Changing image of Rihanna

This week Capital FM published the single and album covers of Rihanna and it was very evident that Rihanna's image has clearly changed.

Rihanna first came on the scene with Music of the Sun. She was a fresh young girl with the lovely bubbly typeface to go alongside. This image continued until Good Girl Gone Bad. The title of her album clearly shows that she had been portrayed as a 'good girl' in the media. However, that image was about to change and for the first time Rihanna achieved a UK Number 1 with the smash hit Umbrella. 

Through this stage of Rihanna is portrayed in a more sexual nature, but as a girl who is turned into a woman. This is a common transformation which was been seen by numerous artists from both genders (such as Britney Spears and Justin Bieber). This new sexier image is pretty constant until Rated R. It is at this album that Rihanna becomes a lot more edgy and symbolises Rihanna's change to a bad girl. The sexy image is pushed further with the racy single covers that contain scantly clad pictures of Rihanna.

This image of Rihanna is probably been consistent in the media until today. The album Loud actually focused on a more feminine image to go alongside her beautiful red hair. However, with singles such as S&M the bad girl image remained.

Rihanna recently released her latest album cover Unapologetic and it is clear that she is a bad girl for life and she is not going to apologise about it. Rihanna is a bad girl and proud!

Notting Hill Carnival 2011

Now there is nothing quite like an all day event!  I don’t care whether it is Bognor Beer Race, Gay Pride or Carnival. I just love dressing up and spending the whole day dancing away.

The August Bank Holiday basically marks the end of Summer, but it isn’t all doom and gloom, because before it is all over there is Notting Hill Carnival. For two days the glorious Caribbean comes to England... unfortunately, the Caribbean sunshine is not always part of the deal but you can hear the music, smell the food and see the wonderful costumes in the parade – it is a feast for all the senses.

Last year Lennisha and I took part in the parade and I loved it. We didn’t wear a crazy costume, but inside those ropes I loved it. So this year a few of my other friends came down to join in. We got our Dominican t-shirts and got to customising – cut off the sleeves, add some beads, tie it up short. Then the standard short shorts to make the outfit complete.

For one day I represented a country I knew nothing about. Of the 5 girls in my group, only one was from Dominica but that didn’t matter. We danced along to all the songs and enjoyed the attention of the crowds. I felt like a celebrity being followed by the paparazzi.They guessed 1 million people had come to line the streets, which such an extensive route across West London it is easily possible.

What makes the day so exciting is that everyone has come to party. This is the purpose of carnivals, to let lose and forget about your normal life. For that day I could have been in any island of the Caribbean, it just didn’t matter. What was important was to let your hair down, shock out and embrace the environment.

So as I type this with my chipped red, yellow and green nails I look forward to next years carnival. It is definitely a highlight of the year and if Summer had to be over at least it went with a bang!