Rihanna-The Evolution of a Star

The famous Robyn Fenty best known as Rihanna is a R&B artist from Barbados. The beginning of a wonderful career began when she moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue her talents as a singer. She auditioned for the label Def Jam Recordings headed by Jay-Z, where she later signed a contract with the label.

Rihanna released her very first debut album in 2005 called "Music of the Sun" which had the hit single "Pon de Replay". In this album her star image was illustrated as a pure complete good girl. Her music was categorized as reggae due to her Caribbean backgrounds. Rihanna's image within the music videos in "Music of the Sun" is seen as a very pure, innocent girl  whom recently was discovered. Her main iconography at this moment was her natural beauty and her background played a huge part in her image. She was seen as a role model to young girls as she was a teenager whose dreams had recently come to life and was seen as an inspiration to young teenagers.



A video from the album, "Music of the Sun".  Showing the star in her early years within the industry.

In 2007, Rihanna's image was completely transformed in her album, "Good girl gone bad". She wanted to change her direction within the industry by transforming into a rebellious, edgy and mischievous image with the help of music producers such as Will.I.Am and Timbaland. She dyed her hair pitch black and cut it short to change her image completely. Unlike her previous work, the album featured a more dance-pop sound instead of reggae style songs.

Rihanna stated that her change in image was because she felt that every album puts you into a different mood which requires much change. She felt comfortable changing along with her music. You can see the change particularly in her song Umbrella where her new image was first introduced to the world.




Although this was the song which saw change within the artists image, Disturbia and Te Amo was a complete surprise to Rihanna fans as they saw her in a new light. As she became very original and her videos became very intriguing and quite varied.

In 2009, Rihanna was a victim of serious assaults involving her present boyfriend at the time Chris Brown. Brown was charged for alleged assaults due to leaks in photography by the LA police department. This issue made her image as a victim within the media which made her look like a vulnerable and innocent woman who had been abused and people became very supportive towards her.

She then created a further transformation in the album, "Loud", where her hair was dyed red and she was seen as a normal, outgoing girl. She began to perform and sing more power ballads such as California King Bed and What's my Name.

She created her own Marilyn Monroe inspired look. Her current image is quite outgoing with the god girl inside of her. The present transformation is a mixture of all of her previous albums and shows Rihanna as herself, being her own person. We currently can relate to her current image. She is seen as an icon within the fashion industry as many girls are inspired by her hairstyles and clothing.

Throughout the years this artists iconography has transformed a great amount, although she has changed overtime, people still acknowledge her as the talented artist she is and her audience changes along with her. The reason that she has changed so much is to attract a varied audience with her variety of music and fusions.

Rihanna's overall image has a continuous change in order to draw more target audiences to her music and style. Her constant change attract men as well as women to her music. The album, "Good girl gone bad" may have attracted more males than females simply just by the album name.

Most of her albums and music portrays her as confident and sassy which creates a role model for the youth.