What is Rihanna?

Instead of asking who she is, as I'm probably sure most of the world knows, i am questioning what she is.

Is she a brand?

 She has her own perfume, t-shirts (which advertise her as a singer, not a person), beanie hats with her logo on it, an eye patch? These merchandise are sold on her website and would be sold at her concert performances. Just like Sting, Adele and Beyonce, she only has one name. This makes her easier to remember and makes her seem as if she is the ONLY ONE, the only Rihanna.

Is she a money-maker?

Its not nice to talk about the money people earn but with a world-known act she much be able to afford a lot of entourage. Managers, agents, hair and make-up stylists, publicists etc. These people make her even more famous, therefore she becomes more of a money-maker. Rihanna has sold more than 20 million albums and 60 million singles according to Wikipedia. A money-making machine?

Is she a role-model?

 This photos shows Rihanna in one of her more sensible and child-friend outfits. However this game-changer when it comes to clothes often likes to take the risque approach - especially when it comes to performances - which are shown to the public - which include a lot of CHILDREN. This makes me wonder whether she is appropriate enough to be a child's role-model. What do they think when they see her outfits and performances and listen to her on their CD players or the radio? Children may look up to her as a role-model because they innocently like her music and still may not know what her lyrics are suggesting or mean. With her being a role model she gains a greater and wider audience.

Is she a singer?

There is no doubt that this girl can sing, but with every singer/musician this isn't the only factor you have to have. You also need the look, personality and business mind in order to sell records - and obviously she knows how to do that.

Is she a songwriter?

Some people haven't been writing their own songs for decades and Rihanna is no exception. She doesn't write most of her songs, but as she is the person who has to sing these songs for the rest of her working life so she would have to have the final say in whether she likes it or not. Her record company has to make sure that her songs sell, so they have to be good, so therefore her writing skills may not be up to scratch to provide for the demand.

Is she a performer?

Yes. I haven't met one person that has said her performance was bad. I have met people who have said her performance was risque. When she performs she likes to go all the way with her outfits, dancers and entertainment. This makes me wonder, am i taking this whole controversy thing too seriously? Is it just entertainment? However, this is entertainment for little kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8eiF3I4t8I

In the case of this video, she is performing at a awards show with an audience of world-wide children, parents and adults.

Is she a fashion icon?

She is online on fashion magazine websites and fashion blogs. She is in fashion magazines. She goes to fashion events. Girls may copy her fashion style. She socializes in the fashion empire. Designers use her as a 'manakin' to advertise their clothes on her.

Here are a few print screens of websites, the pages are of the search results when i typed in 'Rihanna':

(Left) This is a popular fashion blog and posts have been made about her clothing choices. People (especially teenage girls) would search Rihannas name in particular on this type of website, creating a wider audience for her - one which has an interest in what celebrities wear, and more specifically, what Rihanna wears. This is vogue.co.uk (right) which is a online version on the ongoing, highly popular fashion magazine. I typed in 'Rihanna' and i was given 53 search results - not as many as i was expecting. However her name may still be searched by young girls. (Below, left) this is a print screen of another ongoing fashion magazine - elle.co.uk. Even though there were no pictures of her on the search results, there were plenty of articles about her.  This darker blog (top, right) is a really interesting one to write about. I have to analyse this print screen of a fashion blog by keeping the fact that young girls search her name innocently in mind. The search results featured photos of Rihanna in a provocative way, mainly snapshots of her videos. I was still quite disturbed to know that kids as young as 12 were seeing these photos.                        

  

She is definitely a dramatic game-changer when it comes to fashion and she loves to shock. When i write shock, i mean cause controversy. On the British X Factor in 2010, Rihanna performed with a finalised wearing a side-splitted dress. The split in the dress nearly reached her waist. The British press were out-raged and didn't know what she was thinking. Did she wear this to purposely be controversial, did she think it wasn't risque, is it okay to wear this where she comes from. The X Factor performance she did was watched by a third of the British population proving that she has a massive audience which could have been caused by the two-step flow theory. Not all of this audience would have liked her as a performer. She also borrowed interest from the X Factor and Christina Aguilara who was also performing. This hit the British headlines hard.

I also note that Christina's performance was just a risque - described as pornographic.

I have written a lot about the way Rihanna looks. This is because there is more of a chance the audience will see Rihanna before they here her. Seeing her in magazines, TV, online, the cover of her CD etc compared to hearing her CD or the radio. I believe that Rihanna images is a great part of what sells her Cd's and gets her noticed and remembered. Its the main factor of her as a brand which makes her provocative.