What’s the longest period of time you’ve waited for someone? Twenty minutes? An hour?
I start to get cranky around the five-minute mark, so imagine how grumpy I am after waiting four hours on a Sunday afternoon for the subject of today’s photoshoot to arrive. You know how a watched pot never boils? Well, let me assure you, a watched doorway never brings a Rihanna.
For much of the afternoon, I’ve been steadily receiving text messages letting me know that the singer won’t be long (“definitely within the hour”) until, finally, when the crew are weak with starvation, we’re startled into action by a flurry of voices. Striding at the front of the 10-strong pack is the surprisingly tall star, immaculately groomed in a simple white shift dress and giant sunnies (even though it’s 7pm). She takes the time to greet each of us with, “Hi, I’m Rihanna.”
Considering she’s only in town for a 72-hour promo tour, she has one hell of an entourage. There’s the manager, two assistants (one of whom heads for the stereo to blast the boss lady’s new album, Rated R, kicking off with the chart-topping single Rude Boy), the hair and make-up artists, the wardrobe keeper, the best friend and two drivers. They busy themselves taking over the entire studio space, while Rihanna squeaks with excitement at the designer pieces she’ll be wearing.
On the surface, the US-based singer, who originally hails from sunny Barbados, projects a sexy but tough ghetto-girl image. Yet, in person, she’s sweet, polite and even a little shy as she tries to gauge the situation. But while she admits she loves dressing up and says “the whole thing is fun”, the flashing cameras and hired help must feel a long way from the beach-side idyll she once called home.
“Where I lived in Saint Michael was literally 30m from the beach,” the 22-year-old tells me in a thick West Indian accent. “It was perfect - a paradise - and we took it for granted. Basically, we woke up on a vacation every day.”
After making a splash in her local industry as a cutesy pop singer (“I can’t even watch some of my old videos”), the former beauty pageant queen born Robyn Rihanna Fenty plucked up the courage to leave behind her single mother and two younger brothers - not to mention her father’s crack cocaine habit - and head stateside at age 16.
“I was like, oh my God, I’m really going. I wasn’t looking back.”
There, she auditioned for Jay-Z, head of Def Jam label at the time, and the story goes that he refused to let her leave until she signed a contract. “I signed her in one day,” says the rapper of his first meeting with Rihanna. “It took me two minutes to see she was a star.”
Under the guidance of the new label, her first single, Pon de Replay, charted well, as did SOS from her following record, but it was her fourth album, edgier look and one tune in particular - Umbrella (‘ella ella’) - that set her apart from the rest of the R&B pack.
These days, her solo music releases and collaborations are instant hits, and her forward fashion has led to her being touted as a style icon of the new decade. (Although not everyone agrees. Despite her role as a youth and culture ambassador for Barbados, there’s a contingent back in her home country who feels her image is a disgrace to her heritage and are openly hostile on blogs and in the press.)
But all that success was tainted by one much-publicised night with her ex-boyfriend, fellow musician Chris Brown.
When Rihanna collected an award for her collaboration on Run This Town with Jay-Z and Kanye West at the 2010 Grammy Awards in late January, it marked a year since her life took a dramatic turn just before the 2009 awards.
The first the world knew of the incident was when it was reported that the couple, who’d been scheduled to perform that evening, had pulled out. The show went on with Al Green, Keith Urban and friends stepping in to fill the gap. However, reports of a violent argument began to surface. Some said Brown had thrown a phone at his girlfriend; others said he’d bitten and tried to strangle her. It wasn’t until a photo was leaked showing Rihanna’s cut, bruised and puffy face that the world realised it was much more than a media beat up. (Brown eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years’ probation and community service and was slapped with a restraining order.)
The two bunkered down as more reports of arrests and court cases surfaced. There was a public apology from Brown on Larry King Live. But it wasn’t until Rihanna agreed to appear on US current affairs program 20/20 that the world heard her side of the story. In a stoic interview with host Diane Sawyer, the star - just 21 at the time - spoke of that night and her shock at having domestic violence in her life: “I’m strong. This happened to me … it can happen to anyone.”
A controversial holiday reunion in Miami sparked criticism regarding her position as a role model, and Rihanna admits it’s something she had to have a long, hard think about. “It doesn’t get easier, you know. Most people define a role model as someone who’s perfect, who doesn’t do anything wrong, but that’s not human, it’s definitely not rockstar - and that’s what I am.” (In this environment, she needn’t remind me.)
Just one month after the incident, though, the singer pulled herself together and went back into the studio to record her fifth album, Rated R. The result, she says, “is a display of growth as a person”. Dirty, raw, urban and rooted in street beats, there’s little evidence of the reggae undertones of her past.
“It’s a big leap from where I left off last time and it definitely shocked people when they heard the new sound and saw the new image,” she says. “It was very personal; I couldn’t think so much about pleasing other people. I was in a place where all I wanted to do was make myself happy.
“This was a time when all eyes were on me, and people really wanted to hear what I had to say. I couldn’t just give them ordinary pop songs - I had to give them depth and a look into who I am and what was going through my head.”
To herald the end of an ugly period in her life, Rihanna says she did what she normally does when she has something to celebrate - she got a tattoo. The latest, the 13th in her collection, reads, ‘Never a failure, always a lesson,’ backwards.
“It’s my mantra,” she explains. “It says it’s OK to make mistakes, just don’t make them twice.”
And so, it’s onwards and upwards for the leggy star with the killer curves, who’s just finished looking like a Bond girl in a zipper-fronted swimsuit. While her make-up artist wipes away any leftover body glow, she tells me about the tour that will have her roaming the globe for more than six months and lead her back to Australia in October.
“Australia and New Zealand was my favourite, favourite leg of my last headline tour - it was awesome - so we’re definitely coming back,” she says. “Coming from Barbados, I think in terms of culture, we’re very similar. But the tour is going to be massive in its overall look and feel, and the costumes are really cool.”
Cleaned up and ready to hit an iconic local restaurant (which has also received constant updates and had the booking time pushed back - though, let’s be honest, who’d dare close the kitchen?), Rihanna shimmies off into the dressing-room to change and the crew starts dreaming of bed after a long day.
Minutes later, she emerges, wearing an oversize white dressing gown, towering white patent-leather heels and those giant sunnies, and bids us all a final farewell with a “thanks so much for everything”. She’s all geared up for a big night out with the girls, every inch the star. Better late than never.
source
