Rihanna - Creating a Star Image

Rihanna’s music career began in 2005 where she was seen as a young Barbadian singer, although at the beginning she was always shown in voyeuristic ways, her videos and image has become increasingly sexualised, with raunchy videos and bright red iconic hair Rihanna’s star image has been created.  Her performances have often been deemed ‘ too raunchy’ but this all helps to create part of her star image

Her music videos often tell a story making them narrative based, she lip syncs which makes puts her in the image and links the lyrics to the visuals this helps to establish her image as a character. Rihanna’s image changes allow her to set trends and become loved for being ‘different’. Her record label constantly shoot close ups of her in her videos to enhance her publicity and maximise her fan base, people are always intrigued by what she’s going to do next either with her performances, videos or just simply her hair. She is hugely sexualised which enables her to create a large male and female fan base whilst women aspire to be her men wish to have her. As a society we are always comparing ourselves to the ‘perfection’ of the artists in the music world or celebrities, record labels deliberately create a different style for a star with every album to permit new fans and rejuvenate a star, when a star gets ‘ a new look’ it sets the public off talking about what they like and what they don’t like, which in effect gets , in this case, Rihanna’s name out there and sells her new records because people want to know what everyone is raving about, they typically rely in viral marketing to show the stars transformation.

The singer who headlined V festival this year has become a worldwide star not from just talent alone but the way her record label market her and how she portrays her style in her performances, videos and photo-shoots.  ‘Def jam recordings’ shows her as a vulnerable but fiery young woman, she is heavily featured in a number of magazines and adverts to gain publicity and help create her star image.

Rihanna’s music videos show a strong narrative like in her new video ‘ man down’ where the lyrics link to the visuals, the narrative show’s her getting sexually assaulted and then shooting the man who done it , which typically shows this vulnerable fiery side to her, which is shown in a majority of her songs. Her red hair has now become iconic, women are now opting for this bright red instead of their normal brown and men are finding red heads more attractive. Rihanna’s star image has dramatically changed with her past two albums, now that she is an established star with a large fan base , Def Jams are now taking her style to a new level and creating an icon and a ‘sex symbol’ her typically raunchy style shows a change into a woman from her teenage days where she began.

Rihanna’s typically seen with less clothes on than the average woman walking down the street, she is heavily sexualised and viewed in a voyeuristic way, men often watch music videos to ‘gaze’ at the females whom are showing a lot of flesh, record labels and publicists know this how is how men and women become fans , through the act of looking and comparing , women compare themselves to acts like Rihanna and aspire to be like her where as men look at it from a sexual point of view. Mulvey came up with the idea that cinema in gendered and women are sexualised through the act of looking often music videos show the artist which typically is seen through the public’s eyes as they watch the music video. Rihanna’s sexualisation is also shown in the digi packs within her album , her photos and lyrics create a different style in which is often criticised but loved for being ‘different’ and ‘doing her own thing’ which obviously she hasn’t come up with the record label create these controversy’s to gain publicity which typically leads to more fans. Her third studio album is where ‘Def jamz’ created Rihanna’s more rebellious image her hair was now short and dark and her new album was entitled ‘ good girl gone bad’ which perfectly shows the change in her ‘personality and style’ . Her relationship with Chris Brown was heavily publicised and when he attacked her Rihanna gained more fans for showing that she was a strong woman and from then her strong woman image has continued and gained her many female fans.  Rihanna is often talked about in magazines her performances, video’s, albums and photo-shoots all individually create another story each performance is different gains her more publicity. The voyeuristic element shows that music has to be supported with visuals to get the support it needs to be successful, hearing a voice isn’t enough in the present time; everyone wants to match a face to the voice before they decide whether or not they like them. So record labels do what they can to create an edgy different artist, because Rihanna is originally from Barbados  her record label constantly plays on the fact and includes her culture in videos and her music in a few of her songs the reggae vibe which she was brought up around comes out in which gives her a different audience and links her back to Caribbean where she has many more fans who support her because of her culture, also the reggae creates something different for the European and American fans because this genre is not typically popular in these regions. Her curvy figure creates the ‘right’ image for women and teenagers and she is often seen as someone to look up to because of her successful career and her need not to be a size zero.

Rihanna’s star image was created by an individual style in which defines her from different artists in the case of her new album it’s her ‘red hair’ and soft tones in her videos where as previously it has been her harsh look and disturbing songs, her record label always create a new image to keep her star image fresh in people’s minds and to keep them talking. Her label also sell Rihanna merchandise to keep the fans happy and allow more publicity for their star.

Jade Butcher