28 AUG 2016 RIHANNAWINS AWARD_VANGUARD

VMA 2016: 4 winners and 3 losers from the awards show

MTV’s production was messy, but at least Beyoncé came to slay.

Updated by Caroline Framke @carolineframke caroline.framke@vox.com Aug 29, 2016, 3:17a

Beyoncé served the VMAs some much needed Lemonade.

Few awards shows live up to their hype, but the MTV Video Music Awards have almost always been an exception to that rule. Ever since the first show in 1984, the VMAs have been good for some jaw-dropping performances, prime celebrity watching in the audience, and, if they’re lucky, the kinds of moments that keep people dissecting their layers for years to come.

The 2016 awards were a decidedly mixed bag, though. Taking place in New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time — for decades, the VMAs have switched between slightly smaller venues in New York and LA — the production moved in fits and starts, with obvious sound and organizational issues cramping most of the performances.

But there were still a few stellar — or at least noteworthy — performances, at least one of which will take its rightful place among the best the VMAs have ever had.

Here are four winners and three losers from the 2016 VMAs.

Winner: Beyoncé

2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show — Beyoncé, winning awards and breaking records in a gold cape, like you do.

Beyoncé wasn’t on the original performance schedule that MTV released before the awards, but the rumors that she would appear were strong enough that by the time tennis champion Serena Williams came out to introduce her, about halfway through the show, she was already one of the most anticipated acts of the night.

And given the year Beyoncé’s had — between her stunning album Lemonade, her Formation tour, and her Super Bowl halftime show featuring guest house band Coldplay — it was no surprise that she crushed it.

Beyoncé took the VMA stage with fire in her eyes — both figuratively and literally, thanks to the reflection of projected flames onto her face — and made it hers. She performed a full medley from Lemonade that had the entire arena on its feet within seconds. She even made sure to include some of Warsan Shire’s gorgeous spoken-word poetry from Lemonade’s heartbroken interstitials, reminding everyone that the album is as deeply emotional as it is catchy.

Beyoncé could’ve owned the VMAs with that performance alone, but she’s Beyoncé, and so she ended it with two VMA wins, for Best Female Video ("Hold Up"), and Video of the Year ("Formation"), the show’s highest achievement.

Oh, and also? These wins bring Beyoncé total VMAs tally to 21 wins, officially breakingMadonna’s previous record of 20 to make Bey the most decorated VMA winner of all time.

It all served as a reminder that this is Beyoncé’s world, and we’re just stanning in it.

Winner: Britney Spears

And lo: As it was prophesied in the book of celebrity comebacks, Britney Spears returned to the VMA stage.

A full nine years after the disastrous 2007 "Gimme More" performance that made Britney fans and skeptics alike sigh in resignation, Britney celebrated the August 26 release of her ninth album Glory by coming back to the VMAs to prove that writing her off back then was a mistake.

And she succeeded! For the most part, anyway.

Glory contains 17 songs, at least 10 of which are the kind of high-energy pop bangers that would’ve been awesome on a huge stage like Madison Square Garden. (Wherefore art thou, "Do You Wanna Come Over"?!)

But Brit only performed her single "Make Me," featuring slower EDM beats and ~~a lost extra from~~ ~~Grease 2~~ rapper G-Eazy. Britney writhed around the stage, G-Eazy, and her New Wave-ish backup dancers. It was, all around, fine.

Also: Brit had the bad luck of performing almost immediately after Beyoncé’s set practically tore down Madison Square Garden and set it ablaze. There was just no following that, unless the follow-up was also Beyoncé.

But as far as Britney’s redemption story goes, it’ll do.

Winner: Rihanna

Sure, it says something that I didn’t mention Rihanna on the list of winners until now, on a night that was supposed to be primarily honoring her for winning the Video Vanguard prize (the VMAs’ version of a lifetime achievement award). But even as Beyoncé, Britney, Kanye, and assorted DJs fought for attention, Ri made the most of her moments.

In fact, Rihanna had not one, not two, not even three, but four performances throughout the night. She kicked off the show with a medley including past hits like "Don’t Stop the Music" and "Only Girl (In the World)."

Later, with her second performance, she kicked things up a notch by dancing her face off in neon to another medley including "Rude Boy," "Work," and "What’s My Name."

The next time we saw her, she turned down the lights and ramped up the attitude for the one-two-three punch of confident, sexy-as-hell anthems "Needed Me," "Pour It Up," and "Bitch Better Have My Money."

Finally, she closed out her appearance with a gorgeous rendition of three slower ballads — "Stay," "Diamonds," and "Love on the Brain" — that showcased her voice in a way the other, choppier medleys couldn’t.

But even if some of the medleys were definitely stronger than the others, Ri still proved why she was getting this award honoring her career arc, even though she’s only 28 years old. For the past decade, she's had hit after hit after hit — and as she proved at the VMAs, her performing abilities and charisma have only gotten stronger with every passing year.

She also proved that she’s got the music industry wrapped around her finger — including one guy in particular.

Which brings us to:

Loser: Drake

To be clear: I’m not calling Drake a loser because he admitted to the world while introducing Rihanna’s Vanguard award that he’s "been in love with her since [he] was 22 years old." Drake is a human being. Of course Drake is in love with Rihanna. I would never dare take that away from him, since any sane person should be in the same boat.

But there’s no denying that Drake had a rough night from the get-go. Though he won the evening’s first award — Best Hip-Hop Video, for "Hotline Bling" — he missed the chance to accept it for arguably the most boring reason anyone’s late to anything:

He got stuck in traffic.

Then, at the very end of the show, he finally strolled onto the stage in a tuxedo to present Rihanna’s award. He earnestly gushed over "the iconic being that is Rihanna," looking for all the world like he was about to drop down on one knee and make his adolescent dreams come true, or at least reenact the final 10 seconds of any rom-com worth swooning over.

Instead, he gave her the award and went in for a kiss — and he was denied.

To be clear: Drake’s enthusiasm for wildly talented women like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Serena Williams is one of his finest features. But tonight wasn’t his night, and even he knew it.

Winner: Kanye West

MTV reportedly gave Kanye four minutes of airtime to do whatever he wanted, and Kanyetook full advantage of it — but probably not in the way the network had hoped.

Though Kanye is known for delivering nakedly candid moments that keep people coming back to him for more, he used his time on the Madison Square Garden stage to basically ramble about whatever came to mind.

TL;DR: Kanye still loves Taylor Swift, thinks his wife Kim Kardashian is "a G," and ranks himself amongst the likes of "Truman, Ford, Jobs." But we know all this already, so at some point, Kanye’s speech became less about speaking than running out the clock, just for the sake of doing it.

So why is he a winner, you ask? Think about it this way: For every second Kanye spent notflipping out on live television, an MTV producer quietly died just a little bit more inside.

Kanye’s a winner not because he was particularly interesting. Kanye’s a winner because the VMA’s wanted him to dance for them, but instead, he did exactly whatever the fuck he wanted to do.

Still: It’s a shame Kanye didn’t deliver something more interesting, if only because the rest of this year’s VMA production was so awkward that a shot of true strangeness would’ve been an incredibly welcome distraction.

Loser: The kinda-sorta comedy bits

This wasn't the first time the VMAs didn't have a host, but the awards’ attempts to keep things moving without one were lackluster enough that it would be shocking to see next year’s show try anything similar.

All the random attempts to be funny and entertaining outside the performances instead felt stilted and confused, with bits from talented comedians like Nicole Byer and Jay Pharoah awkwardly sandwiched in between announcements of which performers would be coming next, as the comedians vamped the best they could in the venue’s concrete hallways.

The worst of the VMAs’ comedy offenses was Jimmy Fallon’s Ryan Lochte impression, which began with the disgraced swimmer’s Dentyne Ice blue hair and ended with Fallon making non sequitur pop culture jokes that were purposely bad — the better to mock Lochte’s less-than-stellar speaking skills — but had zero wit to them outside of that premise.

Not even Michael Phelps’s ecstatic reactions to Fallon’s full-on mockery made this bit worth it — which is saying something, because the level to which Phelps doesn’t give a shit about pretending to like Lochte anymore is a truly beautiful thing.

Even enlisting the hilarious Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele to commentate on the sidelines as parodies of MTV VJs felt like it boiled down to exactly one joke — "social media, am I right?" — that just got hammered over and over again.

Instead of being the embodiment of youth like they so obviously wanted, the VMAs ended up more in the territory of a try-hard dad faking his way through chaperoning prom.

Loser: MTV producers

There’s no two ways about it: The production of the 2016 VMAs was weird.

This year marked the first time the VMAs were held in Madison Square Garden, and it showed. The entire production was jerky and stilted, the cameras unsure of how to capture the scope of the venue without shortchanging the performances.

For example, when Britney’s performance let the beat drop from the slower verse into the EDM chorus, the dancing kicked into high gear. But at that crucial point, the camera immediately cut back to a wide shot of her with two backup dancers; it was so far away that you could barely make them out at all.

That choice is emblematic of the entire event, in which the people producing it couldn’t seem to make up their minds of whether to entertain the in-house audience or the one watching from home. Worse than that, the cameras had no idea where to focus, settling instead on a compromise of "EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME ALWAYS," with the lens only sometimes in focus.

So even as the show made other attempts to liven up the performances — from Ariana Grande’s SoulCycling to Nick Jonas hopping through a diner set — it took a force of talent like Beyoncé to make the show as slick and powerful as it should’ve been all along.

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In this Storystream

VMA 2016: Performances, winners, and highlights

VMA 2016: Beyoncé brought Lemonade to the VMAs. She destroyed the show.SEP 1, 9:25A
VMA 2016: 4 winners and 3 losers from the awards showAUG 29, 3:17A
VMA 2016: Rihanna closed the show with an emotional, powerful performanceAUG 29, 12:12A

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Rihanna

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Barbadian singer. For other uses, see Rihanna (disambiguation).

Rihanna
Rihanna performing during the Concert for Valorin Washington, D.C. in 2014
Born	Robyn Rihanna Fenty February 20, 1988 (age 28) Saint Michael, Barbados
Residence	New York City, United States
Occupation	Singer songwriter fashion designer model actress
Years active	2003–present
Net worth	US $230 million (est. 2016)^[1]
Website	rihannanow.com
Musical career
Genres	Pop R&B dance-pop reggae dancehall hip hop
Labels	Def Jam Roc Nation SRP Westbury Road
Associated acts	Chris Brown Calvin Harris Drake Eminem Jay Z Ne-Yo Kanye West

Robyn Rihanna Fenty (/riˈænə/;^[2] born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer and songwriter. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, she first entered the music industry by recording demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers in 2003. She ultimately signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, hip hop producer and rapper Jay Z. Rihanna's first two studio albums Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl like Me (2006) charted on the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard 200 and respectively produced the singles "Pon de Replay" and "SOS".

She assumed creative control of her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and became a household name following the release of its international successful lead single "Umbrella". She followed it with fiveRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) platinum-certified albums, including the Grammy Award winning Unapologetic (2012) and her second Billboard 200 number-one album Anti (2016). Many of her songs rank among the world's best-selling singles of all time, including the singles "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", "Disturbia", "Only Girl (In the World)", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "Stay" in which she is the lead artist, and her collaborations "Live Your Life" (with T.I.), "Love the Way You Lie" and "The Monster" (both with Eminem).

With sales exceeding 200 million records worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Rihanna is the youngest and fastest solo artist to earn fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and was named the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade and the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade by Billboard.^[3]^[4]^[5] Among numerous awards and accolades, Rihanna has won eight Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards, and the inaugural Icon Award at the American Music Awards of 2013. Widely recognized for frequently reinventing her style and image, she received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014. Forbes ranked Rihanna the fourth most powerful celebrity of 2012, and was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World" later that year.

Early life

Rihanna grew up in the city ofBridgetown, Barbados.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988,^[6] in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother, Monica (Braithwaite), is a retired accountant of Black Guyanese background, and her father, Ronald Fenty, is a warehouse supervisor of Black Barbadian and Irish descent.^[7]^[8] Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships.^[9]^[10] She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street. Rihanna's childhood was deeply affected by her father's addiction to crack cocaine and alcoholwhich contributed to her parents' rocky marriage. As a child, she went through a lot of CT scans for the excruciating headaches she suffered: "[The doctors] even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense."^[9] By the time she was fourteen, Rihanna’s parents had divorced and her health began to improve.^[8]^[11] Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and began singing at around the age of seven.^[9]^[12] She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School, where she studied alongside future England cricketer Chris Jordan and future West Indies cricketer Kraigg Brathwaite.^[9] Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme; the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant.^[13] Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead.^[14]

Career

2003–04: Career beginnings

In 2003, Rihanna formed a musical trio with two of her classmates.^[9] She was discovered in her home country Barbados by American record producer Evan Rogers. Without a name or any material, the girl group managed to land an audition with Rogers who commented, "The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist".^[9] Rihanna went to Rogers' hotel room dressed in pink capris, pink shirt, and sneakers where she performed renditions of Destiny's Child's "Emotion" and Mariah Carey's "Hero".^[15] Impressed, Rogers scheduled a second meeting with her mother present, who then invited her to his hometown in the United States to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels.^[15] She recorded the demo over the next year intermittently, due to Rihanna only being able to record during school holidays. "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time" were two tracks recorded for the demo tape, which were eventually included in her debut album Music of the Sun.

In 2004, Rihanna won her high school talent show and the Miss Combermere school beauty pageant,^[16] where she was honored in the "Best Gown" and "Most Photogenic" categories.^[17] That same year, Rihanna was signed to Rogers' and Carl Sturken's production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions, who assigned her a lawyer and manager, before the completed demo tape were distributed to various record labels around the world in late 2004.^[15] The demo was shipped out to Def Jam Recordings, where Jay Brown, anA&R executive at the record label, was one of the first to hear the demo. Brown played the demo tape for rapper Jay-Z, who had recently been appointed as president and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Def Jam.^[18] When Jay Z first heard the track "Pon de Replay", he felt the song was too big for her, saying "when a song is that big, it's hard [for a new artist] to come back from. I don't sign songs, I sign artists".^[19] Despite being skeptical, he invited Rihanna to audition for the label. In February 2005, Rihanna auditioned for Def Jam inNew York, where Jay Z introduced her to music mogul Antonio "L.A." Reid.^[15]^[20] At the audition, she sang Whitney Houston's cover of "For the Love of You" (1987), as well as the demo tracks "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time".^[15] Jay-Z was absolutely certain about signing her after she performed her future hit single "Pon de Replay".^[19] His boss L.A. Reid was also impressed with her audition who then looked at Jay Z and told him not to let Rihanna leave the building until the contract was signed.^[21] Reid left it to Jay Z and his team to close the deal which resulted in a six-album record deal with Def Jam. She waited in Jay Z's office till three in the morning to get lawyers to draft up a contract because he wanted to prevent her from signing with another label.^[19]

Looking back on the audition and meeting Jay-Z, Rihanna explained that "when we first got there, I was shaking. I had never met a celebrity, and to have to audition for one and meet him at the same time ... I was hysterical. But the minute I went in the office, it was totally different. He was so welcoming; the environment was so warm and friendly. The jitters just went away immediately."^[19] Rihanna cancelled other meetings with record labels and relocated from Barbados to the United States to live with Rogers and his wife.^[22]During this time, Reid and Jay Z signed another young female artist named Teairra Mari and singer-songwriter Ne-Yo.^[19] With most of the attention on the other artist, the record label held a company showcase to introduce their newly signed artist, where Rihanna, Mari, and Ne-Yo were each performing.^[21] After the showcase, Beyoncé, who happened to be there with her husband Jay Z, was impressed and commented to L.A. Reid "That Rihanna girl, she's a beast."^[21]

2005–06: Music of the Sun and A Girl like Me

"[My music is] just imagination, being creative; that’s what my music is composed with. Being creative and thinking of situations, whether situations I went through or situations I’ve observed people going through. I can’t tell you where I’ll see myself in five years, but I can tell you I will work my best to be the most successful artist that I can be in five years. [I want to be] Remembered as Rihanna. Remembered as being the artist from the Caribbean who came here and made it internationally. Just remembered as me, ’cause I’m true to my music, and I just want people to realize that and appreciate me for that"

—Rihanna during her first interview with MTV News.^[23]

After signing with Def Jam, Jay Z and his team did the A&R for Rihanna's debut album and spent the next three months recording and completing her debut album.^[21] She worked with different producers to complete her debut studio album, primarily Rogers and his production partner Carl Sturken.^[24] With several songs to pick as a lead single, "Pon de Replay" was chosen because it seemed liked the best song suited for a summer release.^[25] In May 2005, her debut single, "Pon de Replay", was released which charted successfully worldwide, peaking in the top five in fifteen countries, including at number two on the U.S. BillboardHot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart.^[26] The song became a big club hit in the United States, peaking at number-one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs and was described as "a poppy piece of dancehall reggae with slapping, syncopated beats recalling big-band jazz" by Rolling Stone.^[27]^[28] That same month, she appeared on the track "The One" with rapper Memphis Bleek on his fourth studio album 534.

Music of the Sun, was released in August 2005. It debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over 500,000 units.^[29] The album sold over two million copies worldwide. It received mixed reviews; Rolling Stone gave it two and a half out of five stars and described as lacking replay value, ingenuity, and rhythm.^[30]Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album as a "glut of teen R&B chanteuses" and described her lead single as "a dancehall-pop mixture that owes plenty of its sweat and shimmy to Beyoncé's "Baby Boy".^[24] She promoted Music of The Sun upon its release, performing at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show and participating in the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball.^[31]^[32] A second single, "If It's Lovin' that You Want", was not as successful as its predecessor, but reached the top ten in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.^[33]

Rihanna performing at the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball, December 2006

Aside from her work in music, Rihanna made her acting debut in a cameo role in the straight-to-DVD film Bring It On: All or Nothing, released in August 2006.^[34] A month after the release of her debut album, Rihanna began working on her second studio album.^[35] A Girl like Me was released in April 2006.^[36] Rolling Stone felt that "the burning rock guitar of "Kisses Don't Lie" and haunted strings of "Unfaithful" help make "A Girl like Me much more likable."^[37] The album was a commercial success, charting in the top ten in thirteen countries. The album reached number one in Canada and number five in the United Kingdom and United States, where it sold 115,000 copies its first week.^[29]^[38] The album became her first to be certified platinum by the RIAA, after selling of over 1,000,000 units.^[39] Its lead single, "SOS", was an international success, charting in the top five in eleven countries, including Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The song reached number one on the U.S. BillboardHot 100 and in Australia, her first to reach this chart position.^[40] "Unfaithful", the album's second single, reached the top ten in eighteen countries, including number one in Canada and Switzerland.^[41] Two more singles were released from the album: "We Ride" and "Break It Off".^[42]^[43] The latter featuring Sean Paul, managed to reach the top 10 on the Hot 100. Following the release of the album, Rihanna embarked on her first headlining tour, the Rihanna: Live in Concert Tour.

2007–09: Good Girl Gone Bad and Rated R

In early 2007, Rihanna began work on her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad.^[44] She embraced a new musical direction through uptempo dance tracks produced by Timbaland, will.i.am and Sean Garrett.^[45]^[46] Released in May 2007, the album charted at number two in Australia and the US and topped the charts in multiple countries, including Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Russia and the UK.^[47] The album received the most positive critical reviews of her first three albums.^[48] The lead single, "Umbrella", topped the charts in thirteen countries and remained number one in the UK for ten consecutive weeks, the longest-running number one single since Wet Wet Wet's single "Love Is All Around" spent fifteen weeks at the top in 1994.^[49]^[50] It was Rihanna's first single to be named one of thebest-selling singles worldwide, with sales of over 6.6 million copies.^[51]^[52] The songs "Shut Up and Drive", "Hate That I Love You" featuring Ne-Yo, and "Don't Stop the Music" were also released as singles. In support of the album, she began the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, with 80 shows across the US, Canada, and Europe.^[53] Rihanna was nominated for several 2008 Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella" alongside Jay-Z.^[54]

Rihanna performing at theBrisbane Entertainment Centre, 2008

Throughout 2008, Rihanna performed on the Glow in the Dark Tour alongside Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D.^[55] Her third studio album's reissue, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, was released in June 2008 with three new songs: "Disturbia", "Take a Bow", and the Maroon 5 duet "If I Never See Your Face Again". All three were released as singles and charted highly, reaching peak positions worldwide.^[56]^[57]^[58] In August 2008, Rihanna and a host of other female singers, recorded the charity single "Just Stand Up!", the theme song to the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer.^[59] "Live Your Life", a duet between T.I. and Rihanna, released that November, and topped the Billboard Hot 100. A remix album, Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes, was released in January 2009. Good Girl Gone Bad has sold over 2.8 million units in the United States alone, receiving a two-times-platinum certification from the RIAA. It is Rihanna's best-selling album in the country to date.^[29]^[60] The album has sold over seven million copies worldwide.^[61] By late 2008, Rihanna remained on the charts with her eighth single, "Rehab" and was named "Diva of the Year" byEntertainment Weekly for her "newfound staying power".^[62]

In early 2009, Rihanna began working on her fourth studio album, Rated R.^[63] Meanwhile, she collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West on "Run This Town", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top ten in ten other countries.^[64] Rated R was released in November 2009 with Rolling Stone stating that Rihanna "transformed her sound and made one of the best pop records of the year".^[65]^[66] Rated R featured a darker and more foreboding tone than Rihanna's previous albums.^[67] Rated R debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 181,000 copies in the United States, giving Rihanna her highest first-week sales in the US at that time.^[68]^[69]^[70] The album was supported by six singles including "Rude Boy", which was the biggest worldwide success from the album, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and reaching top ten positions in twenty-two other countries.^[71]^[72] Rated R: Remixed was released in the spring of 2010 and featured ten tracks remixed by Chew Fu.^[73] To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on her second worldwide tour, the Last Girl on Earth Tour.^[74] At the 52nd Grammy Awards, "Run This Town" won Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.^[75]

2010–11: Loud and Talk That Talk

In summer 2010, Rihanna collaborated with rapper Eminem on "Love the Way You Lie", which was a major worldwide success, reaching number one in over twenty countries.^[76] The song was Rihanna's seventh US number one of her career, making her the female artist with the fifth-most number ones in the chart's history.^[77] Reaching number two, the song became the biggest-selling song of 2010 in the UK, and the first of Rihanna's singles to sell over one million copies in the country.^[78]^[79] She also lent her vocals to "All of the Lights", a single from Kanye West's album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, alongside John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, and Elton John.^[80] In October 2010, Rihanna switched managers, joining Jay-Z's Roc Nation Management.^[81]

Rihanna at the Target Center performing on herLoud Tour, June 2011

Loud, Rihanna's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010.^[82] Its lead single, "Only Girl (In the World)", reached number one in fifteen countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.^[83]^[84]^[85]The album's second single, "What's My Name?", featuring rapper Drake, also reached number one in the US and UK, making Rihanna the first female solo artist to have five number one singles on the UK Singles Chart in consecutive years.^[86] The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 before "Only Girl (In the World)", the first time in the chart's history that an album's lead single reached number one after the second.^[87] The third single, "S&M", reached number one on the Hot 100 following the release of its official remix featuring Britney Spears, becoming her tenth number one single, which tied her with Janet Jackson for fourth place among female soloists who have topped the chart. With only four years, eleven months, and two weeks between her first and tenth number one on the chart, Rihanna set a record as the solo artist with the fastest accumulation of ten chart toppers.^[88]

At the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Only Girl (In the World)" won the award for Best Dance Recording.^[89] "Man Down" and "California King Bed" were released as singles in May 2011 with moderate success.^[90]^[91] "Cheers (Drink to That)", which interpolates Avril Lavigne's 2002 single "I'm with You", was released as the sixth and final single from the album, reaching the top twenty in the UK and the top ten in the US.^[92] To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on herLoud Tour in June 2011, which sold out ten nights at the The O₂ Arena in London, the most sold out shows for a female artist in the venue's history.^[93]^[94] The tour was the seventh highest grossing tour worldwide of 2011.^[95] The final three shows in London were filmed for Rihanna's second live video album, titled Loud Tour Live at the O2, which was released on December 18, 2012.^[96]^[97]

Rihanna's sixth album, Talk That Talk, was released in November 2011.^[98] The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with sales of 198,000 copies^[99] and number one in the UK, selling 163,000 copies. The lead single, "We Found Love", topped charts in twenty-seven countries worldwide, peaking in the top ten in thirty countries and breaking many records worldwide.^[100] It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten non-consecutive weeks, becoming Rihanna's longest-running number one single and the longest-running number one of 2011.^[101]^[102] The song was later named the 24th biggest hit of all time on the Billboard Hot 100.^[103] "You Da One" and the title track featuring Jay-Z were released as the second and third singles from the album to moderate success, the former reaching the top twenty in the UK and US.^[104]^[105] "Where Have You Been", the fifth single, successfully charted worldwide, reaching number five in the US and six in the UK.^[106]^[107] "Cockiness (Love It)" was released as the album's sixth and final single in a remixed form featuring rapper ASAP Rocky.^[108]

2012–14: Battleship and Unapologetic

In early 2012, two collaborations featuring Rihanna were released: Coldplay's "Princess of China" from the album Mylo Xyloto and Drake's "Take Care" from his album of the same name.^[109]^[110] In February 2012, Rihanna won her third Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2012 Grammy Awards, and was voted the Best International Female Solo Artist at the 2012 BRIT Awards for the second consecutive year.^[111]^[112] March 2012 saw the simultaneous release of collaborations between Rihanna and Chris Brown: remixes of her song "Birthday Cake" and his "Turn Up the Music". The recordings received mainly negative responses due to the pair's history of domestic violence.^[113] In September 2012, "We Found Love" won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the accolade more than once.^[114] Rihanna performed at the 2012 NewNowNext Awards along with British singer Neon Hitch.^[115]

Rihanna starred as Petty Officer (GM2) Cora Raikes in her first theatrical feature film Battleship, which was released on May 18, 2012.^[116] Loosely based on the game of the same name, both the film and Rihanna's performance received mixed-to-negative reviews; The New York Times said she was "just fine in the rather generic role".^[117] She received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress^[118] and, on a more positive note, a Teen Choice Award.^[119] She appeared in Katy Perry: Part of Me, a 3D autobiographical documentary-concert film about her friend Katy Perry. On August 19, 2012, Rihanna appeared in the first episode of the second season of Oprah Winfrey's American prime time television show Oprah's Next Chapter.^[120] The episode scored the second-highest ratings in the history of the Oprah Winfrey Network.^[121]

Rihanna in Canada, performing on her Diamonds World Tour (2013)

Rihanna's seventh studio album, Unapologetic, was released in November 2012.^[122] In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 238,000, marking Rihanna's first number one album in the country. In addition, it was the best-selling debut week of her career, besting her fifth studio album Loud (2010).^[123] The album was Rihanna's third consecutive number one album in the United Kingdom and fifth in Switzerland.^[124]^[125]The lead single from the album, "Diamonds", reached number one in more than twenty countries worldwide, including on the US Billboard Hot 100, her twelfth number one on the chart which tied her with Madonna and The Supremes as the artists' with the fourth most number ones on the chart's history.^[126] The album's second single, "Stay", featuring Mikky Ekko, reached the top five in over twenty countries, including number three on the Billboard Hot 100.^[127] As promotion prior to the album's release, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, a mini tour of seven shows in seven countries in seven days.^[128] A documentary DVD of the tour was later released.

In February 2013 at the 55th Grammy Awards, Rihanna won her sixth Grammy Award, in the category Best Short Form Music Video for "We Found Love" (2011).^[129] Also that month, the Official Charts Company announced that Rihanna had sold 3,868,000 records in the past year in the UK alone, ranking at number one in the list of 2013 BRIT Awards artist nominees.^[124] Rihanna's fifth headlining concert tour, the Diamonds World Tour, began in March 2013 in support of Unapologetic.^[130] Rihanna appeared in the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comedy film This Is the End, released in June 2013.^[131] That same month, American hip hop artist Wale released a remixed version of his single "Bad" featuring Rihanna.^[132]

In October 2013, Eminem released his Rihanna-assisted single, "The Monster", the fourth release from his eighth studio album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013). With the song entering the UK Singles Chart at number one, Rihanna joined Elvis Presley and The Beatles as just one of three acts to have scored a number one single each year over seven consecutive years in the chart's history.^[133] The song also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which marked Rihanna's thirteenth chart topper, tying her with Michael Jackson for the third most number ones in the chart's 55-year history.^[134] Cher Lloyd performed the song on X-Factor. The song won them a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Rihanna appeared on Shakira's single, "Can't Remember to Forget You", which was released as the first single from Shakira's album on January 13, 2014.^[135] In May 2014, Rihanna left Def Jam to sign fully with Roc Nation, who had managed her career since October 2010.^[136] In 2013, Rihanna was originally to be featured on Pitbull's song "Timber", which later featured singer Kesha.^[137]

2015–present: Home and Anti

News of Rihanna's work on her eighth studio album began in 2014.^[138]^[139] In January 2015, she released the single, "FourFiveSeconds", featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney.^[140] Two more singles were released ("Bitch Better Have My Money" and "American Oxygen"),^[141]^[142]^[143] however the singles did not make the final track listing for her eighth studio album. She also released a concept album based around the 3D animated film Home,^[144] which she starred in, alongside Jim Parsons, Steve Martin and Jennifer Lopez. "Towards the Sun" was released as the first single from the Home soundtrack on February 24.^[145] On July 1, 2015 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed more than 100 million Gold & Platinum song certifications. In doing so Rihanna has the most Digital Single Awards and is the first and only artist to surpass RIAA’s 100 million cumulative singles award threshold.^[146] On August 13, 2015, it was announced that Rihanna will be joining the ninth season of The Voice as the main advisor in October 2015.^[147] In October 2015, it was announced that Rihanna would have a major role in the upcoming Luc Besson film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, an adaptation of the comic book series Valérian and Laureline, which is scheduled for a 2017 release.^[148]^[149]

In late October 2015, it was announced that Rihanna had inked a $25 million contract with Samsung.^[150] The deal would see Rihanna promoting Samsung's Galaxy line of products whilst Samsung would sponsor the release of Anti and its supporting tour.^[150] The Anti World Tour was announced in November 2015 and began in February 2016, with Travis Scott supporting in North America, and The Weeknd and Big Sean supporting at selected European dates.^[151] Rihanna began her European tour in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[152]On January 28, 2016, Rihanna released her eighth studio album Anti exclusively through streaming service Tidal.^[153] The following day, a deluxe version of the album, featuring three additional tracks, was also made available for streaming on Apple Music.^[154] After debuting at number twenty seven on the US Billboard 200, Anti went on to peak at number one becoming Rihanna's second number one and the eighth top ten album on the chart.^[155] The album was supported by the release of three singles including the lead single "Work" which features rapper Drake, and reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Needed Me" which reached number seven.^[156]^[157]

In the second quarter of 2016, Rihanna was featured on several singles. On April 29, 2016 Calvin Harris released "This Is What You Came For" which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK single charts.^[157]^[158] Rihanna was also featured on Drake's "Too Good" from his album Views and Mike Will Made It's single, "Nothing Is Promised" which was released as the lead single from his debut album Ransom 2 on June 3, 2016.^[159]^[160] On June 27, 2016, Rihanna released "Sledgehammer", the lead single from the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack.^[161] On August 28, Rihanna was honored with the MTV Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.^[162]^[163] In August 2016, Rihanna joined the all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, calledOcean's Eight directed by Gary Ross, opposite Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Anne Hathaway and Awkwafina.^[164]

Artistry

Music and voice

Rihanna possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range of three octaves and two notes.^[165] While recording tracks for her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna took vocal lessons from Ne-Yo. Speaking of the experience she stated, "I've never had vocal training, so when I'm in the studio, he'll tell me how to breathe and stuff... He'll call out these big fancy words: 'OK, I want you to do staccato.' And I'm like, 'OK, I don't know what that is.'"^[46] Her vocal performance on Loud (2010) received positive reviews from music critics. James Skinner from BBC praised Rihanna's vocals on the song "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" and wrote that her voice is powerful and that "it is Rihanna's vocal – at once commanding, soulful and vulnerable – that anchors the song, and Loud itself".^[166] Andy Gill from The Independent feels that "California King Bed" features her best vocal performance.^[167] In a review of Unapologetic, Billboard magazine wrote, "Diamonds finds Rihanna doing one of her throatiest, most impassioned vocals to date, on this inspirational pop ballad."^[168] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times stated, "over the years, as her game face froze in place, her voice cured into a weapon of emotional chill and strategic indifference. It's decidedly unfriendly, made to give orders".^[169]

"Pon de Replay"

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"Pon de Replay" is infused with a reggae style using a mixture of dance-pop and R&B. Lyrically, the song is about Rihanna asking the DJ to play her favorite song repeatedly.

"Umbrella"

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One of Rihanna's signature songs, "Umbrella" is a pop and R&B song with lyrics about a romantic and platonic relationship. The song became a major breakthrough in her career.

Problems playing these files? See media help.

Rihanna's music has encompassed a broad range of genres; including dancehall, reggae and soca, as well as pop, R&B, dubstep, hip hop and electronic dance music.^[170] Some of her songs are also inspired through record sampling from other artists.^[171] With its provocative subject matter and lyrics,^[170] her musical career has been an experiment with new musical ideas and stated that she wants "to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to".^[172] Growing up in Barbados, she wasn't exposed to a lot of music, mainly reggae, hip-hop, and soca music.^[173] At the time of her debut, she recorded songs that were inspired by her Caribbean roots and described her early sound as "a fusion of reggae, hip-hop and R&B, with a little something different thrown in".^[20]^[170] Her early dancehall roots can be found on her debut album,Music of the Sun (2005), and its follow-up, A Girl like Me (2006).^[174] She later experimented with pop, dubstep and rock music while shifting her musical style and image away from the Barbados island girl.^[175] When she moved to the United States, she became exposed to a lot of American music "rock being one of them, and I fell in love with it. [Now] I love rock music."^[173]

Music of the Sun (2005) demonstrates the influence of Rihanna’s musical heritage of the Caribbean. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times complimented its combination of dancehall and reggae, who said, "Dancehall reggae sometimes seems like a furiously insular form of music, but ... Rihanna is only the latest singer to discover how versatile the genre's spring-loaded electronic rhythms can be".^[176] Her debut single, "Pon de Replay" features a dancehall-pop mixture that infuses a reggae style, while "If It's Lovin' that You Want" talks about a girl seducing a guy to be her boyfriend.^[177] Aiming for artistic growth, A Girl like Me (2006) expresses personal experiences that typical 18-year-old girls go through with ballads that were described as elegant and mature.^[178] Her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) led Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine to write that Rihanna "finally figured out that she's a dance artist and the majority of the album is comprised of uptempo dance-pop" songs like "Push Up On Me" and "Don't Stop the Music".^[179] It represents a departure from the Caribbean sound of her previous albums, and is described as a turning point in her career.^[180]^[181] While the first half of the record shares a lot of 1980s pop influences with songs like "Don't Stop the Music" and "Shut Up and Drive", the second half retreats into standard R&B.^[182]^[183]

Recorded after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, Rated R (2009) had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced throughout 2009.^[184] In Loud (2010), Rihanna reflects on the fun and energetic vibe she had while recording the album.^[185] The album is a mixture of ballads, party anthems, and empowering love songs.^[186] Talk That Talk (2011) was similar to Rated R, as both contain hip hop, R&B, dancehall, and dubstep genres.^[187] Loud and Talk That Talk also saw her return to her dancehall roots, evident in the tracks like "Man Down" and "Watch n' Learn".^[188] She also branched out into house music with tracks like "We Found Love", "Only Girl (In the World)" and "Complicated."^[189]

Influences

Bob Marley (left) and Madonna (right) both significantly influenced Rihanna and her music

Rihanna has named Madonna as her idol and biggest influence. She said that she wanted to be the "black Madonna" and praised the singer for being able to constantly reinvent herself successfully throughout her career.^[190]^[191] "I think that Madonna was a great inspiration for me, especially on my earlier work. If I had to examine her evolution through time, I think she reinvented her clothing style and music with success every single time. And at the same time remained a real force in entertainment in the whole world."^[190] Another major influence on Rihanna's music and career has been Mariah Carey, whose song "Hero" she performed when Rihanna was still a teenager at her high school talent show.^[192] She revealed that Carey's song "Vision of Love" "was the song that made [her] want to do music" and that "everything Mariah did, [she] would try to do."^[193]^[194] She grew up watching videos of reggae legend Bob Marley on television because that's what they would play in the Caribbean.^[195] She stated, "[h]e's one of my favorite artists of all time [...] he really paved the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean".^[196] She built a shrine in her home dedicated to the reggae legend and has covered Marley's "Is This Love" and Bob Marley & The Wailers' "Redemption Song" during her concert tours.^[197]^[198]

During her childhood, she would go around singing Whitney Houston songs and "A Whole New World" into her hairbrush so much that her neighbors started calling her "Robyn Redbreast".^[199] She also stated that one of the first songs she remembers falling in love with was Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" and that it "was really inspiring, and it made me develop a passion for music, so really, she’s partly responsible for me being here in this industry."^[200]^[201] Rihanna commented that Janet Jackson "was one of the first female pop icons that I could relate to" and that late R&B singer Aaliyah has a huge impact on her style and also complimented on the singers artistry as well.^[202]^[203] Watching Beyoncé on television with Destiny's Child also inspired Rihanna's musical career, who was chosen along with R&B recording artistsAmerie and Teairra Marí, to give a tribute performance to the female group at the 2005 World Music Awards.^[204]^[205] Other musical influences and idols include Celine Dion,^[206] Alicia Keys,^[207] Prince^[208] Fefe Dobson,^[209]^[210] and Brandy.^[211]

Rihanna takes influence from the different types of music she discovered when she came to America and revealed that rock music was one of the first genres she fell in love with.^[173] She commented, "as I grow older, I want to know more about music. I want to discover more types of music".^[182] She cited Brandy's fourth studio album, Afrodisiac (2004), as her main inspiration for her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007).^[182] In her early career, her music contained strong influences of Caribbean music, including reggae anddancehall.^[212] The music video of the song "Rude Boy" featured images inspired by her Caribbean roots.^[212] She commented that Marilyn Monroe and vintage clothing served as visual inspirations for the music videos for "Hate That I Love You" and "Rehab".^{[citation needed]}

Videos and stage

Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on more than a dozen music videos, the first being "Unfaithful" (2006).^[213] "We've done 16 videos together; they're not all tough, [...] Yeah, I mean, I'm known for the 'Disturbia's and the 'Russian Roulette's and things like that, but 'Only Girl (In the World)' is certainly an ethereal kind of empowering, beauty-filled video," Mandler said.^[213] Jocelyn Vena of MTV wrote, "Rihanna, like Madonna, also has a tendency to make truly thought-provoking music videos that fit the songs they represent. Smattered in between glitzier, more glamorous clips, Madge and Ri want us to think about bigger issues".^[189] Jon Bream of the Star Tribune commented "[i]n the tradition of Madonna and Janet Jackson, Rihanna has become the video vixen of the '00s ... Rihanna has perfected the pout, the long-legged strut and trend-setting hairdos that keep women and men alike checking her out on YouTube."^[214] George Epaminondas of InStyle considers Rihanna's music videos to be "cinematic" due to her "blend of lush island rhythms and swinging pop and ... mischievous sensuality."^[215] Tamar Anitai from MTV Buzzworthy listed "Disturbia" at number five on the "Buzzworthy's Top 5 Most Paranoid Music Videos" and said that "Paranoia never looked so supernaturally sexy!".^[216]

Rihanna performing at the Kollen Music Festival, June 2012

Many of her music videos were shot as short films exploring issues such as love triangles, abuse, and substance abuse romance, including "We Found Love" and "Man Down".^[189] Her music video for "Umbrella" shows Rihanna's transition into adulthood and her newly adopted image.^[217] The "dark, creepy" scenes of "Disturbia" have been compared to Michael Jackson's Thriller.^[214]^[218] The video for "Russian Roulette" features Rihanna in a padded room playing a game of russian roulette with her partner. A scene of Rihanna being approached by a speeding car at night was compared to the altercation with Chris Brown.^[219] The Caribbean-inspired music video for "Rude Boy" was compared to rapper M.I.A.'s video "Boyz" by many critics for its colorful aesthetic similarities.^[212] In 2011, she released three controversial music videos about sadomasochism, rape, and domestic violence.^[220] "Man Down", which features Rihanna shooting a man in a train station, was criticized by the Parents Television Council.^[221] "We Found Love", which shows Rihanna and her love interest in a drug-filled unhealthy relationship,^[219] sparked criticism from the Rape Crisis Centre for its inappropriate message.^[222] But Charne Graham of the Houston Press defended the singer, asking, "Why should Rihanna's music videos get everyone riled up when others' equally sexual and controversial videos are in rotation? [...] she just like[s] to make music videos that give us something to talk about."^[220] She is the first woman to pass two billion cumulative views on the music video website VEVO.^[223] As of September 2013, she has accumulated over four billion views on the site.^[224]

Denis Armstrong of Canadian Online Explorer commented on her performance at the Ottawa Bluesfest, saying "her show was a Disney-esque choreographed fantasy of non-stop hip-swiveling, sassy attitude and personal endearments and a string of funky, sugar-free hits."^[225] Her performance of "Disturbia" at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was ranked tenth best on the MTV Video Music Awards, according to a Billboardpoll.^[226] Her revealing leather costumes during her Good Girl Gone Bad Tour were highly criticized by Malaysia's conservative Islamic party, who recommended that her concert tour should be banned.^[227] Whilst commenting on her third album's accompanying tour, The Times compared Rihanna's stage wardrobe styling to that of Janet Jackson and called her "a vision of Ann Summers couture in thigh-high boots and a few scraps of black PVC."^[228] In the October 2011 issue ofBritish Vogue, Rihanna said her performance outfits and appearances are all an act; "[t]hat's not me. That's a part I play. You know, like it's a piece of art, with all these toys and textures to play with".^[229]

Image

Public profile

Known for reinventing her style and image, Rihanna's music and fashion sense are noted by the media.^[230] In 2009, New York magazine described Rihanna's early look as that of a cookie-cutter teen queen, noting she has the ability to shift looks dramatically and with great ease.^[231] Around the time of the release of her second studio album, A Girl like Me (2006), many critics felt that Rihanna's style, sound, and musical material were too similar to those of Beyoncé.^[232]^[233] In an interview with Look magazine, Rihanna spoke about comparisons to Beyonce: "Beyoncé is a great artist and I feel honored to be mentioned in the same sentence, but we're different performers with different styles".^[234] She revealed during Oprah's Next Chapter that Def Jam's pop-princess blueprint made her feel claustrophobic during her early years with the label.^[235] According to Rihanna, "I felt like they were giving me a blueprint. [...] They had a brand, they had an idea of what they wanted me to be without figuring out who I was."^[236] With the release of her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna dismissed her innocent image for an edgier look with a new hairstyle, which was inspired by Charlize Theron's bob cut in the science fiction thriller Æon Flux (2005).^[237] She followed the likes of recording artists Janet Jackson andChristina Aguilera who also shed their innocent image for an edgier look and sound.^[238]

Rihanna at the American Music Awards in November 2009

Rihanna at the Battleshippremiere in April 2012

Nico Amarca of Highsnobiety magazine wrote "over the course of her now 10-year career, [Rihanna] has undergone one of the most significant aesthetic metamorphoses the world has ever seen".^[239] Her image and fashion has changed several times with different hairstyles since the release of her third album.^[240]^[241] She commented that as a child she "used to watch her [mother] get dressed" and that her love and admiration for fashion started with her mom.^[242] When putting together her own wardrobe she stated, "It's become more about taking a risk ... I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off."^[243] Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian wrote that "Rihanna's wardrobe is the most talked-about, influential and dissected in pop right now" and that whatever she wears "is immediately reproduced on the high street, because it sells".^[244] Country singer Miranda Lambert admires Rihanna's fashion and style stating, "I don't necessarily get inspired by the whole no-bra thing, but I love that you never know what she's going to wear. It always keeps you guessing, which makes her sassy and interesting."^[245]

In an interview with Alexa Chung during Vogue Festival 2015, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing praised Rihanna by stylistically comparing her to some of the biggest fashion icons in music history, such as Madonna, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Prince.^[246] Commenting on the cultural expectation for pop stars to be role models, she said "[being a role model] became more of my job than I wanted it to be. But no, I just want to make music. That's it".^[229] In a May 2013 interview with MTV, The Vagina Monologues writer and feminist Eve Ensler praised the singer, saying, "I'm a huge Rihanna fan, I think she has a kind of agency over her sexuality and she's open about her sexuality, she has enormous grace and she's immensely talented."^[247]

Appearance

Described as one of the sexiest woman of her generation, she revealed that being a sex symbol is not a priority and that "it's definitely flattering, but also uncomfortable."^[248] Emily Hewett from Metro wrote, "Rihanna is quite possibly [the] most sexiest woman in the world. The 25-year-old songbird can grind like no other, pull off a provocative pose better than a Playboy pro."^[249] Her appearance has landed her on the cover of magazines such as Maxim, FHM, Rolling Stone and GQ.^[250] She has appeared in the top ten on Maxim's Hot 100 list and on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" several times.^[251]^[252] In 2007, she was tagged Venus Breeze's "Celebrity Legs of a Goddess" by Gillette,^[253] and was ranked second on People magazine's list of "10 Best Dressed Stars" the following year.^[254]

Rihanna performing on her Loud Tour in June 2011.

In 2009, Glamour ranked her at number 17 on the 50 Most Glamorous Women and Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive of 2011.^[255]^[256] In December 2012, Rihanna became the first woman to be featured on the cover ofGQ magazine's "Men of the Year" issue and ranked fifth on Complex list of "100 Hottest Female Singers of All Time".^[250]^[257] The following year, VH1 placed Rihanna second on their list of "100 Sexiest Artists".^[258]

Rihanna is well known for having a wide collection of small tattoos around her body. The sixteen in total include two musical notes on the front of her ankle, a skull with a pink hair bow on the back of her ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear,^[259]^[260] a Sanskrit prayer going down her hip, a star in her left ear,^[261] the word "love" on her left middle finger,^[262] an Arabic phrase meaning "Freedom in Christ" on her ribcage area,^[263] a trail of stars going down the back of her neck,^[264]^[265] the phrase "shhh..." on her right index finger,^[266] the date 11.4.86 in Roman numerals on top of her left shoulder,^[267] a henna-style tribal dragon claw including hibiscus flowers inside her right hand/wrist,^[268] and a handgun under her right armpit. A gun tattoo was planned to be placed just below her shoulders but was ultimately located on her ribcage.^[269] In late 2009, Rihanna had the phrase, "Never a failure, always a lesson" inked onto her chest backwards as she wanted to be able to read it in the mirror; it is her "motto in life for everything".^[270] In mid-2010, the phrase "rebelle fleur" was tattooed onto the singer's neck.^[271]

Legacy

Rihanna during her Loud Tour in Belfast, September 2011

Rihanna's first albums established her as a "Pop/R&B Princess"^[272] by music critics; Nick Levine of Digital Spy described her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad, as the closest thing to aThriller that 2007/08 is likely to produce.^[273] Her single "Umbrella", famous for its "ella ella" hook, is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[274] Her 2011 single "We Found Love" was ranked byBillboard as the 24th biggest US Billboard Hot 100 hit of all time.^[103] The music video for the song won the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video and MTV's Video of the Year.^[275]^[276] Her collaboration with Eminem, "Love the Way You Lie", together with "Umbrella", "Disturbia", "Only Girl (In the World)", "We Found Love", and "Diamonds", are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide.

Time magazine included Rihanna on its 100 Most Influential People in the World issue in 2012. Stella McCartney writes "She's one of the coolest, hottest, most talented, most liked, most listened to, most followed, most impressive artists at work today, but she does it in her own stride. She works hard, very hard. She gives to her fans, friends and foundation not just herself but her energy and spirit." ^[277] On June 2, 2014, Rihanna was presented with Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a special prize reserved for "an individual whose style has made a significant impact on popular culture on an international stage".^[278] In August 2013, Rihanna is placed at number 13 on Billboard's "Greatest Of All Time Hot 100 Artists" list,^[279] being its highest ranking newcomer.^[280] Billboard also ranked Rihanna the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade.^[5] In 2014, Time magazine's ranking of pop stardom, saw Rihanna ranked second, only behind Mariah Carey.^[281]

Rihanna's work has directly influenced a number of contemporary artists such as Little Mix,^[282] Selena Gomez,^[283] Justin Bieber,^[284] Ellie Goulding,^[285] Tegan and Sara,^[286] ^[287] Jessie J,^[288] Cover Drive,^[289] Fifth Harmony,^[290] Demi Lovato,^[291] Alexandra Stan^[292] and Willow Smith.^[293] Rihanna has an honorary title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados.^[294] Additionally, Rihanna has become a dominating figure in social media and internet streaming, ranking at number one on Forbes' 2012 list of Social Networking Superstars.^[295] In 2013, Rihanna was also named the most influential pop star in the United Kingdom by UK channel 4Music.^[296]

Achievements

Rihanna has received numerous awards throughout her career such as eight Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, four iHeartRadio Music Awards, among others. Rihanna received the "Icon Award" at the 2013 American Music Awards^[297]^[298] and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.^[299] She has sold over 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.^[300] In the United States, Rihanna has sold over 10 million albums,^[301] while Nielsen SoundScan ranked her as the best-selling digital artist in the country, breaking a Guinness World Record for digital single sales of over 58 million as of 2012.^[302]^[303]^[304] On July 1, 2015 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed more than 100 million Gold & Platinum song certifications. In doing so Rihanna has the most digital single awards and is the first and only artist to surpass RIAA’s 100 million cumulative singles award threshold.^[146] In the United Kingdom, she has sold over 7 million albums making her 3rd best selling female this century.^[305]

The singer has accumulated fourteen number one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the third most number ones in chart's history.^[306] She has been named the top Mainstream Top 40 chart artist of the past twenty years by Billboard; she ranks first with most entries (36), most top tens (23), and most number ones (10).^[307] As of March 2014, Rihanna has sold over 18 million singles and six million albums in the United Kingdom.^[308]^[309] She is the tenth best-selling^[310] and the second best-selling female singles artist in the country, only behind Madonna^[311] and is second only to The Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the UK of all time.^[312] According to Billboard, her album sales alone stand at 54 million copies sold worldwide.^[313]

Other ventures

Endorsements

Rihanna has ventured into other businesses and industries. In October 2005, Rihanna struck an endorsement deal (her first of many) with Secret Body Spray.^[314] In 2010, Rihanna featured in the Optus commercial, in conjunction with Optus supporting Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour.^[315] The same year Rihanna also featured in the Kodak commercial along with rapper Pitbull.^[316] In October 2010, the singer released an eponymous book.^[317] The book, featured photos from Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour and served as an accompaniment to her fourth studio album Rated R (2009). Rihanna's first fragrance, "Reb'l Fleur", was released in January 2011.^[318] The product became highly successful, according to Rolling Stone, Reb'l Fleur was a financial success and was expected to gross US$80 million at retail by the end of 2011.^[319] In 2011, Nivea celebrated its "100 Years of Skincare" festivities which featured several performances from Rihanna.^[320] Rihanna's song "California King Bed" was featured as a part of the "100 Years of Skincare" commercial campaign.^[321] Rihanna also became the face of Vita Coco in 2011.^[322]

Rihanna's second fragrance, "Rebelle", was released in February 2012.^[323] The promotional campaign for Rebelle, was shot by director, Anthony Mandler, who also shot the promotional campaign for Reb'l Fleur.^[324] In November 2012, Rihanna released her third fragrance, "Nude".^[325] In 2013, the singer collaborated with MAC Cosmetics and released her own summer, fall and holiday lines of makeup called "RiRi hearts MAC".^[326] In July 2013, lager production company Budweiser announced that Rihanna had become a part of their global "Made For Music" campaign, also co-starring Jay-Z. A commercial video was released featuring the singer and song "Right Now".^[327] Rihanna's fourth women's fragrance, titled Rogue was released on September 14, 2013. The singer announces to release a men's version the following year.^[328] It was announced on August 1, 2014 that September 2014 will see the release Rihanna's first fragrance for men, "Rogue Man".^{[citation needed]} Also in July 2015, she announced her latest fragrance, RiRi by Rihanna. The scent features notes of passion fruit extract, rum absolute, sparkling cassis, and Italian mandarin and arrive at retailers in September 2015.^[329]

Business endeavours

On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Rihanna is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Jay Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015.^[330] Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake.^[331] "The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value", stated Jay-Z on the release of Tidal.^[332]

In November 2015, Rihanna and Benoit Demouy launched a beauty and stylist agency named Fr8me. The business based in Los Angeles was set up in order to assist artists in booking commercials, editorial shoots, ad campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. Speaking on the venture Rihanna stated "Hair, makeup and styling play an important role in creativity, I am very involved with that part of my process, so this agency was an organic thing for me to do." The roster includes Rihanna’s makeup artist Mylah Morales, wardrobe stylist Jason Bolden, hairstylist Patricia Morales, and Marcia Hamilton.^[333] In addition to Fr8me, Rihanna opened a photo agency called "A Dog Ate My Homework", which represents photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson.^[333]

Under her PUMA collection, she released the "Puma Creepers".^[334] Then in 2016, she released the PUMA Fenty Trainer, which premiered in red, white, and black, and then was scheduled to release in a grey "Quarry" colorway at midnight on June 14 via Packer Shoes; they sold for $180.^[334] The "Fenty Trainers" were available on June 15 in-store at both Packer Shoes locations.^[334]

Fashion

The singer's first fashion range, for Armani, became available in November 2011.^[335] Rihanna's 2010 song "Skin" was used in the Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear adds.^[336]^[337] Her first television program, Styled to Rock, premiered in the UK in August 2012 on Sky Living. In the ten-week series, Rihanna, Nicola Roberts, Lysa Cooper, and Henry Holland assist up-and-coming British designers with their clothing lines.^[338] In February 2013, Rihanna presented her first women's spring fashion collection at London Fashion Week for British street fashion brand River Island, collaborating with her personal stylist Adam Selman.^[339] They published two more collections for the brand, a summer edition released on May 25, 2013 and an autumn edition released on September 10, 2013.^[340] The fourth and last collection for River Island, the winter edition was released on November 7, 2013.^[341] Meanwhile, the US version of Styled to Rock premiered on October 25, 2013 on Bravo.^[342]

In December 2013, it was announced that Rihanna is set to be the new face of the forthcoming spring/summer 2014 campaign — due to appear in magazines from January — of the French fashion house Balmain.^[343] On June 2, 2014, Rihanna "will receive the Fashion Icon Award at the 2014 Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards" at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.^[344] In December 2014, it was announced that Rihanna would become the creative director of the fashion sportswear Puma, overseeing the brand’s women’s line which will include collaborations in apparel and footwear.^[345]

In March 2015, it was announced that Rihanna was chosen as the new face of Dior; this makes her the first black woman to be the face of Dior.^[346] In July 2015, Rihanna announced that she would design multiple seasons of a signature women's collection of socks in a multi-year partnership with Stance. The first release included two limited-edition styles in a print called "Murder Rih Wrote," with further designs to follow.^[347] In March 2016, Rihanna teamed up with Manolo Blahnik for an all denim shoe line.^[348] She has collaborated with luxury fashion Label Dior to create a line of futuristic sunglasses she debuted on instagram.^[349] It is simply called "Rihanna."^[349] Mexican singer Becky G has stated Rihanna is one of style icons to Latina magazine.^[350]

Philanthropy

Main article: Clara Lionel Foundation

In 2006, she created her Believe Foundation to help terminally ill children.^[351]^[352] In 2007, Rihanna was named as one of the Cartier Love Charity Bracelet Ambassadors, with each celebrity representing a different global charity.^[353] To help raise awareness and combatHIV/AIDS, Rihanna and other public figures designed clothing for the February 2008 H&M Fashion Against AIDS line.^[354]^[355]

In 2008, Rihanna performed a series of charity concerts entitled A Girl's Night Out^[356] to benefit the Believe Foundation. The concerts were made free for the public. Money from sponsors and advertisers were to be donated to provide medical supplies, school supplies and toys to children in need.^[357]^[358]^[359] In September 2008, Rihanna contributed to the song "Just Stand Up!" with fifteen other female artists, who shared the stage to perform the song live on September 5, 2008, during the "Stand Up to Cancer" television special. The proceeds from the single were given to the fundraiser.^[360] The television special helped raise $100 million for cancer research.^[361]

Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012, in honor of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. Current programs include the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, and education programs.^[362]^[363] The CLF host an annual Diamond Ball—charity fundraiser event. The inaugural event in 2014 raised over $2 million, with the second raising over $3 million.^[364]^[365]

On February 12, 2012, Rihanna performed a benefit show at the House of Blues to raise money for the Children's Orthopaedic Center and The Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Artists Program at Children's Hospital.^[366] In November 2012, Rihanna gave $100,000 to food bank donation for Hurricane Sandy,^[367] On January 3, 2014 Rihanna was part of the MAC Viva Glam campaign, which benefits women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS.^[368]

Personal life

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards was cancelled.^[369] Reports surfaced that then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown had physically assaulted her. He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats.^[370] On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with assault and making criminal threats.^[371] Due to a leaked photograph from the police department obtained by TMZ.com—which revealed that Rihanna had sustained visible injuries—an organization known as STOParazzi proposed "Rihanna's Law", which, if enacted, would "deter employees of law enforcement agencies from releasing photos or information that exploits crime victims."^[372] Gil Kaufman of VH1 reported the "nonstop coverage of the Rihanna/Brown case has brought up a number of issues regarding the privacy of alleged victims of domestic violence, including the decision by almost all major news outlets to divulge the identity of the victim—which is not typically done in domestic-violence cases" and discussed the controversial distribution of the leaked photograph.^[373] Rihanna was subpoenaed to testify during a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on June 22, 2009.^[374] On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault. Brown received five years probation and was ordered to stay fifty yards (46 meters) away from Rihanna, unless at public events, which then would be reduced to ten yards (nine meters).^[375] In February 2011, at the request of Brown's lawyer and with Rihanna's consent, Judge Patricia Schnegg modified the restraining order to a "level one order", which allows the singers to appear at awards shows together in the future.^[376]^[377]

From December 2009 to 2010, Rihanna dated Dodgers baseball player Matt Kemp.^[378] Canadian rapper Drake has also dated the singer.^[379] In a January 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Rihanna confirmed that she had rekindled her relationship with Chris Brown,^[380] though he remained under probation for the 2009 domestic violence incident.^[381] The confirmation followed persistent media speculation throughout 2012 regarding the pair's reunion.^[382]^[383] In a May 2013 interview, Brown stated that he and Rihanna had broken up again.^[384] In 2015, Rihanna briefly dated Travis Scott, a rapper from Missouri City, Texas^[385]

Rihanna has stated that she believes in God and that she focuses on obeying God and reading her Bible. She is a fan of Protestant charismatic minister Joyce Meyer.^[386]^[387] In 2015, Rihanna told Harper's Bazaar that her faith in God has helped her throughout her career.^[388]

During her performance at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival, Rihanna expressed her disagreement with Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that allows companies and individuals to use their religious beliefs as protection, in case of being accused of discrimination against LGBT people.^[389] Rihanna along with numerous other high-profile celebrities featured in an online video entitled "23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America". The video was released in partnership with the We Are Here Movement and called for action against police brutality.^[390]

According to the New York Post, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against Peter Gunis and the firm Berdon LLP for $35 million but settled out of court for more than $10 million.^[391] Forbes began reporting on Rihanna's earnings in 2012, calculating that she earned $53 million between May 2011 and May 2012, for her music, tour, and endorsements.^[392] In 2013, Rihanna came in at number 13 on the list with a total earning of $43 million due to endorsements such as vita coco.^[393]^[394]^[395] In 2015 Rihanna earned $26 million, which resulted in her net worth rising to $160 million by 2016.^[396] In July 2016, Forbes magazine placed Rihanna at number 13 on their list of highest paid celebrities, earning $75 million between 2015 and 2016.^[397] Rihanna currently lives in Manhattan, New York City and owns apenthouse there that is worth $14 million.^[398]