2005-2012

How She Broke into the Business

• Through mutual friends in Barbados, Rihanna gained an audition with music producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers in December 2003.

• In late 2004, Rihanna completed a demo with Rogers' and Sturkens production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions.

• Early 2005, Def Jam Recordings’ CEO Jay-Z and L.A Reid requested an audition with Rihanna.

• That same day Rihanna signed a six album deal with Def Jam Recordings.

Ideology• Rihanna does not have a clear ideology in her work.• Although she does not have a set ideology she does bring up many

themes within her music and her videos.• Due to videos such as ‘Man Down’ and ‘S&M’ Rihanna has been hinted

as the new face of girl power as in both videos she is shown to have the higher ground over the man. Be it through violence or through sexual dominance.

• Many themes that Rihanna has touched on within her career are murder, domestic violence, sexual dominance, drug abuse and alcoholism

Record label and relationship

• Rihanna is signed to Def Jam Recordings.• Her relationship with her record label is a very close

and public one.• She was signed by Jay-Z who she has collaborated

with on many songs including her hit record ‘Umbrella’.

Significant Press Attention• Rihanna has gained significant press attention

over her 7 years in the industry.• Most of the press attention she has gained is

due to her provocative image and her relationship with Chris Brown.

• Early 2009, Rihanna was victim of an attack by her then boyfriend, Chris Brown.

“My tummy’s up in knots”

‘S.O.S’1. The music video for ‘S.O.S’ does demonstrate

genre characteristics. The song is has an upbeat tempo and with this comes an upbeat music video featuring Rihanna in various scenarios. Many of which involving a dance routine, something common within pop videos, especially those made around the time this song was released (2006).

2. Due to the pop nature of the song there area few moments in which the visuals relate to the lyrics. Although due to the video not following a story this relation is mainly made using a dance move. An example of this is during the line “My tummy’s up in knots”. As Rihanna says this line she rubs her belly.

3. There is not much of a relationship between the music and visuals other than the shots moving and changing in time to the music.

4. During the video there does seem to be a strong influence from the record label. There are many close ups of Rihanna throughout the video which is common amongst new artists.

5. This being a Rihanna music video there are many references to the notion of looking and a voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This biggest moment that shows a voyeuristic treatment of the female body is during the chorus as Rihanna sits in a mirrored room appearing to be trapped.

6. During the video there is no visual intertextual reference. Although this is the case the song does feature a sample from the Soft Cell song ‘Tainted Love’.

How it contributed to Rihannas image and success

• S.O.S contributed to Rihannas success by gaining her, her first number one single at the age of 16.

• S.O.S was the start of Rihannas worldwide success in which she would go on to gain 11 number one hits in 6 years.

• S.O.S contributed to Rihannas image as it marked the beginning of the newly rebranded Rihanna who had already proven to be a success after the success of her debut single ‘Pon De Replay’.

‘Russian Roulette’

2. During the video there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. This apparent in the shot to the left. Where a pulse of energy expands from Rihannas chest.

1. This music video does not demonstrate genre characteristics, unlike S.O.S, as Rihanna is known for her videos upbeat dance videos. This video instead focuses on the story of four characters, one playing a game of Russian Roulette , one in a padded cell (who seems to display two strengths, one weak and one strong), one who is standing in a deserted area as she awaits being hit by a car and another underwater dodging bullets.

‘And you can see my heart beating’

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals in the song. Again this takes place during the line ‘And you can see my heart beating’. Which is the first line of the chorus. As the chorus kicks in, two blasts red smoke are fired either side of the timid character.

4. There are many instances within the video which could be deemed as a demand of the record label. This includes many close ups (example on the left). The video also responds to the dark theme of this era in Rihannas career.

5. This video, Like many of Rihannas music videos have frequent reference of voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This is even more apparent during this video as the character Rihanna is playing is being watched by three uniformed men whilst she is shown to be having a breakdown.

6. It is not clear during this video whether or not there is any inter-textual reference to any films, TV series or music videos etc.

How it contributed to Rihannas image and success

• ‘Russian Roulette’ contributed to Rihannas success as it marked the start of her darkest era which saw her album ‘Rated R’ reach critical acclaim.

• ‘Russian Roulette’ contributed to Rihannas image by showing her transformation from a girl to a woman.

• ‘Russian Roulette’ was the first video to show Rihannas new darker side after the Chris Brown incident at the beginning of 2009.