Star Image & Development - Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988), better known as Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. She moved to the United States at the age of 16 to start a career and become a recording artist. Her first single was ‘Pon De Replay’, from the album ‘Music of the Sun’.

In this video her image is very ‘boyish’; she is first seen wearing a shiny gold top, which shows off her stomach with baggy jeans. Even though her stomach is showing, her hair is long which covers her shoulders and chest, making her seem less vulnerable. Showing her stomach can be appealing for the male target audience also known as the ‘male gaze’.

As the video goes on, she is wearing a dress, which is coloured light blue, representing calmness. Her hair is tied into two ponytails, which could represent her being innocent

and angelic. However, the dress she is wearing is quite short and has slits by the side, which can also appeal to the male audience.

As this video was her first video, it features a lot of close ups of her face to establish the artist. Throughout the whole video, she is dancing, but not in an extremely seductive way. This could be because it was her first video, and she wanted to seem innocent and fun to grab the target audience of younger girls, so they could idolise her.

Another music video from rihanna was SOS, from her second album ‘A Girl Like Me’. In this video there are more close ups of her dancing with a man, more seductively. Rather than her first video, this video features more close ups of her body to make her more appealing to the male audience. She is shown wearing more revealing clothing which could represent her becoming a ‘woman’.

Her next album ‘A Good Girl Gone Bad’ featured some of her top singles. The title of the album itself shows a difference to her when she was first released. Her video for ‘Disturbia’ was a complete change from her first single ‘Pon De Replay’. In this music video her hair is cut extremely short, exposes her neck, shoulders and chest. The video is more dark and eerie and her

costumes are more provocative. Her body language, clothing and make up are more raunchy and arousing for the male target audience. The video and also the title of her album suggest that she is no longer an innocent girl, but has now become a desirable woman.

For Rihanna’s upcoming music video “Russian Roulette” her image has once again changed for her new album “Rated R”. Her looks have changed to emphasis the change in her character mentally after the incident between herself and Chris Brown, to show the public that she has grown a lot since the last album and since the incident. For instance, Rihanna’s front cover for “Russian Roulette” has an image of her being dressed in barbed wire, the meaning for this is to reflect the pain of her personal life and using it as an influence for her new album. The new hairstyle also indicates the new direction in which Rihanna is taking herself and new album to, as the blonde hair shows her edgier and wilder side. Finally, her new style also exposes her aggression and emotions that she is currently experiencing.

Her constant change has lead to a very successful development of her and her music, which has resulted in her winning more awards such as favourite female artist and as well as increasing her number ones and album sales. The music director has purposely changed her image as they want her to be sexier in order to appeal men as sex sells, plus it shows an independent women which would appeal to modern women.

Rihanna’s Discography

2005-2006 2007-2008 2009-2010

“Pon de Replay”

“If it’s Lovin That You Want”

Music of the Sun

A Girl Like Me

“SOS”

“Unfaithful”

“We Ride”

“Umbrella”

“Shut Up and Drive”

Good Girl Gone Bad

“Don’t Stop the Music”

“Hate That I Love You”

“Take a Bow”

“Disturbia”

“Rehab”

“Russian Roulette”

“Wait Your Turn”

Rated R

“Hard”

“Rude Boy”