Rihanna: The Billboard Cover Story
by Monica Herrera | October 08, 2010 12:50 EDT
It's been just six weeks since Rihanna's wax figure was unveiled, but already it needs a makeover. The creepily life-like sculpture, which assumed its place in Madame Tussaud's Washington, D.C., outpost on Aug. 31, immortalizes the biker chick-meets-"Blade Runner" look that the pop star rocked this past winter: shoulder-padded blazer, airtight corset, shimmery makeup and a haircut that only she could pull off, part-buzz cut and part-blonde-streaked, sideways swoop.
But Rihanna has moved on since then, now sporting mostly shoulder-length, barrel-curled locks in a shade twice as fluorescent as fire-engine red. Her new look is less severe, more romantic. A day after the figure's unveiling, a photograph of the Barbadian singer kissing her waxen self appeared on Twitter and made it abundantly clear how much she's changed."A lot of people dress like Lady Gaga now. I've just stepped off into a whole new look and style," Rihanna says calmly, phoning in just before a flight to London after a nonstop week of work and play in New York. "The whole shoulder pad thing, and the architectural look, is so sharp-edged and tough. I'm over that. I like floral prints now, which I never liked.
"Trends are boring," she adds. "It's boring to see everyone doing the same thing."
If the 22-year-old's ever-changing hairstyle doesn't get that across, then "Loud" (Nov. 16, Island Def Jam Music Group), her fifth studio album and the follow-up to 2009's "Rated R," should do the trick. While not all that experimental sonically, the set teems with some of mainstream pop's most unabashedly dance-driven beats yet. It also boasts joyful hooks, markedly improved vocals and the kind of risqué lyrics that she first articulated so well on 2007's "Good Girl Gone Bad"-her best-selling album to date at 2.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
On the bluntly titled, Stargate-produced and Ester Dean-penned "S&M," for example, Rihanna proudly claims her vices: "I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it/Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it/Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me." On "Cheers," a twangy bar song that samples Avril Lavigne, she name-checks Jameson Irish whiskey and chants, "Cheers to the freakin' weekend-drink to that!" "Man Down," a reggae song featuring rap provocateur Nicki Minaj, turns her into the protagonist of her own murder fantasy. "I took his heart when I pulled out that gun . . . rum-puh-pah-pum, man down . . . oh mama, I just shot a man down."
With these sorts of lyrics, "Loud" could easily get caught in the believability trap that befell Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" earlier this year. That's unlikely, however, because being bad has been good business for Rihanna when she's done it well. "Rude Boy," the manhood-touting third single off "Rated R," also produced by Stargate and co-written by Dean, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five straight weeks in the spring. "Love the Way You Lie," her intimate duet for Eminem's "Recovery" that has been read in the context of both artists' prior abusive relationships, held the chart's No. 1 position for seven more weeks.
"Only Girl (In the World)," the lead single for "Loud," presents Rihanna at her most confident, demanding undivided attention from her lover over impeccably calculated synths and bass. The song is another collaboration with Stargate, and when it reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 two weeks ago, Rihanna officially raised her sum of top 10 hits to 16, the sixth-best total among women in the chart's 52-year history. She now trails only Madonna with 37 top 10s, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson (27 each), Whitney Houston (23) and Aretha Franklin (17).
"At this point, there's no denying that she's more than a cool voice, a pretty face and a hot style," says Stargate's Tor Erik Hermansen, who with Mikkel Storleer Eriksen make up the Norwegian duo. "She has a swagger which is unbelievable."
Hermansen says Rihanna pinpointed "Only Girl" as her lead single "the minute she heard the song. She picks and chooses everything, which to me is crucial. And she has good taste."
Not a bad kickoff for an album clearly meant to mark a new chapter in Rihanna's life and career. "Rated R," her first release after her February 2009 assault at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown, has sold 998,000 copies, according to SoundScan, her lowest amount since her 2005 debut, "Music of the Sun" (594,000). The edginess of "Loud" doesn't feel nearly as forced as that of its predecessor, whose other three singles, the despairing "Russian Roulette," the street cred-appealing "Hard" and the Slash-featuring "Rockstar 101," all stalled on the charts.
"Let me not kid you -- this album is as personal to me as it is to Rihanna," says Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) chairman/CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid, who outlines the strengths of "Loud" after blasting its nine confirmed tracks (the album is still being tweaked) through the enormous speakers in his equally enormous New York office. As he does this, Reid sings along with nearly every line, punctuating the most memorable ones with finger points and fist pumps, and giving himself a bear hug when Rihanna's voice coos, "Hold me like a pillow," on "Only Girl."
"This is the truest Rihanna album yet because it sounds the most like her first one," Reid continues. "[2005 debut single] 'Pon De Replay,' that was obviously Rihanna at her purest, with that Caribbean-flavored dance-pop music. After that, she went in many different directions only to find herself right back where she really started. Though I think the songs are much better now. Her growth as a vocalist is really evident."
