Rihanna Singer

More than a year has passed since the release of her last album, Anti, and it’s fair to say that Rihanna has spent the majority of that time out of the spotlight. Not that she didn’t keep busy, though; over the past 12 months, the singer has released a series of EPs; starred in a comedy short film; released a fashion and lifestyle EBook; started a blog; and, in January 2018, announced she was launching a world-class fashion brand. As she embarks on her next chapter, it’s fair to say that Rihanna is as busy as ever and it would take a brave person to bet on her retirement.

Where Has Rihanna Been?

Since the release of Anti in February 2017, Rihanna has primarily been out of the spotlight. And it’s not as if she has been idle; in fact, she’s kept extremely busy. Between February and October 2017, Rihanna released four extended plays (EPs): Good Morning, Ocean; Work Hard, Play Hard, both of which were released in April 2017; and the collaborative project with Jay-Z, entitled Everything Is Love. In February 2018, she also starred in the short film The Family Stone. Most recently, in January 2018, Rihanna announced that she was set to launch a world-class fashion brand, which will be produced in collaboration with LVMH (Louis Vuitton, Moet & Hennessy). In the wake of this announcement, fans will be hoping that Rihanna returns to the spotlight in the coming months.

Why Has Rihanna Vanished From The Public Eye?

In the months leading up to the release of Anti, Rihanna’s then-publicist, Andy Cowles, told Entertainment Tonight: “The whole thing is about avoiding overexposure. She doesn’t want to go the way of Amy Winehouse, who died [in 2013] due to alcohol abuse. She doesn’t want people to perceive her as a problem, which is why she’s not been promoting songs from Anti publicly. She thinks it’s best to let the album speak for itself and not distract from its message with unnecessary publicity.””Since the release of Anti, Rihanna has primarily hidden from the spotlight. In the lead-up to the album’s release, she cancelled several appearances and only made limited appearances on social media. In October 2017, she did make one special appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she opened for Little Mix. Since then, she’s largely kept out of sight, apart from a series of guest appearances on social media platforms. In January 2018, she made a rare public appearance at the 2018 Golden Globes, where she won the award for best original score for the film A Wrinkle in Time. More recently, she’s made appearances at fashion weeks in both New York and London. In April 2018, she dropped by the Louis Vuitton 2018 summer fashion show in Paris, where she was seen wearing a custom-made dress by the designer.

What Is The Repercussions Of Rihanna’s Absence?

In the months leading up to the release of Anti, some fans of the singer were concerned about her well-being. In an interview with Complex, Chris Lombardi, a leading voice in the “Rihanna is a problem” camp, said: “I want her to be OK… Her fans want to see Rihanna and she needs to be healthy and happy. I hope she has big plans and is taking care of herself, because the press is going to have a field day if she doesn’t.” While other fans, in the opposite camp, were just happy to have her back. As it happens, Anti was not particularly well-received by critics, which prompted Lombardi to ask: “Is Rihanna’s return to music worth it?” Since the album’s release, the singer’s ex-publicist Andy Cowles has made a number of negative, but arguably fair, comments about the album’s direction. In a blog post for the website Music Business Worldwide, he wrote: “Rihanna’s latest album, Anti, is the sound of a washed-out star trying to find her feet in an industry that doesn’t want her. It’s not that Rihanna doesn’t have talent, it’s that she doesn’t know how to use it. She’s put a lot of heart into this album and it shows, but it’s also evident that she’s lost something along the way. Instead of a solo project, this should be seen as a collection of songs that came out of desperation. The overall feeling you get from this album is that Rihanna is just trying to stay afloat. It’s a mess, but it’s also completely charming.”

Rihanna’s Back!

Although Rihanna has kept a relatively low profile in the months since the release of Anti, this has not been the case on social media. Since January 2018, the singer has been making a series of highly-publicised appearances on TikTok and other platforms.

On TikTok, the singer has been sharing videos of herself playing live music, inviting fans to come watch her perform. In one such video, she can be seen performing in a small London studio, dressed in a stunning red beret. Other videos show her rapping and singing along to song lyrics, while still others have seen her play the guitar or piano. The singer has also been busy sharing images of herself on Instagram, posing with a wide array of luxury goods.

The singer even shared a video of herself cooking breakfast, which she described as her “mini-me’s [Instagram] dream dinner”. In her announcement video, which has been viewed over 500 million times on TikTok, the singer said that she intends to use the platform to “showcase [her] creativity, and what [she’s] capable of”. While in the lead-up to the album’s release, fans of the singer had expressed concern about the direction she was taking, since the start of 2018, they’ve been vocal in their support for her return to music. In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) with fans in April 2018, the singer said: “You guys mean the world to me and I can’t wait to get back in your bad books and on your stages. I have big plans and can’t wait to share them with you all. I’ll be doing lots of interviews and meeting lots of new fans along the way.”

Rihanna’s Next Chapter

Just over a year after the release of Anti, as the singer embarks on her next chapter, she is arguably closer to the public eye than ever before. Over the past year, the singer has kept busy, but she’s also distanced herself from her former publicists and managed to carve out a niche for herself as an independent artist. Since the start of 2018, Rihanna has been photographed on the covers of major magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as smaller, independent publications such as Wonderland and Dazed.

The singer even featured alongside fellow musicians Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran on the cover of Vogue, as part of its #Vogue15 campaign, which spotlights musicians who have inspired the fashion magazine’s articles over the past year. She has also been the face of numerous fashion campaigns, including Louis Vuitton’s #LVGOODNESS campaign and Dior’s #LoveProgress campaign.

Rihanna’s Fashion Career

Even before the release of Anti, it was clear that Rihanna was set on a new course in the fashion industry. In the lead-up to the album’s release, the singer began to experiment with hairstyles, wearing wigs and brightly-coloured curls. Since the album’s release, the singer has continued to be a major influence on the fashion industry, with others, such as Carine Roitfeld, the editor-in-chief of French publication Vogue, hailing her as “the greatest showman of our time”.

In the months leading up to the Golden Globes in April 2018, the singer dressed in increasingly daring outfits. The outfit she wore to attend the 2018 Golden Globes had a domed sleeve that was inspired by the shape of the Golden Globe statue. After winning the award for best original score, she joked: “Thank you so much for giving me this prestigious award. This is incredible – this is amazing – but most of all, it’s about the team behind the movie. So thank you to the whole cast and crew of A Wrinkle in Time.”

The fashion industry has taken note of the singer’s style and we can expect to see more daring outfits as she embarks on her next phase of her career. In April 2018, following her Golden Globes appearance, the singer was named as the face of the Louboutin Summer 2018 collection. The French luxury goods company chose her over other famous faces, such as Kylie Jenner and Stormy Daniels, because she “defies expectations”, according to a company representative.