Communication Strategy Employed By Pop Artist Rihanna Film Studies Essay

In this essay, I will be analyzing how Rihanna has used the media to communicate or portray her different messages through her music. On the other hand, however, there is the media that has its own version of those messages thus, constructing different realities for the perceiving audience. The Media provides information and updates on various happenings and issues on all aspects to the public thus providing them basic knowledge and information to enable them make their own judgments and perceptions such as, social perceptions (Sadaf, 2011).

Sadaf (2011) explains social perception as the means in which we make sense of our social world through media representations as it plays an important role in making some issues important and some issues important.

I will then discuss Rihanna’s communication strategy to her audience through her music as well as persona using the narrative theory through communication as a structure. In reality, there is no RIHANNA. Her real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. ‘Rihanna’ is a concept adopted by the music industry to sell music as Wall (2003;153) says, Stars are a form of capital in which a record company invests significant sums of money to gain publicity and reinforce an image they believe will in turn will generate greater sales of that stars records.

The stars image however is not real. It is a representation of wider social values and a constructed set of individualness where the audience feels it knows the stars personality but in truth, this image is just a media text. How authentic a star may feel to its audience depends on success of the construction of the stars persona around the different facets of their personality (Wall, 2003; 153).

Robyn Rihanna Fenty dropped two of her names and only took on Rihanna because it not only sounds exotic but also there was no Rihanna in the music business. That accorded her authenticity as an artist because when her name was mentioned, people would immediately know which Rihanna it was.

Rihanna has thus been able to communicate messages of authenticness through the way she sings dresses and acts while in the public. This is a way for her to tell the public about herself and how her music is supposed to be understood.( Machin,2010;32) This she does through her choice of album names and sleeves from which the audience can make a guess at what she will sound like.

Machin (2010; 34) also says that the images used on the album sleeves help communicate certain discourses, values, identities and so on. The chosen typefaces used for the artists name on the sleeve also communicate ideas and attitudes. In my observation, Rihannas’ public persona and her album sleeves contribute towards her authenticness as a musician but at the same communicating varying messages.

Dyer (1987 cited in Tolson 2001) defined authenticity or “the act of being yourself” as a concept derived from the ideology of individualism where individuals are said to possess an inner irreducible essence. A true self behind whatever public face, or mask they may project.

Rihannas’ authenticness can best be seen in an interview with Oprah on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” where the viewing audience was teased with a ‘Rihnaana as you’ve never seen her before’ opening line. In this interview, Rihanna talks about her life and her relationship with Chris brown. Oprah succeeds in making her cry which is the epitome of the show as through Rihannas tears, the audience is able to feel her emotion.

Tim Wall (2003;153) says the audience is made to feel like it knows the stars as individuals but that this experience is mediated through interviews, records, photos but the knowledge obtained about the stars is a product of carefully executed campaign plans all so to encourage the audience buy the stars records and an array of assorted merchandise.

However, in the real world, there is no actual audience as they are mere constructions. An audience exists when a certain role has been played out that identifies with certain people who in turn become the audience. (Mafalda 2012)

In the interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna played the role of the victim by both the relationship with Chris Brown and in the media. However, the interesting part about the interview was how she turned the story around depicting Chris as troubled and in need of help. While the media had showed her as the victim, she called Chris the victim constructing a different reality for the audience from the one made by the media.

Rihanna was able to expand her audience after her publicized domestic violence case with then boyfriend, Chris Brown. The issue was extensively covered by the media in which she was depicted as a vulnerable woman while Chris Brown as a beast. In turn, she used this to earn her more sympathizers and therefore generating a larger audience as she was now looked as a beacon of hope for domestically violated women while Chris Brown lost a few of his own audience as he was now labeled a woman beater.

Celebity and scandal are closely linked where scandal is supposed to increase the celebrity quotient of the star. The scandal isn’t just about the celebritys’ life alone but of events that accord them iconicity and notoriety (Nayar, ;113). Rihannas biggest scandal is her involvement with ex boyfriend Chris brown even though he beat her up early in the relationship and not even the fact that he has a girlfriend.

Rihanna stirs controversy in her communication through her openness about sex. Wall (2003) suggests that Sexuality and the representation of gender and sexual preference play significant roles in the music and image of individual artists.

Rihanna has featured numerous times in men’s adult magazines such as GQ and Esquire, also singing a lot about sexual tendencies in songs such as “Te Amo” in which she plays out a l esbian scene and “S&M”. S&M refers to Sadism (S) and Masochism (M) defined by Weinberg (1987) as the “frame” with which people distinguish their pretend play from actual violence or domination; this frame hinges on the BDSM credo, “safe, sane, and consensual.” Another commonality is the recurring elements that are “played with,” including “power (exchanging it, taking it, and/or giving it up), the mind (psychology), and sensations (using or depriving use of the senses and working with the chemicals released by the body when pain and/or intense sensation are experienced)” (Pawlowski, 2009)

In the song S&M, Rihanna plays with the media in a way that depicts her first as an object for study. However, she is able to conquer the power from the journalists through BDSM.

Edwards (1993) takes the concept of a beauty ideal one step further and contends that the black women featured in music videos exemplify physical characteristics of the tragic mulatto. Many of the black women featured in music videos depict a Westernized beauty ideal of lighter skin, long hair, and blue or green eyes.

Previous research findings show that color tone could have some influence in the way a celebrity is perceived and is able to appeal to their audience. People attribute higher status and grant more power and wealth to people of one complexion, typically light skin, within the groups designated as non-white (Hunter 2011)

Charles (2009a) suggests that hegemonic representations of white skin are thoroughly rooted in multiple social institutions including education, religion, mass media, and popular culture where images of white beauty do not simply rely on white women with blonde hair and light eyes to sell products.

Rihanna uses her body to sell her image, through displaying her femininity recognizable through, for example, ‘edgy’ clothing that combines frilly, pretty femininity with a ‘masculine’ style and garments that suggest a more porn-inspired raunch (Levy, 2005). celebrity culture, through the pop musicians (Baker, 2004), provides a rich source of meanings around sexuality. These meanings appear to be heavily saturated by ‘raunchy’ (see Levy, 2005) representations in music videos where body revealing clothing is accompanied by acts of sexual simulation, self-touching, sexual poses and so on (Jackson, Vares & Gill, 2012).

She has been able to promote her own personal brand through social networking skills using platforms like twitter, instagram, as well as her uniqueness in her hairstyles, fashion sense, lyrics and attitude. While a good brand elicits thoughts, a great brand elicits feelings. She has been able to create emotional friendships with her fans whom she calls the “Rihanna Navy” through her social network sites publicizing personal events such as the death of her grandmother whom she called grand gran Dolly.

Rihanna has also been able to establish with time an archetype for her brand personality and story. This is in her on camera character as a defiant hardcore girl. This image can be seen in latest albums such as Good girl gone bad, Rated R and Unapologetic.

Rihanna has been able to set herself as a brand using her fashion sense, being endorsed by brands such as Armani, Nivea, Oprah, Nike and Clinique increasing her social capital. Her diversity in the brands she promotes suggests her success as a star.

However, When celebrities endorse a particular product, the public is more likely to believe in its effectiveness and purchase the product, and when a celebrity particularly endorses a skin-lightening product, they are also endorsing the act of skin-lightening itself, suggesting that their own beauty is attainable and that skin-lightening is a mainstream, culturally acceptable act (Hunter,2011).

McCracken (1989 cited in Grace Phang ;4) states that a consumer sees a celebrity endorsing a product and they recognize the essential similarity between the message, product, and celebrity and transfers the meanings of that celebrity to the product simply because Celebrities play roles where their image carries the meanings of those roles.

All above factors mentioned have helped her build an identity as a celebrity. However, her Caribbean beats and looks had been around for a while and to succeed as a star she had to undergo a massive change. The duet with Justin Timberlake saw her morph from the girl dancing to Pon De Replay to the woman that invoked desire. This metamorphism in character and identity expanded her fan base.

Her identity did not just change with her choice of songs but also her wardrobe. She cut her hair short and dyed it black which also grew a series of metamorphism where it went from cheek length to just one side long the other remaining short, to being boyishly short and finally red. This cutting of her hair was not just fashion sense speaking but she was communicating to an audience. Rihanna has been able to express herself in a variety of ways especially through her dress code, most notably her hairstyles. However, this is a mere strategy to sell her image, as it is a constructed image that the audience associates with her.

As observed, all music or movie stars are a mere construction, they are a source of capital for record companies that own them. (Wall,2003;153). A lot of money is invested in Rihanna as the brand, therefore, developing and publicizing her star image is not just to sell individual records as people always need something new to keep them interested but as a brand or commodity (Wall,2003; 154).

This practice involves ongoing maintenance of a fan base, performed intimacy, authenticity and access, and construction of a consumable persona. popularity is maintained through ongoing fan management; and self-presentation is carefully constructed to be consumed by others.