In this essay, I will be analysing how Rihanna has used the media to pass on or portray her different messages through her music. On the other manus, nevertheless, there is the media that has its ain version of those messages therefore, building different worlds for the perceiving audience. The Media provides information and updates on assorted occurrences and issues on all facets to the public therefore supplying them basic cognition and information to enable them do their ain judgements and perceptual experiences such as, societal perceptual experiences ( Sadaf, 2011 ) .
Sadaf ( 2011 ) explains societal perceptual experience as the agencies in which we make sense of our societal universe through media representations as it plays an of import function in doing some issues of import and some issues of import.
I will so discourse Rihanna ‘s communicating scheme to her audience through her music every bit good as character utilizing the narrative theory through communicating as a construction. In world, there is no RIHANNA. Her existent name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. ‘Rihanna ‘ is a construct adopted by the music industry to sell music as Wall ( 2003 ; 153 ) says, Stars are a signifier of capital in which a record company invests important amounts of money to derive promotion and reenforce an image they believe will in bend will bring forth greater gross revenues of that stars records.
The stars image nevertheless is non existent. It is a representation of wider societal values and a constructed set of individualness where the audience feels it knows the stars personality but in truth, this image is merely a media text. How reliable a star may experience to its audience depends on success of the building of the stars persona around the different aspects of their personality ( Wall, 2003 ; 153 ) .
Robyn Rihanna Fenty dropped two of her names and merely took on Rihanna because it non merely sounds alien but besides there was no Rihanna in the music concern. That accorded her genuineness as an creative person because when her name was mentioned, people would instantly cognize which Rihanna it was.
Rihanna has therefore been able to pass on messages of authenticness through the manner she sings frocks and Acts of the Apostless while in the populace. This is a manner for her to state the populace about herself and how her music is supposed to be understood. ( Machin,2010 ; 32 ) This she does through her pick of album names and arms from which the audience can do a conjecture at what she will sound like.
Machin ( 2010 ; 34 ) besides says that the images used on the album sleeves help pass on certain discourses, values, individualities and so on. The chosen fonts used for the creative persons name on the arm besides communicate thoughts and attitudes. In my observation, Rihannas ‘ public character and her album sleeves contribute towards her authenticness as a musician but at the same communication varying messages.
Dyer ( 1987 cited in Tolson 2001 ) defined genuineness or “ the act of being yourself ” as a construct derived from the political orientation of individuality where persons are said to possess an interior irreducible kernel. A true ego behind whatever public face, or mask they may project.
Rihannas ‘ authenticness can outdo be seen in an interview with Oprah on the “ Oprah Winfrey Show ” where the screening audience was teased with a ‘Rihnaana as you ‘ve ne’er seen her before ‘ gap line. In this interview, Rihanna talks about her life and her relationship with Chris brown. Oprah succeeds in doing her call which is the prototype of the show as through Rihannas cryings, the audience is able to experience her emotion.
Tim Wall ( 2003 ; 153 ) says the audience is made to experience like it knows the stars as persons but that this experience is mediated through interviews, records, exposures but the cognition obtained about the stars is a merchandise of carefully executed run plans all so to promote the audience purchase the stars records and an array of miscellaneous ware.
However, in the existent universe, there is no existent audience as they are mere buildings. An audience exists when a certain function has been played out that identifies with certain people who in bend become the audience. ( Mafalda 2012 )
In the interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna played the function of the victim by both the relationship with Chris Brown and in the media. However, the interesting portion about the interview was how she turned the narrative around picturing Chris as troubled and in demand of aid. While the media had showed her as the victim, she called Chris the victim building a different world for the audience from the one made by the media.
Rihanna was able to spread out her audience after her publicised domestic force instance with so boyfriend, Chris Brown. The issue was extensively covered by the media in which she was depicted as a vulnerable adult female while Chris Brown as a animal. In bend, she used this to gain her more sympathisers and hence bring forthing a larger audience as she was now looked as a beacon of hope for domestically violated adult females while Chris Brown lost a few of his ain audience as he was now labeled a adult female beater.
Celebity and dirt are closely linked where dirt is supposed to increase the famous person quotient of the star. The dirt is n’t merely about the famous person ‘ life entirely but of events that accord them iconicity and ill fame ( Nayar, ; 113 ) . Rihannas biggest dirt is her engagement with antique fellow Chris brown even though he beat her up early in the relationship and non even the fact that he has a girlfriend.
Rihanna stirs contention in her communicating through her openness about sex. Wall ( 2003 ) suggests that Sexuality and the representation of gender and sexual penchant drama important functions in the music and image of single creative persons.
Rihanna has featured legion times in work forces ‘s grownup magazines such as GQ and Esquire, besides singing a batch about sexual inclinations in vocals such as “ Te Amo ” in which she plays out a cubic decimeter esbian scene and “ S & A ; M ” . S & A ; M refers to Sadism ( S ) and Masochism ( M ) defined by Weinberg ( 1987 ) as the “ frame ” with which people distinguish their make-believe drama from existent force or domination ; this frame hinges on the BDSM creed, “ safe, sane, and consensual. ” Another commonalty is the repeating elements that are “ played with, ” including “ power ( interchanging it, taking it, and/or giving it up ) , the head ( psychological science ) , and esthesiss ( utilizing or striping usage of the senses and working with the chemicals released by the organic structure when hurting and/or intense esthesis are experienced ) ” ( Pawlowski, Â 2009 )
In the vocal S & A ; M, Rihanna plays with the media in a manner that depicts her first as an object for survey. However, she is able to suppress the power from the journalists through BDSM.
Edwards ( 1993 ) takes the construct of a beauty ideal one measure further and contends that the black adult females featured in music picture represent physical features of the tragic mulatto. Many of the black adult females featured in music pictures depict a Westernized beauty ideal of lighter tegument, long hair, and blue or green eyes.
Previous research findings show that colour tone could hold some influence in the manner a famous person is perceived and is able to appeal to their audience. Peoples attribute higher position and allow more power and wealth to people of one skin color, typically light tegument, within the groups designated as colored ( Hunter 2011 )
Charles ( 2009a ) suggests that hegemonic representations of white tegument are exhaustively rooted in multiple societal establishments including instruction, faith, mass media, and popular civilization where images of white beauty do non merely trust on white adult females with light-haired hair and light eyes to sell merchandises.
Rihanna uses her organic structure to sell her image, through exposing her muliebrity recognizable through, for illustration, ‘edgy ‘ vesture that combines frilly, pretty muliebrity with a ‘masculine ‘ manner and garments that suggest a more porn-inspired coarseness ( Levy, 2005 ) . famous person civilization, through the dad instrumentalists ( Baker, 2004 ) , provides a rich beginning of significances around gender. These significances appear to be to a great extent saturated by ‘raunchy ‘ ( see Levy, 2005 ) representations in music picture where organic structure uncovering vesture is accompanied by Acts of the Apostless of sexual simulation, self-touching, sexual airss and so on ( Jackson, Vares & A ; Gill, 2012 ) .
She has been able to advance her ain personal trade name through societal networking accomplishments utilizing platforms like chirrup, instagram, every bit good as her singularity in her hairdos, manner sense, wordss and attitude. While a good trade name elicits ideas, a great trade name elicits feelings. She has been able to make emotional friendly relationships with her fans whom she calls the “ Rihanna Navy ” through her societal web sites publicising personal events such as the decease of her grandma whom she called expansive nan Dolly.
Rihanna has besides been able to set up with clip an original for her trade name personality and narrative. This is in her on camera character as a defiant hardcore miss. This image can be seen in latest albums such as Good miss gone bad, Rated R and Unapologetic.
Rihanna has been able to put herself as a trade name utilizing her manner sense, being endorsed by trade names such as Armani, Nivea, Oprah, Nike and Clinique increasing her societal capital. Her diverseness in the trade names she promotes suggests her success as a star.
However, When famous persons endorse a peculiar merchandise, the populace is more likely to believe in its effectivity and purchase the merchandise, and when a famous person peculiarly endorses a skin-lightening merchandise, they are besides backing the act of skin-lightening itself, proposing that their ain beauty is come-at-able and that skin-lightening is a mainstream, culturally acceptable act ( Hunter,2011 ) .
McCracken ( 1989 cited in Grace Phang ; 4 ) provinces that a consumer sees a famous person backing a merchandise and they recognize the indispensable similarity between the message, merchandise, and famous person and transfers the significances of that famous person to the merchandise merely because Celebrities play functions where their image carries the significances of those functions.
All above factors mentioned have helped her physique an individuality as a famous person. However, her Caribbean beats and expressions had been about for a piece and to win as a star she had to undergo a monolithic alteration. The couple with Justin Timberlake saw her morph from the miss dancing to Pon De Replay to the adult female that invoked desire. This metamorphism in character and individuality expanded her fan base.
Her individuality did non merely alteration with her pick of vocals but besides her closet. She cut her hair short and dyed it black which besides grew a series of metamorphism where it went from cheek length to merely one side long the other staying short, to being boyishly short and eventually ruddy. This film editing of her hair was non merely manner sense speech production but she was pass oning to an audience. Rihanna has been able to show herself in a assortment of ways particularly through her frock codification, most notably her hairdos. However, this is a mere scheme to sell her image, as it is a constructed image that the audience associates with her.
As observed, all music or film stars are a mere building, they are a beginning of capital for record companies that own them. ( Wall,2003 ; 153 ) . A batch of money is invested in Rihanna as the trade name, hence, developing and publicising her star image is non merely to sell single records as people ever need something new to maintain them interested but as a trade name or trade good ( Wall,2003 ; 154 ) .
This pattern involves ongoing care of a fan base, performed familiarity, genuineness and entree, and building of a consumable character. popularity is maintained through ongoing fan direction ; and self-presentation is carefully constructed to be consumed by others.
