Research & Analysis Of a Star (Dyer's Theory)

Artists Who Have Reinvented Themselves: Rihanna

In the music industry it is very common to see the vast majority of music artists to completly reinvent and change there image over the course of their career in the inudustry whilst they are producing records. This can be for a number of reasons including wishing to remain fashionable and iconic as the styles change and evolve over time. Dyers theory states, in his book 'Stars', that media theorist Weber's theory of 'charisma' is what musicians use in order to create a popular image of themselves and regullarly rebel to conventions of society, by either using their own sexuality and dressing provocativly or simply be seen breaking traditional conventions mainly to appeal to a younger target audience who will then look up at the artist and idolise there seemily cool agenda. Following dyers theory will also allow the artist to make more money through subsidary products as the audience will wish to purchase clothing imitating what 'star' has been seen wearing. Therefore an artist can therefore become known for a signature style and become a trend setter influcing fashion and later becoming iconic, for example when madonna wore a coned shape bra. this has influenced artists such as katy perry, and gaga making making madonna remmebered for such a style way back in the 1980's. Artist may wish to change there image to suit the style and conventions of their record label which gains them publicity and generates more income for the label. Finally when appealing to a new target audience or a change in style an artist will need to change there style of songs, attitude and image in order to appeal to that genre of music so that goodwins theory is followed and there is still a strong video image relationship between the two. Music artists all over the world constantly update there appearance and style in order to remain on top of styles and trends in the music industry.

The primary reason for an artist altering the image of an artist is audience appeal, doing so may make or break an artist and overal make them more successful and generate more profit for the artist and the record label that represents them. As we know through popular culture, an artist can hold a vast amount of influence in the modern day with posts on social media such as twitter, trending and being talked about my an artists large fan base. Sites such as instagram give away an artists location therefore its now more easy then ever for an artist to be conform to dyers theory and be captured doing something considered 'rebellious' or wearing a certain piece of clothing which audiences can see and be influenced by whatever there idol is wearing. This then manipulates audiences to buy a particular type or style of clothing making the artist either income if they are producing the subsidary product, or responsible for a new trend in the fashion world. The artist I have chosen to focus on during this analysis is bajan superstar Rihanna. Born in Barbados in 1988, Rihanna is now a multi-platinum selling artist and is known world wide for her iconic style and risqué behaviour. Selling over 15 million albums and 45 million singles to date, Rihanna now regullarly releases videos that are either critisised and banned (yet still successful) or become iconic and massively popular generating millions of views online and of course increase her record sales. However if we go back in time this was not always the case when Rihanna first came onto the scene in 2005 her style and overall look on screen was displayed completely differently to now this was largely because of her age and target audience which was typically young girls. To appeal and sell records to this group of people Rihanna displayed herself in a much more child friendly way, Yet still followed the convention of dyers theory and was pictured being rebellious and cool therefore making her a successful icon and idol for her target audience.

 

In Rihannas first really successful music 'If its loving that you want' from the start of Rihanna's Career the audience can see some distinctive features that dramatically differ from how she is portrayed today. The album 'music from the sun' reflects her life in barbados and how the music she produces is child friendly and very poppy. Rihanna is portrayed as the typical girl next door, a care free and bubbly teenager who just wants to 'hang out with her friends' and have a good time. This follows dyers theory completly as Rihanna is shown to be an idol for young girls as she dances on the beach and appears rebellious to her target audience as she dresses provocativly, and would inspire young girls to want to look cool and live the live rihanna lives. This made Rihanna's career a success as her idilic lifestyle incompasses everything what a younger audience would want to live, a stress free life on the beach spending all day dancing and having fun with your friends. Goodwins theory is also followed by the lyric video relationship as Rihanna lays on the beach and states 'if its loving that you want you should make me your girl' This flirtatious attitude is portraying rihanna to be flirty and strong willed. again following the conventions of dyers theory regarding music stars. She appears an inspiration to a young audience yet her behaviour is not considered too risque by the vast majority of adults who are parents, therefore her music can be widely bough which increases its popularity for a younger target audience.This allowed Rihanna to become charasmaic, with the brightly coloured clothes she wears in the video typical of both her carribean roots and her vibrant colourful personality being shown. These aspects again follow dyers theory and her career grew from strengh to strength. After a string of hits becoming increasingly risque as she is sold to the audience to be growing up. This also makes Rihanna more of a success because her target audience of 13-17 year olds are also growing up with her. Her risque behavour in 'pon de replay' is shown through her talking to boys and dancing at night time, however there is still no alcohol shown and her dress is still by todays standards pretty consertavive. As Rihanna is a new artist, referring to Dyer's theory Rihanna is being easily sold to her young teenage audience as an 'ordinary star' who is the typical girl next door. This promotes the idea that anyone can make it in the music industry and makes her more of a success.

Whats interesting from this screen shot, is that contact with boys rarely appears and there are next to no sexual or risque scenes in this music video which differs completly from how we see rihanna today. Rihanna isn't seen with any boys which allows her to really appeal and be sold to a young audience as she cant be critisized or called a bad influence. She is both innocent and stereotypically normal girl who has made in in the music industry.

 

in 2007 just a few years into Rihanna's Career, The artist we see is completly different. With her hugly successful single 'Umberella' from her approriatly titled album 'good girl gone bad' we can see Rihanna has grown up vast amounts and is now portrayed as a sexy young female who is iconic. This fits in with dyers theory as she appears a star on stage and looks provocative which is fitting for her now more R'n'B styled song. All in all she appears completely different which is fitting with goodwins theory as there is strong links with her sexuality being displayed and the provocative lyrics within in song. She conveys herself to the audience as a variety of characters appearing in a variety of outfits aswell at one point completly naked and covered in metalic paint. This allowed Rihanna to become very successful as the world wasnt expecting the artist to be portrayed in such a way. New audiences were reached because of this and many people became interested in her new style of music aswell as veiwing her as attractive, Rihanan therefore is portrayed as a more 'extraordinary star' which is typical because of her performance based video with no real narrative. The video itself also attratcs audience with its high budget effects and various dancers. Umberella also gained alot of attention because of the collaberation with Rap sensation Jay-Z who appears in the song. Head of her record label Roc Nation, it is within Jay-Z's interest that rihanna is a success as it generates himself and his company more money, therefore he uses his own fan base to influence people into buying Rihannas song. Rihanna comes across as being grown up and sexy, with a completely different look that hasnt been seen in any of her videos before. Her cutting edge short hairstyle also makes her an icon, influnces a young audience of around 14-26 year olds to do the same. The video represents the artist in a different way. She appears more extraordinary and a role model for young women as well as a sex symbol for men. In this screen shot we can see Rihanna wearing contrasting colours which makes her stand out and appears the centre of attention. Her hand gestures also show her fighting out against the water, therefore making her seem more aggressive and defiant against conventions of society which link in with dyers theory of appearing rebellious to become more successful.

Jay Z appears in Rihanna's Video

                                                       Multi million dollar record producer Jay-Z also appears in Rihanna's song again signalling a massive change. This also advertises what record label Rihanna is part of (Rockafella Records) which is owned by Jay-Z. She promotes the music of her record label and fits in with the way that the record company wish her to come across.

The colours within the video are black and white monochrome which show Rihanna to be the centre of the video and  shows her to have grown into a dark and edgey artist. Rihanna also appears naked and sprayed in silver in front of a triangle. This is associated heavily with Jay Z's record label and also the illuminati. Because of this Rihanna is given a lot more press as she is shown to be a part of Jay Z who is world famous thus making her more successful. Finally she also appears in a french made out fit that fits in with the lyrics and visuals of the song as she is dancing with the umbrella. This shows her to be sexy and also quite hedonistic which is how she is wishing to be portrayed: a woman no longer a naive teen which is how she presents her self in previous videos. This is all evident from her album title of the time ' Good Girl Gone Bad', which after following dyers conventions of star its easy to see why Rihanna wanted to change her image and appeal to a global audience as a grown up attrative young woman.

The final video analysed comes much later in Rihannas career, now in her mid twenties 'We Found Love' Which came out in 2011 shows Rihanna to be comepletly following dyers theory of a star; iconic and charasmatic. Her album Talk that Talk, shows her to be condifent in herself as an artist and really at the top of the industy. After years of gaining more and more success with numerous best selling albums, Rihanna broke out completely from her normal image and made herself into an ordinary yet extraordinary character. This fits in with dyers theory as artists regullarly change their appearence in order to fit in with different styles that are popular. In this video Rihanna is appealing to an edgey more iconic style with the video taking on the form of an artistic film displaying a violent relationship. Something which thanks to the press, many known rihanna to have sufferered from violent relationships and love in the past. The video is set in council estates and fields in England, which makes her an ordinary character that people can relate too and see that anyone can be portrayed as an iconic pop star.  However her sexy style and edgy fashion sense make her extraordinary and someone that people would idolize and think was really cool, this heavily follows dyers theory. The lyric visual relationship conventioned by the song with the 'hopeless place' being a grimey flat yet still somewhere where rihanna and her lover are content to be because of the love they have for eachother. This means that rihanna is following both Dyer and Goodwins theory which explains why her video for this song is such a success.

In this screen shot the positioning of Rihanna and her boyfriend convey them to be boyfriend and girlfriend. The couple are seen performing risque kissing scenes and also sexual acts which is completly different to how Rihanna was portrayed at the start of her career in earlier music videos, this shows she is now more confident as an artist and that shes not afraid to be controversial and try new things. This leads her to be following dyers theory, and she is seen to be iconic and fahsionable.

 

 

Throughout the video varies special effects such as the changing colour of cigarettes and drugs are shown. This risque behaviour also marks a change in the Rihannas persona. The reason for this is so Rihanna can keep up to date with current trends and appeal to a more mature audience who want to see new things from the artist and be excited and interested by the way she is being portayed. Rihanna does this by making an edgey and visually stimulating music video. She is once again seen kissing her boyfriend in the bath fully clothed which shows the audience she is most likely intoxicated and reckless therefore again following dyers theory.

Rihanna all in all comes across as an attrative trainwreck who has an uncaring attitude and likes to live in the moment. This idea is being sold to the audience, who are mostly teenagers and young adults. The audience would look at this care-free attitude and wish to maybe follow her lead and want to go out and have fun. This makes rihanna more successful as people will see this and become interested in her music and buy her records. The changes in her music also run simultiously with changes in Jay-Z's music therefore showing how the Roc nation label are keeping all the artists up to date to ensure they remain successful through changing styles in the industry. Rihanna is also pushing trollies, and stands on tables in fast food restaurants, this shows how she is living in the moment and being anti-establishment; a popular convention followed by artists and supported by dyer. This is exactly how the audience would wish to be, as the stereotypical teenager just wants to have fun. Rihanna is also fiercely independent in this video and ends up leaving her troubled boyfriend. This shows the audience that she is an independent young woman, and also creates an image of how big an artist she is and needs no-ones help to be successful.

In conclusion all artists who remain popular over a long periof of time must follow both Dyer and Goodwins theory of music stars. Rihanna has portrayed as iconic and in many ways the new queen of pop with her edgy attitude and changing hairsyles. She has inspired many trends and her attitude is sought after by her targeted younger audience who wish to imitate her rebellious attitude and buy into her lifestyle which of course makes her as an artist more successful. Dyer argues that, in many cases, stars' "offscreen personalities" were at least as important as their on-screen personalities in shaping our perceptions of their meanings. This can be applied to the modern day with social media sites displaying artists such as Rihannas off screen personality on places such as instagram, which she has become known for and even more famous. She can make herself more of a success by doing this portraying her lifestyle as hedonistic and more 'real' to her fans who are able to see what she is doing on a daily basis. Music Tv channels report on these images of rihanna in underwear on instragram and her rebelious attitude is seen with her smoking and drinking on a regular basis.

Rihannas image aswell as many other artists image changes constantly to match the changing styles we see in the industty. The main reason for this is to match trends in the music industry and to remain successful. Perhaps the biggest contributing factor to Rihanna however is most likely her age. When she broke on to the music scene around 9 years ago, she was much younger and impressionable therefore over time artists grow up and change the way the public view them. Changing styles such as grundge and edgy pop videos have become popular therefore for rihanna to remain popular she has to follow Dyers theory and change her image this is commonplace in the music industry, and completely fits in with Dyers theory of a music star.