Poster Analysis Rihanna

1. The album is the fourth studio
album by Barbadian recording artist
Rihanna, released in November
2009 by Def. Jam Recordings. The
album shows the promotion of
Rihanna’s new edgy image,
following her new cropped hair do
which became her trademark
image throughout this era of her
career. This image change is
reflected in her music in the album,
which contains strong sexual
references and references to
partying etc.
The presentation of this poster also
reflects this new image. The black
and white filter on the picture of her
boldly contrasts her black lips and
black eyes to create a gothic - edgy
look. This makes the image eye
catching and creates the feel of
danger and rule-breaking. The R in
the right corner also became
Rihanna’s trademark for this album,
the sharp font it’s written in
coincides with the overall feel of
this poster and her other
promotional material around this
time.
The typography in this poster also goes with Rihanna’s edgy image. The
title ‘Rihanna’ is written in white and contrasted against a black
background, this matches the contrast shown in the image and again
creates a slightly gothic feel. The song titles ‘Russian Roulette’ & ‘Hard’
in red shows the only colour in the poster. This being red creates the
feel of danger which can be identified in the song Russian roulette. This
red can also be connoting love and lust which are also themes of the
album.
The ‘parental advisory’ highlights the
fact that this album contains slightly
graphic material to go with the
artist’s new image of being different,
standing out and being slightly
controversial. This new image is
very different to her previous albums
and is almost the opposite of what
her next album ‘Loud’ promotional
image would be like, this fits in with
Dyers celebrity theory, he thought
that celebrities weren’t real people
but they were images just
representing this and they were
interchangeable. This shift in
personalities and images throughout
Rihanna’s promotional material
reflects that she is not original or real
but she is rather a means for
promotion to make money.

2. Goodwin’s idea about the demands of
the record label is also shown here. It is
obvious that this image produced motifs
by which people could identify the star
with, for example the ‘R’ which fans
drew on their faces for concerts and
even got tattoos of. Another trademark
is the covering one eye. This is a theme
that can be recognised in other artists
from the label such as Lady Gaga,
Kanye West and Jay Z. This action
makes the star seem mysterious and
creates the feel that maybe there is a
side to them that the media does not
see. It could also create the idea of
alter-egos, showing one ‘good’ side
which is the exposed side, and one bad
side which is the covered one. This
idea of alter egos has been used by
other stars such as Beyoncé in ‘I
am…Sasha Fierce’.
It could be said that the artist is defying stereotypes of women in this
promotional poster. Her shaven haircut is rather masculine as
promotes the idea of her being a strong female character and not a
weak, innocent feminine girl like how females are usually portrayed in
the media. However this poster in general is quite conventional as it
includes an image of the artist, the name and a parental advisory
sticker as well as a barcode at the bottom. However this helps the
poster to look professional, so I think use of conventions when creating
my own poster will be useful.
This strong and edgy woman look that
Rihanna is displaying can also be
seen in her makeup and clothes. She
is wearing a rigid looking black leather
jacket which is usually associated with
bikers, and this contributes to her
edgy look. Her black lipstick and eyes
contrast against her skin which looks
particularly light in this photo, and
creates a punky look. She is wearing
many rings and jewellery on her arm
which also associates with the edgy
look. This look runs throughout all of
her promotional material at his time
and creates a completely new
dangerous, controversial and sexy
image.
The technique of displaying two of
the main songs on the album is used
to help the fans recognise the two
hits, as they may have heard them on
the radio but not yet associated them
with the album. This may tempt the
viewers into buying the album if it
includes two popular songs, and they
may also be interested as to what
other songs are included.

3. Reception – The preferred audience will immediately recognise Rihanna
and will appreciate her new image. The negotiated audience will be unsure
as to what genre her music is and will perhaps be interested and want to
find out more. Oppositional audience may not like Rihanna’s new image
and may say it contradicts her original ‘wholesome’ Barbadian island girl
roots. They may also say that is conflicts with the pop genre and does not
fit in with the artist herself, thus creating confusion and controversy.
If they are not familiar already with
Rihanna, then people may not be able
to immediately identify what genre of
music this poster is presenting. Some
may say it looks like a rock poster,
which is one of the themes of the
album and Rihanna’s new image. This
creates ambiguity and makes the
album more interesting and not just
your conventional pop album. The use
of Rihanna as the key signifier in the
poster amplifies the idea her being a
massive and influential figure in the
music industry. She is often portrayed
as, and refers to herself as the
‘Queen’ of pop. This can be seen in
her sales within the industry and her
promotional material all portrays her
as being this massive figure.
A huge part of Rihanna’s success is
mainly down to the selling of her
image, perhaps even more so than
her actual music. She is hugely
popular among her male audience for
being sexual provocative, and this can
be seen in her makeup and sultry
pose in this photo. Her female
audience may be threatened by her
highly sexual and dangerous new
image. This conflicts with her previous
promotional material where she is
portrayed as innocent and
wholesome. Below are some
examples of contrasting materials
from her previous/ following work that
may illustrate this point of stars being
interchangeable and fake. As you can
see the two images display a more
natural wholesome image and the
other two display a highly feminine
image. Whereas rated R contrasts
with both of these to create a
masculine and strong woman image.