the best pop records of the year.’
The tracks on the album were as follows:
‘Mad House’
‘Wait Your Turn’
‘Hard’ (featuring Jeezy)
‘Stupid in Love’
‘Rockstar 101’
‘Russian Roulette’
‘Fire Bomb’
‘Rude Boy’
‘Photographs’ (featuring will.i.am)
‘G4L’
‘Te Amo’
‘Cold Case Love’
‘The Last Song’
If you look at the covers of Rihanna’s first three albums you will see a fresh-faced, happy girl showing her natural beauty, but for her fourth album, Rated R , she wantedsomething totally different. She was keen to reflect the change in her music and told Elle magazine: ‘I wanted pictures that represented strength and fearlessness, but still femininity – a strong woman who can be vulnerable. Every woman is made up of vulnerability and strength – no matter what race you are, no matter what you’ve been through in your life. Every woman has that strength that is undeniable, but we also have really big hearts. It’s just us.’
She commissioned fashion photographer Ellen von Unswerth to take some edgy portraits of herself and then RiRi picked her favourite for the album cover. Ellen von Unswerth is one of the best photographers in the fashion business, and she has shot the cover art for albums by Britney Spears ( Blackout ), Christina Aguilera ( Back to Basics ), Janet Jackson ( The Velvet Rope ) and Dido ( Life For Rent ).
The picture that Rihanna and her label liked best was one of her looking incredibly moody. It was a close-up shot, Rihanna’s hand is covering up her right eye and she stares directly at the camera. One of her hands has several rings wrapped around her fingers, and she is wearing a leather outfit and dark make-up. It was shot in black and white, which made it seem almost aggressive, and they added in her ‘R’ logo in the top right-hand side corner. Many critics and bloggers noted how the Rated R cover was similar to singer Grace Jones’ album covers. MTV commented in an article: ‘[The] grainy black-and-white cover shot that leaked Tuesday (October 27) finds the singer in a moody, contemplative pose reminiscent of outrageous 1980s avant-garde singer Grace Jones.’
The running theme in the cover art for the Rated R singles was that Rihanna was semi-naked. They were risqué, but tasteful at the same time. For the cover of ‘Russian Roulette’ she wore a gold corset that blended in with her skin tone to make it look as if she was naked. Wrapped around her body was barbed wire and on her right eye was an eye patch with the middle of it cut out so you could still see her eye. Her right arm points straight upwards, where a metal chain hangs. The title is written in a blood-red font with the extra-large ‘R’ logo over it: the sharpness of the point at the base of the ‘R’ makes it look as if it could slice into Rihanna’s shoulder at any point.
MTV described the cover as controversial and the Daily Mail commented: ‘Her daring outfits mean Rihanna is in the news as much for her fashion choices as her music, but the star has managed to combine the two on her new album cover.
‘“Russian Roulette” sees the 21-year-old strip off, posing topless with nothing but a strip of wire wound around her chest to protect her modesty.’
For the ‘Hard’ cover she poses in a very revealing black bodysuit by designer Alexandre Vauthier, which only just covers her modesty. Her body is twisted towards the camera, her right elbow pointing upwards. Rihanna’s eyes are shut and she is standing in a room with cassette design wallpaper. Again, it is shot in black and white, with the ‘R’ logo smaller than in the ‘Russian Roulette’ cover art and now in the top left-hand side corner. The single title is inred again, but appears like a stamp right across the middle of the cover.
Many fans and critics wondered what was going to come next, because with each single cover, she seemed to be removing more and more clothes.
For the ‘Rude Boy’ cover Rihanna
The tracks on the album were as follows:
‘Mad House’
‘Wait Your Turn’
‘Hard’ (featuring Jeezy)
‘Stupid in Love’
‘Rockstar 101’
‘Russian Roulette’
‘Fire Bomb’
‘Rude Boy’
‘Photographs’ (featuring will.i.am)
‘G4L’
‘Te Amo’
‘Cold Case Love’
‘The Last Song’
If you look at the covers of Rihanna’s first three albums you will see a fresh-faced, happy girl showing her natural beauty, but for her fourth album, Rated R , she wantedsomething totally different. She was keen to reflect the change in her music and told Elle magazine: ‘I wanted pictures that represented strength and fearlessness, but still femininity – a strong woman who can be vulnerable. Every woman is made up of vulnerability and strength – no matter what race you are, no matter what you’ve been through in your life. Every woman has that strength that is undeniable, but we also have really big hearts. It’s just us.’
She commissioned fashion photographer Ellen von Unswerth to take some edgy portraits of herself and then RiRi picked her favourite for the album cover. Ellen von Unswerth is one of the best photographers in the fashion business, and she has shot the cover art for albums by Britney Spears ( Blackout ), Christina Aguilera ( Back to Basics ), Janet Jackson ( The Velvet Rope ) and Dido ( Life For Rent ).
The picture that Rihanna and her label liked best was one of her looking incredibly moody. It was a close-up shot, Rihanna’s hand is covering up her right eye and she stares directly at the camera. One of her hands has several rings wrapped around her fingers, and she is wearing a leather outfit and dark make-up. It was shot in black and white, which made it seem almost aggressive, and they added in her ‘R’ logo in the top right-hand side corner. Many critics and bloggers noted how the Rated R cover was similar to singer Grace Jones’ album covers. MTV commented in an article: ‘[The] grainy black-and-white cover shot that leaked Tuesday (October 27) finds the singer in a moody, contemplative pose reminiscent of outrageous 1980s avant-garde singer Grace Jones.’
The running theme in the cover art for the Rated R singles was that Rihanna was semi-naked. They were risqué, but tasteful at the same time. For the cover of ‘Russian Roulette’ she wore a gold corset that blended in with her skin tone to make it look as if she was naked. Wrapped around her body was barbed wire and on her right eye was an eye patch with the middle of it cut out so you could still see her eye. Her right arm points straight upwards, where a metal chain hangs. The title is written in a blood-red font with the extra-large ‘R’ logo over it: the sharpness of the point at the base of the ‘R’ makes it look as if it could slice into Rihanna’s shoulder at any point.
MTV described the cover as controversial and the Daily Mail commented: ‘Her daring outfits mean Rihanna is in the news as much for her fashion choices as her music, but the star has managed to combine the two on her new album cover.
‘“Russian Roulette” sees the 21-year-old strip off, posing topless with nothing but a strip of wire wound around her chest to protect her modesty.’
For the ‘Hard’ cover she poses in a very revealing black bodysuit by designer Alexandre Vauthier, which only just covers her modesty. Her body is twisted towards the camera, her right elbow pointing upwards. Rihanna’s eyes are shut and she is standing in a room with cassette design wallpaper. Again, it is shot in black and white, with the ‘R’ logo smaller than in the ‘Russian Roulette’ cover art and now in the top left-hand side corner. The single title is inred again, but appears like a stamp right across the middle of the cover.
Many fans and critics wondered what was going to come next, because with each single cover, she seemed to be removing more and more clothes.
For the ‘Rude Boy’ cover Rihanna
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