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2014: The year without Rihanna
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 25,037
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2014: The year without Rihanna
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There’s something about Rihanna. There’s space for a film about her perceived inner life in a way there isn’t about other pop stars—not nearly with the same raw vulnerability.
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The vast majority of the time—especially for the female artists in the business—pop music is a vast, ever-shifting field of signifiers and innuendos. The success of a pop star is often more about posture than talent; a single is a product and its performer is its brand. And without Rihanna—the lucrative public persona of Robyn Fenty—pop music feels emptier. RiRi occupies a unique, even irreplaceable place in today’s pop music scene.
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The starlets replacing Rihanna feel much flimsier, as far as public personas go. Apparently, ever since the music industry’s sordid tales of drugs, debauchery, and dissipation throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, the pop stars of the 21st century are single-minded professionals. The starlets of today exude more rational decisionmaking than tortured creative process, and it comes through in whatever image they’re producing for the public.
This became especially apparent to me a couple weeks ago, when I wrote about the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, the two bona fide pop stars performing on the runway, were curiously devoid of their sexuality, I observed, as was the majority of the proceedings. Both singers made their name appealing to a younger crowd, so it would make some sense that they’re sexuality would be tamped down. But it was the Victoria’s Secret show, with thongs and bustiers in every corner of the room—and both Swift and Grande were wearing lingerie, thrusting and gyrating, singing about passion and heartbreak. It all fell terribly flat—plastic and mechanized, clearly the products of an agreed-upon persona performed in an agreed-upon manner.
Rihanna’s different. She’s either very, very good at minimizing the artifice of being a celebrity, or she’s way too vulnerable for the camera. Sometimes, paradoxically, she’s both. And it makes her a far more winsome public figure—one that captures the imagination so much people make movies about her, at the tender age of 26.
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Rihanna’s songs are not, typically, vocally challenging: She doesn’t have the range of either Beyoncé or even tiny little Ariana Grande. But she makes up for it with sultry, trademark timbre—a throaty alto capable of taking on multiple shades of emotion and producing the most coveted hooks in the business. “Stay,” her most recent hit, is in a limited range, but hits with the force of any torch song.
The effect is one of a woman who can feel, which stands out in the world of today’s pop music. And she stands out as one who can feel and desire to have sex, which feels nothing short of revolutionary.
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On the occasion of Rihanna’s Instagram account’s reactivation (look, it was a big deal), writers Claire Lobenfeld and Judnick Maynard discussed the star and what makes her so captivating at Wondering Sound. It’s a brilliant, multifaceted analysis. Maynard writes: “Her nudity and raunchiness always seem to come from a place of body confidence… a huge part of Rihanna’s sexuality is the confidence she exudes about her naked body.” Lobenfeld responds that Rihanna’s songs about sadomasochistic sex are an expression of how “razor sharp” her awareness of the balance of power is in sex; “She is wielding a ton of power to demand what she wants and there are no apologies for it.” Rihanna puts the word “power” in the oft-repeated feminist canard of “empowerment”—and it’s a power that she draws on from her body, warts and all.
Being single and sexual is one of the most provocative, tenuous positions a straight woman can occupy in this world—one that says, boldly, that man or a marriage is not required to satisfy her, but she isn’t an old maid, either. Neither a prude nor a ****; neither a virgin nor a *****. Rihanna is in the gray area between the two reductive poles, and she steadfastly refuses to offer evidence in either direction.
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Rihanna is a phenomenon—a workhorse who has become synonymous with pop music, a singer whose hooks are the most coveted commodities in the business. And her self-assured fluidity is both the mark of her success and the likely cause of much of it. Where other pop stars find a niche and stick to it—Kesha and Miley, the bad girls, Taylor and Selena Gomez, the good girls—Rihanna is loyal to her own process of becoming. She offers her audience the breadth of her experience, which again invokes Madonna, out of an intuitive understanding of what fans want from celebrity. It’s vulnerability and inspiration; grit and grace. Her image makes press almost superfluous—she doesn’t need more than a short printed Q&A with Elle. She communicates to her public with her Instagram and Twitter; with her music and her concerts. She can establish that direct connection because something real is coming through—or, I suppose, because she is very good at pretending.
It’s been a crucial age for Rihanna and for us, her audience. As she’s grown up, from an ingénue to a seasoned performer, we have, too—the years from 2005 to 2014 were formative not just for Milennials like her but for anyone plugged into technology and media. She’s made her mark on this changing era—younger artists like Lorde and Charli XCX are aping some of her fluidity, some of her connection. Her legacy is already being processed with “Beyond The Lights,” a love letter to her spirit, a wish for her to be happy. Hopefully “R8” is coming sooner rather than later. Until then, good riddance, 2014: A year without Rihanna is not much of a year at all.
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I had to cut a lot with the infringement rule but it's an interesting read tbh.
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Member Since: 12/21/2011
Posts: 12,474
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ICON 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 10,510
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 39,618
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Member Since: 9/18/2010
Posts: 18,082
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Wtf is salon.com?
But sleigh!!!!!!!
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 39,618
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Quote:
Originally posted by FAME.
Wtf is salon.com?
But sleigh!!!!!!!
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Why tf would that matter?
Y'all stay saying there's no hype yet when you have the concrete evidence are dragging the poster of the article. 
PLEASE
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Member Since: 9/18/2011
Posts: 5,330
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queen of pop, there's no one near her status.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,540
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If she doesn't return in 2015, I am unstanning.
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Member Since: 2/26/2012
Posts: 9,914
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 37,384
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This is true. Pop did feel really empty without her
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 25,037
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Quote:
Originally posted by FAME.
Wtf is salon.com?
But sleigh!!!!!!!
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Just because you don't know the site, does that mean their opinion is inferior to other media outlets?
Girl leave 
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,540
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Quote:
Originally posted by FAME.
Wtf is salon.com?
But sleigh!!!!!!!
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Do you lack research skills? A simple Google search would help ur pressed soul 
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Member Since: 9/18/2010
Posts: 18,082
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rider
Why tf would that matter?
Y'all stay saying there's no hype yet when you have the concrete evidence are dragging the poster of the article.
PLEASE |
Who is yall? I never said anything of the sort
But am just a bit confused since have never heard about this website before. I was expecting the source to be something lucrative or known like Billboard, TIME, Forbes or something the way you made it seem but cool though!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 6,634
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Her PR team should find new tricks cause this is getting really old 
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Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 19,477
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Member Since: 3/19/2011
Posts: 4,903
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They're ready for you Rih 
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Member Since: 5/7/2012
Posts: 8,404
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The article is really nice, nearly teared up.
Our girl has come a long way.!
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 25,037
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Quote:
Originally posted by KylieistBoi
Her PR team should find new tricks cause this is getting really old |
As long as she's getting those clicks/views from people like you eager to check her out she's good 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 7,726
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She was everywhere in 2014. She didn't take a break.
She had features with Shakira and Eminem.
She toured.
She had River Island.
She had MAC.
She had a TV Show..
I wonder if she could actually take years off like Gaga, Beyonce etc do.
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Member Since: 8/27/2011
Posts: 36,557
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Quote:
Originally posted by Qwerty1234
She was everywhere in 2014. She didn't take a break.
She had features with Shakira and Eminem.
She toured.
She had River Island.
She had MAC.
She had a TV Show..
I wonder if she could actually take years off like Gaga, Beyonce etc do.
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No, because the industry begs for her. Her impact
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