A year after her nasty split from Chris Brown, singing superstar Rihanna not only has a new album out soon, but a promising movie career ahead. By Stephen Jewell.
After all that Rihanna has been through, she deserves to let her hair down. In the wake of her acrimonious split last year with former boyfriend Chris Brown that culminated in him being charged with domestic assault, the Barbados-born singer donned an eye patch and adopted a punky, bondage-inspired look
for her album Rated R. Having put all that behind her, the 22-year-old is now sporting a bright scarlet cut, which reflects the more positive feel of her suitably titled fifth album, Loud.
"It's really expressive, adventurous, fearless and bold, which is everything that my album is made of," she laughs. "But we didn't do that on purpose. We did it first and then started working on the album so it just happened. I guess it was the place that I was in at the time. I just felt like being spontaneous and I also wanted to do something extreme. I couldn't do green, purple or pink so red was like the fine line between normal and extreme."
Loud, out here November 14, came together while Rihanna was playing concerts in Europe this year. "I've had no free time at all," she says. "I never stopped and the two records kind of overlapped. I worked on the new album while still promoting and touring Rated R."
While Rated R was dark and introspective, Loud is more uplifting and joyous. "It's a different kind of energy," she says. "Whenever I make music, whatever mood I am in at the time is reflected in that. Loud is just an expression of how I feel right now. It's really fun and really sassy. I'm definitely excited about the way that the album has turned out."
From French house legend David Guetta to British newcomer Alex Da Kid, Rihanna collaborated with a diverse range of producers and songwriters. "We worked with a lot of people we've worked with before as well some new cats," she says. "Some kids who just love writing music but have never had the chance before to write for a big artist. It was exciting to have all those different elements in one room and to see what they came up with."
Nevertheless the album holds together as a cohesive whole. "I wanted a variety of songs but I also wanted it to have one main theme because otherwise it would go nowhere," she admits. "The magic behind Loud is the energy with which it was made. Every time we went into the studio, it was always a blast from beginning to end."
As indicated by its techno-flavoured first single Only Girl (in the World), Loud seems to have been influenced by the dance music she heard in different cities at the Rated R tour's numerous after-parties. However, Rihanna begs to differ. "I've always gone to clubs, even while I was making Rated R, so I wouldn't say that was true," she says. "I haven't been to a club recently because I've been working a lot."
Like worldwide hit Don't Stop the Music from her 2007 breakthrough Good Girl Gone Bad, Only Girl in the World is penned by production duo Stargate, aka Norwegians Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Erikson. "It really comes naturally to us because I've worked with them a lot and they've been an important part of the revolution of Rihanna," she says. "Their songs have grown and I've grown as well so it makes sense for us to continue working together."
Unlike other more homogenous songwriters, Stargate created tracks specifically for Rihanna. "There are some producers who can only make formula records," she says. "They'll make a song and give it to me but if I don't take it, they'll give it to Katy Perry and if she doesn't take it then they'll give it Ke$ha or [Lady] Gaga. But that's not what we want. We want songs that scream our individuality and that speak to us personally as artists."
The New York-based pair are also responsible for Loud's most risque moment, S & M. "I love that track," says Rihanna. "It's very naughty but it's also very cleverly written in a metaphorical way. It's one of the loudest tracks on the album and it just grabs you right away. It's really in your face and very fearless. It pushes the limits and that's why I like it."
S & M satirises Rihanna's tempestuous relationship with the press. "I'm making fun of the media," she laughs. "To begin with, whatever they say about you affects you but after a while it's like 'get over it'. It's like if they say the same things over and over again, the only ones stuck in a rut is them. It's about who gets the last laugh."
Upcoming single What's My Name, which features rapper Drake, has been tipped by some critics to emulate the record-breaking feats of her best known hit, Umbrella. "I can't speak of the success of a song ahead of time but it gave me the same feeling that Umbrella did when I first heard it," says Rihanna. "It just feels really good and really lighthearted. It's one of those songs that everyone can listen to."
Umbrella topped singles charts worldwide, including Britain, where it spent a record breaking 10 weeks at number one. "I love performing it because it's one of my favourite songs that I've ever done," says Rihanna. "I still can't believe that it became so massive so quickly, especially because it wasn't meant to become a single that quickly. It's just me telling a story and reflecting on something in my past. A lot of my songs do that so it's not really that different."
Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in the Parish of Saint Michael, she was exposed to a wide range of music when she relocated to Connecticut to pursue a musical career at the age of 16. "When I was growing up in Barbados, it was very limited in terms of the different styles of music that was on the radio," she recalls. "There was a lot of reggae, R&B and hip-hop but not a lot of pop music. I didn't really know about any pop artists or pop music until after I moved to America. When I did, I was like a kid in a candy store. There were so many different sounds and that's what made me excited and motivated me to use them. My music is always a fusion of all those different sounds because now I can play with them. I'm from Barbados so there are no rules about what I can do."
With her father addicted to crack cocaine and her parents splitting when she was 14, Rihanna's upbringing was troubled to say the least. However, she insists that such difficult experiences have only made her stronger. "When I look back at that time, I actually have a lot of great memories," she says. "Somehow the negativity is hidden in a very small space in my mind. I usually think about good things like going to the beach, learning how to swim and catching fish, most of which I did with my father. It makes me feel good to think about my childhood."
The oldest of three siblings - she has two younger brothers - Rihanna is very grateful to her mother Monica Fenty. "She definitely raised me in a way that I could be responsible and fearless," she recalls. "She taught me a lot of things about life and let me do a lot of things. She didn't hide me or shelter me from my life or life experiences. She would warn me, of course, but I had to learn things for myself."
After dueting with Jay-Z on Run This Town on last year's album The Blueprint 3, Rihanna teamed up with another hip-hop legend Eminem on Love the Way You Lie, which appeared on his recent album Recovery and topped the charts in several countries, including New Zealand. "That was fun," she says. "We ended up getting together after it was recorded because I was on tour and then it got leaked online so we had to start performing it. That was the first time that I actually met him and he was really cool, laidback and quiet."
Rihanna is set to make her cinematic debut next year as she stars alongside Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) and Liam Neeson in the Peter Berg-helmed science fiction naval epic, Battleship, which is based on the classic board game. "I had a great time filming that movie," she says. "It was a really good cast and everyone has really fun personalities so we all got along. The director was a good leader and he made me feel comfortable. He was very approachable instead of seeming really far away; he was there every step of the way helping me."
Loud is out November 14.
