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RIHANNA: WHO’S BAD?

Ever since resident bad-girls of rap Lil Kim and Foxy Brown decided to spend more time behind bars than behind microphones, there’s been a notable absence of badly behaved divas in the world of urban music (excluding our drunken UK lasses of course).

Step forward Rihanna, the picture-perfect Bajan girl with a penchant for Umbrellas, with her new LP ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’, perhaps ready to pick up where the Brooklynite bad-girls left off. But how far is this sweet-smiling teenager really prepared to go in her quest for badness? Not that far, methinks.

Despite having been ill this particular morning (and no, not from alcohol abuse dammit!), Rihanna is the picture of health, those curvaceous thighs protruding from tiny shorts, her elfin face perfectly made up with smoky eyes and long lashes. After settling down on a large, multi-cushioned sofa in a hotel room as baking hot as her hometown, we get down to business.

The story of Rihanna’s rise to fame has been well documented. Living the simple life of a schoolgirl at home in Barbados, at the age of 15 a hook up with a holidaying producer led to her sealing a deal with Def Jam under Jay-Z. Fast forward 2 years and her debut song ‘Pon De Replay’ became an international best-seller. Since then she has released two well-received albums (‘Music Of The Sun’ and 2006’s ‘A Girl Like Me’), and is about to release her third in as many years. That certainly doesn’t leave much time for misbehaviour. In fact, she has received numerous accolades for her music, from Teen Choice Awards and Billboard Awards to MOBOs, and her rise to stardom has been swift and impressive. Moving first to NYC, then living out of a suitcase for months, before recently relocating to the warmer climes of LA, the girl might have left the island, but as they say, you surely can’t take the island out of the girl.

“It could be the beat or [the style of the hook], like ‘Ella Ella… Ey Ey’,” Rihanna sings, when asked how important it is to retain her Bajan identity in her music, and citing Collie Buddz as the reggae artist she’d most like to work with. “It’s an attitude more than anything else.” Although Soca is the traditional sound of Barbados, according to Rihanna, in the Parrish of St Michael, the hub of the island, it’s all about the reggae, whether that be roots or dancehall. It was certainly an insightful move to introduce Rihanna to the world with ‘Pon De Replay’ at the height of dancehall’s popularity in 2005, hot on the heels of Sean Paul’s international success, however, much of the material written for Rihanna since has been essentially R&B, for example ‘Unfaithful’ written by Ne-Yo. Her newest single, ‘Umbrella’ also reflects the flavour of the times, however in this case it is a gloriously upbeat, Jay-Z-assisted belter of an R&B track, incidentally about sheltering someone under her umbrella, thankfully a metaphor for something slightly less inane.

“It’s about my best friend,” she purrs in demure tones, having not completely lost the West Indian inflection in her accent. With no time in her life for a man, one assumes family and friends are very important to her. “I come from quite a strict background, and my mother is very suspicious, ” she states, in reference to her first trip to America to record her demo with producers Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken. As for her friends from back home, “they’re very supportive and excited,” Rihanna smiles, “they’re very happy for me.” Nevertheless, surely there must be some jealousy from former friends since, you know, she started rolling with Jay-Z. “Of course there are envious people,” she states, “you always get that in life, but I just ignore it.”

In regards to this album, she says Jay “wanted people to see more of me, how serious I am about my artistry and who I am as a person.” When Rihanna first met the Jigga-man she was understandably nervous, but it is obvious he sees something phenomenal and very marketable in his young protégé, actually adding his verse to her newest single and then sending her the finished master “as a surprise”. “I was ecstatic,” she gushes. “We’d already finished it and he liked it so much he got on it. It was such an honour to have him on my track.”

So what’s the title of the album really about? “It was about me being more rebellious and taking control of my own life. You know, cutting my hair short and dying it black, dressing how I want, controlling my image, and it’s reflected in the songs – they’re edgier,” say Rihanna, with a flick of that sleek new bob. “I’m not that innocent girl any more.”

Rihanna’s album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ is out now on Def Jam.

YOU CAN READ A FULL VERSION OF THIS INTERVIEW IN THE NEW ISSUE (997) OF B&S ON SALE NOW.
Words Natalie Illumine