
of fame as a pop star and attracting large groups of fans she
has been able to become a clothing and fashion brand
(thorough her choice of fashion style ). She has started to
sell her own clothes and designing style on the clothing
retailer, River Island.
