Image of Rihanna

IMAGE

A music video helps to show an image of an artist as it presents a representation of them through the style of the video, the content within the video and also the generic conventions. For example, Ed Sheeran is an artist known for his acoustic style and simple content within all of his videos; therefore he would not create a 'party scene' with lots of alcohol and drugs, which may be seen in a hip hop artists' video such as Wiz Khalifa. This would create inaccurate representation of the artist and consequently would not appeal to the target audience.

Rihanna is an example of an artist who has consistently changed her image and style of music throughout her career. Starting off as a fresh faced, innocent and young pop star, she has evolved throughout her career into a controversial artist known for her sexual nature, offensive lyrics and revealing clothing.

Rihanna released her first album, 'Music from the Sun’, in 2005 which includes her hit singles, 'Pon De Replay' and 'If it’s Lovin’ That You Want' where she is referred to a ‘Caribbean beauty’ and ‘poppy’ within the reviews of her first album.

 Within the video of Rihanna's debut single 'Pon De Replay', the narrative consists of Rihanna and others are seen to be dancing within a club, with the motive to encourage the DJ to turn up the music. The video supports Goodwin’s theory as the video demonstrates generic conventions of a RnB/Dance track through the party scene. However, the video is heavily based upon attempting to turn up the music, a very innocent activity considering they are in a club, displaying Rihanna’s then angelic nature.

She is seen to be wearing a simple outfit of a top, jeans and trainers throughout the majority of the video, which creates a much laid back, ‘girl next door’ image for the artist. Her top slightly revealing, however this is to be expected as a result of her record label to become appealing to the opposite gender, and therefore will become appealing to women as they will want to be her to become appealing to men. She remains to have her natural hair colour and hasn’t adopted over the top makeup, increases the ‘good next door’ approach.

Overall the message of this video is very harmless, there is no evidence of swearing or provocative behaviour; the artist simply wants to have a good time with her friends and therefore appeals to a younger target audience as they can easily relate to this.

In 2008, Rihanna released her third album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ in which she had dramatically changed her image through her appearance and style of music. She received reviews of a confused nature regarding such a dramatic alter of her image.

In the video for the single ‘Disturbia’ Rihanna is now seen to have short jet black hair and matching dark makeup, opposing her previous fresh faced look. Also her change in choice of outfit has altered as she is now wearing darker clothes again, creating this dark, rebellious image.

The content within her video creates the illusion of madness or ‘disturbia’ through psychotic dance moves and creepy locations; no longer an innocent girl attempting to make the DJ turn up the music. The video also features Rihanna with an increased sexual nature, although not with a real human, she is acting provocative with a male dummy (again creating a lunacy atmosphere).

Because of this alteration of image to a more rebellious artist, the target audience will be slightly older. However this will probably consist of the same original audience as both Rihanna and the target audience are growing simultaneously; they continuously can relate to each other from being young to becoming older.

The message in this music video has an increased rebellious nature, as Rihanna seems darker and more ‘disturbed’ presented through both video content and her style of music. The lyrics are eerie, claiming she feels ‘like a monster’ and that pictures on the walls are talking to her as if she were possessed herself. Her image and style has dramatically changed from ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’.

‘Loud’, Rihanna’s fifth album features a track called ‘SNM’ in which Rihanna has reinvented her image once again as having a highly sexual nature.

Rihanna’s appearance has changed yet again, now having a bright red afro and wearing outfits that are very revealing and debatably offensive. In this particular video she is seen to be wearing underwear and head gear in which some viewers found unnecessary.

With the song itself being called ‘SNM’ it is obvious that Rihanna has now create an image of herself as being overwhelming sexually natured; claiming that ‘chains and whips excite her’ in her lyrics. Within the video, there are a large amount of over the top sexual references; people being tied up, whips and sexual toys. When the video came out, it was found to be too offensive to shown on any music channels and therefore it wasn't. When questioned in an interview for Q magazine she said, "I love it. Come on, I love you for hating me" presenting herself as care free and rebellious as she ‘loves to be hated’.

She claims that the message of this video is a metaphor for the love/hate relationship she has with the media – however, the consistency of a sexual reference is frequent throughout the song and video? It seems that the true message and values of this particular song/video is her enjoyment of sex. Although banned from 18 countries when first released, the song made it to number 2 within the American charts displaying its popularity and success. Again, because her target audience are growing up with Rihanna they are now an older generation and therefore seemed to enjoy this song as Rihanna is still relatable.

The term 'star', according to Dyer, refers to the mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a larger and loyal audience. In Dyer's Star theory, he states the most common values of stardom include: Youthfulness, Rebellion, Sexual magnetism, Originality, Creative/talent, Aggression, Success against the odds, Disregard for social values such as drugs and sex, Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods. This proposal can be directly linked to the attitude that Rihanna has adopted over the course of her changing image. For example, her alteration to her image evident in her album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' shows an eerie and creepy side to the artist, as she has adopted a style that is considered quite goth. Her lyrics also appear more controversial in their eerie messages which shows her rebellion against the mainstream expectation of a RnB artist. Furthermore, the change in image evident in her 'Loud' video conveys her increased sexual nature portrayed through her sexual lyrics and provocative clothing. This suggests that Rihanna is an example of Dyer's theory as she has conveyed values deemed commonly shared amongst stars.Dyer also states that stars are commodities; constructed with a combination of a range of materials such as films and magazines in order for false consumption. This is defined as consumption based upon the falsehood of being a commodity rather than a genuine talented artist. This proposal would be a valid explanation as to why Rihanna has changed her image over and over again for the lack of consistency suggests she is not being her true self and therefore constructed as a commodity for false consumption. Finally, Dyer's theory proposes that the 'star's' image much remain incomplete as it is based upon 2 paradoxes in order to maintain the interest of the target audience; the first is based upon the star being simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. An ordinary person with an extraordinary lifestyle so that the audience can both relate and find escapism in. This can be directly related to Rihanna as she appears both ordinary and extraordinary in her image. For example, her image in her first album appears very natural and simple, which a target audience can relate to as they feel similar to the artist. Also, Rihanna consistently posts on social networking sites such as twitter and Instagram, which her fans can directly follow, which therefore makes them feel closer to her. By having a social networking account that her follows can keep up with using the same site, increases her 'ordinary image'as she uses the same sites that have been normalised to her fans, giving them common ground. However the star also has qualities that appear extraordinary to her fans. For example, by following her in Twitter or Instagram, the fans are kept up to date with the latest events the star is associated with. For  example, any exclusion award shows or parties that appear extravagant i.e. the Grammys. Obviously an ordinary person would not be attending such event, highlighting her extraordinary life. Also, from pictures you can tell what the artist is wearing. Rihanna often boasts her luxurious wardrobe which include clothes from Chanel, Givenchy etc and therefore emphasises her extraordinary image, as the average person would not be able to afford. Dyer's theory is also based on another paradox  in that the star will remain present to engage their audience, and absent to maintain their interest. This paradox can also be directly related to Rihanna in reference to her social networking sites again. Obviously, the artist is mostly present when they are on tour in which case they are in the direct presence of their fans in which the concert takes place. This stimulates emotions of excitement in the fans as this is an out of ordinary event to happen and therefore their interest in the artist is more likely to increase. Furthermore, the audience can also engage with the artist through their social networking sites as they can be updated with the latest in their lives; acting as a 'presence'. However the artist is also 'absent' when they are not touring or in the direct presence of the audience. Furthermore they may stop posting on their social networking sites for a few days to encourage the fans to check more often for updates; which is what Rihanna does. This in turn maintains the interest of her fans.