Rihanna Buff

Why Rihanna Walks the Walk

by Melody on July 14th, 2007

RIHANNA is the perfect example of marketing forces at work: beauty and the beats. But, with three hit albums in 20 months, Rihanna is giving substance to sexy.

Rihanna talks about her whirlwind rid to the top of the charts with The Sunday Telegraph.

“I want people to know I think outside the box,” Rihanna says. “I like taking chances. I like things that are cool instead of generic.

“I feel people didn’t know that about me before. I want to prove it.”

That change is coolly defined on a new album, Good Girl Gone Bad - and recent corporate recognition of Rihanna’s sex appeal.

Last month, shaving giant Gillette gave Rihanna their ultimate honour: 2007 Celebrity Legs Of A Goddess.

Then Gillette swiftly insured Rihanna’s legs for $1 million.

“The title, celebrity legs of a goddess, is definitely a shock for me. The insurance is more of a shock,” she laughs.

How will the insurance policy affect Rihanna’s impression of her legs?

“I’m not sure. It’s all very new to me. I don’t pay any special attention to them. But I was always careful with my legs.” She giggles. “`There’s not much I can do.”

Legs may define her for now. But, with each hit, Rihanna has the strength - and clout - to speak her mind. When she visited Australia last year, Rihanna claimed to have no control over her sexy image.

“This is an industry that forces you to do a lot of things,” Rihanna said last August. “I’ve always grown up having a strong sense of fashion and a great sense of wanting to be creative.

“I have never wanted to look like anybody else. I like to dress my way and do what’s right for me,” she said.

Back then, Rihanna said her record label, urban music powerhouse Def Jam, controlled everything from hairstyle to lipstick shade.

“Now that I’m signed, they want me to wear my hair a certain way and in a certain colour. I can’t wear certain lipsticks,” Rihanna said.

“I’m not used to beingtied down, that’s the part Idon’t like. But, you know,whatever.”

Success, and a string of global hits - Pon De Replay,SOS and Umbrella - have shifted the power back to Rihanna.

“This album is definitely a great representation of who I am now, and where I am in my career,” she says.

The album title reflects the difference between the old and new Rihanna.

“Bad means cool, bad means funky, bad means having an attitude, bad means being edgy,” she says.

Umbrella, still No.1 in Australia last week after six weeks at the top, is one of the year’s strongest singles.

“When I first heard Umbrella, I fell in love with it immediately. It was captivating,” Rihanna says.

“I knew it was going to be a hit.”

Good Girl Gone Bad features collaborations with producer Timbaland and singer Justin Timberlake.

Rihanna and Timberlake wrote a song titled Rehab.

It was penned before, and has nothing to do with, Timberlake’s former love Britney Spears checking into a Malibu facility after a public meltdown.

“It is a metaphorical song,” Rihanna says.

“We are talking about checking ourselves into rehab because I’m trying to get over a guy. We compare the guy to a disease or an addiction.”

Timbaland, a hit-making partner to Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, brings a similar beatbox to Rihanna.

“Timbaland is animated and a lot of fun,” she says.

“People think of Timbaland as stuck up or serious. But he is very focused when it comes to doing his work. It was a wonderful experience.”

It is two years since Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, of Barbados, was signed to Def Jam by label boss Jay Z. She has since recorded and released three albums and sold nine million records worldwide.

“I’ve come a long way,” Rihanna says, recalling the boardroom audition that fast-tracked her career. Famously, she was summoned to Jay Z’s office in New York.

“After my audition, he clapped and said:

OK, at Def Jam we don’t sign songs, we sign artists, and we want you’.”

Suddenly, lawyers crammed the office and drew up contracts on the spot.

“You are not leaving this building until you sign the deal,” Jay insisted.

And, like a good girl, Rihanna signed.

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POSTED IN: Interviews, Rihanna News