Rihanna (11 page)

‘Rude Boy’ was nominated for ‘Best Editing’ in a Video
award at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, but was beaten by Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’, which was directed by Jarrett Fijal.

R
ihanna turned 22 on 20 February 2010, but she actually celebrated five days earlier in Australia. She was there to promote
Rated R
, and
WHO
magazine decided to throw her a massive party. They invited 200 people, from
Home and Away
stars Luke Jacobz, Tessa James and Esther Anderson, to Jermaine Jackson and
So You Think You Can Dance
winner Talia Fowler. She was given a gorgeous zebra-print cake with star sparkles.

The guests enjoyed the exquisite canapés on offer, but Rihanna decided to give them a miss because she was going for an Italian meal once the party was over. She looked stunning in a nude minidress by the designer Boudoir D’Huitres, and told journalists from
WHO
that her favourite Australian designers were Sass & Bide (
Sarah-Jane
Clarke
and Heidi Middleton). During her three days in Australia, she also wore Sass & Bide jeans.

She was glad she saved herself for the meal, because she found the cuisine at Beppi’s Italian Restaurant ‘hands down the best food in Australia.’ She wasn’t the first celebrity to rate Giuseppe Polese’s talents, though: Pink had dined there the previous August and wrote in their visitor’s book that they needed to move to LA. They sent her a cookery book with their recipes in it, and she started cooking from it. However, Pink and Rihanna aren’t the only famous diners Beppi’s has entertained: over the years they have fed Frank Sinatra, astronaut Neil Armstrong and
Pirates of the Caribbean
star Geoffrey Rush.

While in Australia, Rihanna also spent time at the Sydney Aquarium, and went on a cruise around Sydney Harbour.

When she returned home, Matt threw her a big birthday party in Phoenix on the Saturday. She had known he was planning something, but expected it to be just the two of them and her closest friends. He had employed a Jamaican chef to do the food, and there were scrumptious cupcakes to tuck into. It is thought that it took him a whole month to plan everything and make sure it was perfect for RiRi. Some of his Phoenix Suns buddies came along, too.

Rihanna’s birthday cake was extremely personal to her as it had all her tattoo designs on it, and she looked happy and relaxed as she danced the night away, wearing a toy crown. The evening before, they had been out with their friends to the Revolver nightclub, and after the festivities
of Saturday, they relaxed and enjoyed a low-key brunch with her friends.

It is thought that Matt bought her a diamond necklace, but there has been no official confirmation.

The whole weekend was a chance for Rihanna to let her hair down and relax. It was completely different from her 21st birthday the year before, which was shortly after she was attacked. Her record company cancelled the party they were planning for her, and instead she went to the cinema with just a few friends. The next day she travelled to Mexico and had an amazing time, although it seems she got so drunk she can’t remember everything.

Rihanna confessed
I-D
: ‘The most drunk I’ve ever been, my friends could probably tell you better because I blacked out. But it was in Mexico, on my 21st birthday. We went off to this island by boat – it’s so secluded, like you can’t drive on it, so there’s no cars, no schools, you take a boat to and from. But there’s a village on the island and the locals, the natives, they made me moonshine [home distilled alcohol]. Straight out of the tub, they made it and brought it to me in an empty water bottle.

‘I’d been hearing about moonshine, “It’s like the worst, it will kill you!” I’m like, “Okay, let me take a shot of this ever-so-tough moonshine.” I took a shot – nothing. I was so disappointed. Took another shot – nothing. Eight shots later – still nothing! An hour later, I got out of the boat, got into my car, got back to my house, got into the pool, played volleyball – in the pool! And then I can’t remember getting out of the pool. I woke up in different clothes. Different
underwear. Like different underwear? And how did I get in my bed?’

She also revealed what her favourite tipple is: ‘I like Jameson and ginger. Actually, dark liquor is the only one that doesn’t give me a hangover. I don’t always get a hangover, but if I do get a hangover, it’s with vodka.’

Some of her closest friends left 22nd birthday messages for Rihanna on her official fansite.

Singer Shontelle, her friend and former drill sergeant, wrote: ‘22 is all that more special a number because that’s how many years the world has been blessed since the day you were born. I’m really proud of you Rock Star! You run this town. Keep it coming harder! Stay beautiful inside and out. Happy Birthday Robyn!’

Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, who discovered the star, wrote: ‘It seems like just yesterday that we celebrated your 17th birthday and getting a record deal almost at the same time …you’ve come so far and grown so much, we couldn’t be anymore proud of you…. HAPPY B-DAY!!!’

Fellow Bajan performer Hal Linton added: ‘Happy happy Birthday Rih! Sending my blessings and all that good stuff, wishing you many more.’

Rihanna also got thousands of messages from fans. They sent her cards, presents and special scrapbooks they had made.

R
ihanna loves fashion, and when she was growing up, her style icons were Mariah Carey, Madonna and Marilyn Monroe. She always wants to make a statement with what she wears in her videos, at award shows, events… even when she’s out shopping. The singer likes her clothes to be an extension of her personality and of how she is feeling, rather than just costumes designed to shock or generate column inches in newspapers. Altogether, she has 1,500 pairs of shoes in her closet to choose from, so she never has any excuse for not wearing matching shoes!

Rihanna admitted to
InStyle
magazine: ‘I’ve been a fashion fanatic since I was little, looking at all the international magazines, but I used to dress like a boy when I was a kid. I’d wear my brother’s baggy pants and his sneakers. Now I like little skull caps, jeans, flat boots that
come up to the knees. And then I play around with the top – a big T-shirt or a sleek camisole, or a jacket. I love jackets! I have a million.’  

Being fond of daring accessories can sometimes cause problems, though. She told the
Daily Telegraph
: ‘At Fashion’s Big Night Out, I wore this spiked bracelet. I saw so many people I knew and everyone I hugged was flinching. It took [hugging] four people before I realised what was happening. And then my earring started to stab me on my shoulder. That was dangerous!’  

Rihanna did look fabulous that night, as she wore a black cowl minidress by Alexander Wang and some studded sunglasses, which went well with the bracelet.  

She divulged to SugarScape: ‘With fashion, the simplest thing like a star or a flower can inspire you. I’m into a lot of stuff to do with nature and colours now, just things that are really expressive.

‘I wear a lot of Stella McCartney because what she does is great – she’s a top, top designer.’  

RiRi talked to
Elle
magazine about other fashion designers she admires. She confessed: ‘It’s clear there are definitely fewer black women in the high-fashion industry. One of the things I respected most about Gucci was that they did a print campaign with me. I’m a black girl on a fashion spread for Gucci – that was a big deal. I respect designers who aren’t afraid to go outside the box. I went to a Jean Paul Gaultier show, and I saw girls who are thicker than me, beautiful and voluptuous and different ethnicities. That made me so excited. I thought, Okay, I can work that, for sure.’

RiRi thinks Victoria Beckham is very stylish and told the
Sun
: ‘I love Victoria Beckham’s line, it’s so feminine and chic.’ She admires the effort the designer puts in to create her dresses, accessories and trousers, adding: ‘Really sexy, really, really tailored. That’s what she is. She’s put a lot of effort into it.’  

Our favourite singer has always been a risk-taker when it comes to fashion. She likes choosing unusual items when she’s out shopping and using them to create a unique look. When it comes to dresses, she likes them to stop at the knee and show off her curves; she also likes minidresses with long sleeves. She isn’t the kind of celebrity who only wears an outfit once either, as she likes to get her money’s worth. The favourite items in her wardrobe tend to be jackets, because they can completely transform an outfit and make it look completely different.  

When it comes to shoes, she likes ankle boots and sneakers, and she likes tomboy-ish jeans, as she explained to
Seventeen
magazine: ‘For everyday, I like jeans that are supposed to be skinny jeans but aren’t tight. I like them tomboy-ish so that they’re almost a size or two bigger than my normal size and slouch a bit. When I go out, I like a more structured jean because, for my body, they’re more flattering on my legs.  

‘I love sneakers and my favourite sneaker is the Nike Blazer. I don’t really like low-tops, but if a high top is paired with skinny jeans, it makes your feet look really big, but the Blazer gives a really good shape for girls, especially with skinny jeans.’

It might seem as if Rihanna looks glam all the time, but when she’s on her tour bus, it’s comfort that matters most to her: she ditches her heels for sneakers and wears sweatpants and pyjamas. In fact, she travels relatively light, as all her stage clothes are looked after by other people in her team.

T
hings went up a notch between Rihanna and boyfriend Matt Kemp in March 2010, when RiRi met his family. She had been performing at the Echo Awards in Germany, but decided to fly all the way to Arizona to support Matt, who was hosting a special event called ‘Ante Up for Autism’ to raise money for the charity TACA (Talk About Curing Autism). The charity’s motto is: ‘Families of autism helping families with autism’. The night had a casino theme and they enjoyed dinner, dancing and cocktails.

It would have been easy for Rihanna to miss the event because her schedule is so packed, but she wanted to be there for Matt. His brother is autistic, so he wanted to help raise as much money as possible. He got his wish, as $170,000 was donated, which is approximately £104,000. That is an amazing amount of money, considering there
were only 150 people at the event. Rihanna also got the chance to meet Matt’s family, before starting her ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour’.

The tour was due to start a few weeks later, and Rihanna was well into preparations: she wanted to make sure that her concert would be the best concert her fans had ever seen, so that meant long hours of rehearsal. In the midst of these preparations, she was invited to appear on
American Idol
, an opportunity not to be missed.

Most acts would be nervous performing on the
American
Idol
stage, with 20 million people watching at home, but Rihanna seemed to take it in her stride. Indeed, she had been so busy that she hadn’t been able to rehearse a special routine, so she had to make it up on stage during the limited rehearsal time. She decided to perform ‘Rockstar 101’, which was due to be released in May 2010, and wore a black skin-tight catsuit, which perfectly suited the song.

Rihanna felt comfortable enough to admit to
American Idol
host Ryan Seacrest that she was dating Matt, but tried to imply it wasn’t a big deal. She said: ‘He is my boyfriend and yeah, it’s new and fun. It’s nothing too serious. I don’t want anything that’s going to take up so much of my energy and time in a bad way. I just wanna have fun, and that’s what it’s about.’

But she wasn’t the only one having to put in the hours to prepare for the tour – her whole background staff and crew were working flat out, too. Stylist Mariel Haenn was one of about 30 people putting together the different looks Rihanna and her dancers would have. They had to create
mood boards, collect interesting fabrics they thought would look good, and sketch outfit ideas for Rihanna and her inner circle to look at and decide what they liked (and what they didn’t). The outfits had to compliment the different tracks Rihanna would be performing and be easy to remove for the quick costume changes.

Mariel explained what work was involved to thisismax.net, shortly before the tour started. She said: ‘Rihanna, band, dancers, and background vocalists all to be dressed with specific creatives and looks that are thought out thoroughly and all determined by the music. 5 sections, 22 songs, 6 full changes and 9 add-ons for Rihanna, 11 changes for 9 dancers, 5 changes for 2 singers and so on and so on… Oh, and duplicates of every outfit – around-the-clock work for weeks, and around 200 outfits that all need to be packed in 2 days. I’ve been working with Ri since the “Umbrella” days and I am impressed with, and proud of, the team. This show is going to be amazing and I can’t wait to see it. Every day, the pieces of the puzzle come together, from choreography to the video montages on the LED screens on the stage, to props and lighting and of course the costumes. I look forward to the show getting on the road.’

Rihanna’s third tour kicked off on 16 April 2010 and ran through to 12 March 2011. It was called ‘The Last Girl on Earth Tour’, and it was a world tour, with 73 dates. Rihanna named the tour ‘The Last Girl on Earth’ because that’s the way she likes to think of herself. She explained to
Entertainment Tonight
: ‘Sometimes people make decisions based on the outlook of others and you know, to me, my
life is my life. It’s my world and I’m going to live it the way I want to. That’s how I think about everything; that way I’m focused on me and my work. It’s a really narrow space, a focus.’

Rihanna had learned a lot from her ‘Good Girl Gone Bad Tour’, and was determined to make the new tour even better. She told AOL before the tour started: ‘[We’ve] never done a tour to this capacity. The production is unbelievable and the costumes, we just took it to a whole new level. Visually and sonically it’s going to be a big step up from the last time. We just keep growing, and this time it is a massive production that I cannot wait for.’

The tour was put together by Jamie King and Simon Henwood, Rihanna’s creative director. Her supporting acts this time around were Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder, Pixie Lott, Travie, Ke$ha, DJ Daddy K, Vitaa, Vegas, DJ Ross Rosco, J Brazil, Alexis Jordan, Far East Movement and Calvin Harris.

Rihanna wore outfits by a number of designers, including the French designer Alexandre Vauthier. He designed the LED dress she wore at the start of the show, and she will often wear his creations to photo shoots and events. The long-sleeved nude minidress she wears in the video for ‘Russian Roulette’ and the black bodysuit she wears on the cover of her single ‘Hard’ are both Vauthier designs.

Rihanna loves staying up to date with the latest fashions, and she is the second biggest customer of the designer department store Barneys New York.

For most of the tour dates, her set list was:

1. ‘Mad House’ (via video)
   
2. ‘Only Girl (In the World)’
   
3. ‘Hard’
   
4. ‘Shut Up and Drive’
   
5. ‘Fire Bomb’
   
6. ‘Disturbia’
   
7. ‘Untitled I’ (via video)
   
8. ‘Rockstar 101’
   
9. ‘S & M’
   
10. ‘Rude Boy’
    
11. ‘Hate That I Love You’
    
12. ‘Love the Way You Lie Part II’
    
13. ‘Unfaithful’
    
14. ‘Te Amo’
    
15. ‘What’s My Name?’
    
16. ‘Pon de Replay’
    
17. ‘Untitled II’ (via video)
    
18. ‘Don’t Stop the Music’
    
19. ‘Breakin’ Dishes’
    
20. ‘Let Me’
    
21. ‘S.O.S.’
    
22. ‘Take A Bow’
    
23. Encore:
    
24. ‘Untitled IV’ (via video)
    
25. ‘Wait Your Turn/Live Your Life/Run This Town’ medley
    
26. ‘Umbrella’
    

Some performers can be divas at times and make huge demands when they tour, but Rihanna isn’t like that. Other stars want their dressing rooms redecorated, puppies to play with, snooker tables, full-length mirrors, new toilet seats and certain food and drinks laid on. Rihanna keeps things simple, and just has candles and incense in her dressing rooms.

Rihanna’s tour guitarist is Nuno Bettencourt, a
singer-songwriter
who is best known for being the lead guitarist of the band Extreme. Normally, Rihanna’s music doesn’t contain a lot of guitar music, but for the tour she wanted to have more of a rock sound, which meant that she needed a talented guitarist. Nuno was the right man for the job, and because he wasn’t busy with Extreme, he was able to commit wholeheartedly. He knew it would be challenging and different from anything he had done before, as he explained to journalist and metalhead Carl Begai: ‘She wanted somebody to make things rock a little bit, which meant that I would basically get to do what I do if I took the job. I thought it was really interesting to be able to play my style of guitar over her stuff, I thought it would be fun, so I went for it. It’s cool. I wouldn’t have been interested if I wasn’t able to be myself, and it’s a challenge because the set is 24 or 25 songs that require a different sort of guitar playing to pull it off. At one point I’m playing pop stuff and making it a bit heavier, there’s some funk and R&B, some ballads, some piano stuff, even some Hispanic flamenco, so it keeps things interesting. It certainly feels more at home than I thought it would.’

Nuno’s favourite tracks to perform were ‘Let Me’ and ‘S.O.S’, although they sounded very different to the versions on her albums. He faced some criticism from fans of his own band, but he didn’t mind – he just enjoyed spending time with Rihanna on the road, trying something different.

April was a great month for Rihanna, because she got to start her tour with Nuno and the rest of her band and dancers, and she loves performing every night for her fans. For the first two weeks of the tour, she had dates in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France and Germany. All her hard work paid off, because European fans loved the show.

Things nearly went horribly wrong when she injured herself after a performance in Switzerland. It was only her third performance of the tour. Her rib was hurting so badly that she was rushed to a private clinic so a doctor could take a look at it. Luckily, it wasn’t broken or seriously damaged, so Rihanna was able to perform the next night in Lyon, France. She really is a trouper to keep performing, because lots of artists would have been tempted to cancel the concert and have a few days off to recuperate.

It was just as well things were okay, because after performing concerts in Europe, Rihanna had the North American leg of her tour to look forward to in the July.

Reading the reviews of the ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour’ from all around the world, clearly the critics were impressed by how much Rihanna had developed, and how the show continued the themes of the album. Mikael
Wood from
Rolling Stone
magazine was at the Los Angeles concert, which saw Eminem join Rihanna onstage. In his review, he wrote that Rihanna managed to hold ‘the audience’s attention throughout a nearly two-hour show full of costume changes, video bits and complicated set pieces like the one in “Te Amo”, that had a pair of scantily-clad aerial dancers dangling from two giant machine guns. Military imagery cropped up regularly, from the pink tank Rihanna straddled while performing “Hard” to the gas-masked dancers flanking the singer during “S.O.S.” Aggression was a general theme overall; near the end of “Shut Up and Drive”, Rihanna pulled a young girl from the front row, gave her a bat and instructed her to beat the crap out of an old car that had appeared onstage. The singer also had Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme playing guitar, which gave much of the music a rowdy hard-rock vibe.’

The
Boston Globe’
s reviewer Sarah Rodman commented: ‘Even amid the glittery circus that was her stage set, Rihanna, rocking a shock of fuchsia locks and a half-dozen form-fitting costumes, glided, strutted, and swanned through the eye of the storm with a natural grace and winking charm. Dancers spun around her on a jungle gym (Don’t Stop the Music), aerialists dangled from big chrome guns (Te Amo), monsters on stilts encroached menacingly (Disturbia), and the singer even rocked a few guitar licks (Rockstar 101).’

Rihanna is such a good person to work with that lots of her dancers have been with her for years. Bryan Tanak started
with her back in 2005, took part in the ‘Umbrella’ video, and is touring with her now, although he did have a break for a while. He is a dance teacher and has worked with Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé.

Tanak was interviewed by Rihanna Daily, the official Rihanna fan site, and described what it is like to be Rihanna’s dancer. He said: ‘The best part about working for Rihanna is that she is the most caring, smart, and down-
to-earth
woman. Not to mention she’s drop-dead gorgeous.

‘The most interesting place we’ve played together was Abuja, Nigeria. The performance was kinda chaotic, due to lack of preparation from the Nigerian side. It got made up when Jay-Z took the stage with her, though. But the icing on it all was that half of our crew got stranded in Abuja for an extra 2 days and I missed our next show because of it!’

He also revealed: ‘The funniest moment with Rihanna was on our last show of our first European tour. We played sooo many pranks onstage. The highlight was when me and Julius came out as Egyptian Pharaohs on “Question Existing”. We made her crack up during her song!’

Several of Rihanna’s dancers and choreographers are members of the talent agency Bloc. The people in charge posted this message on their official site when they were hired to work on the ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour’: ‘Bloc choreographer Tanisha Scott with Luther Brown and Hollywood are currently in Los Angeles choreographing for Rihanna’s upcoming tour. Congrats to bloc dancers Chase Benz, Khasan Brailsford and Whyley Yoshimura, who
will join Rihanna on the road, starting with Europe in mid-April!’

Tanisha Scott is an amazing choreographer and dancer who hails from Canada, but has Jamaican roots. She first became famous as a choreographer when she worked on the video for Sean Paul’s ‘Gimme the Light’ back in 2001, and since then she has choreographed lots of his videos as well as appearing in videos for Ne-Yo, Ludacris and Ciara. For her ‘Last Girl on Earth Tour’, Rihanna had eleven other choreographers and consultants in addition to Tanisha, and they were led by Jamie King.

Rihanna’s dancers are the best of the best, and they have all proved they’ve got what it takes to support Rihanna. Individually, they have worked with P. Diddy, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and many more top artists. Rihanna’s dancers have become part of her extended family, along with her stylists, drivers and people from her record company.

Bryan Tanak might have loved performing in Abuja, Nigeria, but Rihanna loved her Australian performances the best. She told the
Sunday Herald Sun
: ‘Australia and New Zealand was my favourite, favourite leg of my last headline tour – it was awesome – so we’re definitely coming back.

‘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.’

Rihanna might be one of the most attractive women in the world but she still has bad days. She has times when she
feels really ugly and doesn’t want to have her photo taken. As she revealed to
More!
magazine: ‘I have an ugly day every month; pimples on my face, I’m fat and in a bad mood. It’s more like an ugly week!’

Rihanna’s fans would disagree, because they never see her looking bad, but they understand that every woman sometimes has insecurities. RiRi has never been fat, though, and most women would love to have her figure. She was slimmer when she released ‘Pon de Replay’ but that was because she was only 17, and as a girl becomes a woman, her body shape changes. When Rihanna was just starting out in the record business, she would put aside some time to do Pilates. She used to carry a workout DVD with her and worked out at least three times every week. Doing Pilates helped raise her endurance levels, her strength and her flexibility, too, which would have helped with her performances. Exercise also helps release tension, and makes everyone feel better about themselves.