A-Line: Celebrity StyleRihanna Shows the World Who She Really Is
Oh what a difference a year can make. The recent paparazzi shots of a carefree Rihanna vacationing in the Caribbean over the holiday break with LA Dodgers baseball star Matt Kemp show the singer is in a very different place from where she was a year ago -- in an abusive relationship with former boyfriend Chris Brown.
In the new issue of W magazine, Rihanna opens up about her journey over the past year. Unlike Brown, who was spotted jet skiing and partying after the horrific event last February, the 21-year-old hid her face from the world. She didn't give interviews, she didn't lash out. She channeled her experience into her music -- "I started to go crazy after about a month in the house, so I went back to work, and the mic was my therapist," she shares. "With the mic, there were no negative comments, no negative energy."
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The result was a powerful album, Rated R, released in November, that Rihanna confesses is more true to who she really is than any of her previous efforts. For the first time she was writing many of the lyrics herself, and taking control of her sound. "This was a different type of record for me. It was really personal; it was for me in the most authentic way. It's like a movie in that when I was making the album, every day I was in a different mood. Sometimes I was pissed off, sometimes I was miserable, and every song brings out a different story."
When she was recording the emotional track, "The Last Song", Rihanna admits she had a hard time working up the courage to voice out loud the raw words she had penned. "When the label finally said we had 12 hours to turn in the album, I was like, 'Okay, I have to do it.' I just drank some red wine, dimmed the lights, got in the booth and sang it."
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And though she has taken control when it comes to her music, it's clear Rihanna is still deeply affected by the assault. When it comes to discussing that night, the singer's pain is still clearly evident, but it's her strength of character that shines through as she focuses on the positive instead of the negative: "At first I completely shut down," she says. "But now I feel like this happened to me so I could be a voice for young girls who are going through what I went through and don't know how to talk about it. It's not about Chris, about hurting him or sabotaging his career. I don't care about that part of it."
Rihanna's latest tattoo, inked backwards so she can read it when she looks in the mirror reads "Never a failure, always a lesson." It takes incredible strength to be the bigger person and not dwell on the past, and it looks like Rihanna has taken that important lesson to heart.
Read the Complete Interview With Rihanna at Wmagazine.com
