Welcome to New Retro Week, a celebration of the largest artists, hits, and cultural moments that made 2012 a seminal 12 months in pop. MTV Information is wanting again to see what lies forward: These essays showcase how right now’s blueprint was laid a decade in the past. Step into our time machine.
By Jaelani Turner-Williams
With six albums and a large number of inventive transformations below her belt, in 2012, Rihanna was probably the most daring mainstream act in pop music. An experimental vanguard of the style, Rihanna was worlds away from the Bajan, honey-tressed sweetheart launched to followers on her 2005 Caribbean-tinged debut album, Music of the Solar. At every of her musical eras, Rihanna defied expectations of what audiences presumed a Black feminine singer to be, eschewing “city” advertising and marketing for crossover fanfare. Assembly her Unapologetic part, Rihanna had one set imaginative and prescient: to reclaim her happiness.
Simply 5 days previous to the album’s launch, on November 14, the singer launched into her now-infamous 777 Tour. With an assemblage of 150 journalists, choose followers, and crew all aboard a Boeing airplane, the roadshow required trekking to seven international locations in seven dates in celebration of Unapologetic, at the same time as these plans invited impending chaos. On the tour’s inaugural day, headed to Mexico Metropolis, Rihanna poured glasses of Ace of Spades and D’Ussé for these onboard the jet, whereas journalists anticipated her to dole out interviews concerning her new songs.
As days became a full week, the media onboard grew uninterested in there being no Rihanna in sight, however it was possible that she needed to create intrigue. For the singer and her workforce, it was all in good enjoyable, because the flight stunt personified the in-your-face candor of Unapologetic. It was a deeper look into Rihanna’s uncooked, unfiltered self, which largely made means for a brand new trap-influenced sound that foreshadowed her long-awaited 2016 follow-up, Anti. On Unapologetic, she embraced boldness in a brand new means.
Initially of her profession, Rihanna’s identification was arguably manufactured to comply with the identical route as bubblegum pop acts of the early 2000s however with an island twist. She was destined for a rebellious breakthrough. By 2007, the singer met the second on her third album, Good Lady Gone Dangerous, with mystifying attraction, a modern jet-black bob haircut and edgy reintroduction on the enduring single “Umbrella.”
Rihanna’s defiance as a world pop phenom made her a drive of nature, closing in on an iconic bad gal status whereas nonetheless being nascent in her profession. In November 2009, Rihanna entered a grim facet on fourth album Rated R, which introduced the singer by means of a gothic, desolate lens. The album metaphorically retraced Rihanna’s breakup with R&B singer Chris Brown, with controversy surrounding their turbulent relationship (Brown was convicted of felony assault for beating Rihanna in 2009.) The album was an surprising flip in Rihanna’s sound, however it redefined who she was as a younger girl, making her a global powerhouse and giving solution to a confident rebirth.
On her following two albums, 2010’s Loud and 2011’s Discuss that Discuss, Rihanna advanced previous the “good lady gone dangerous” motif — she embodied it. Her sound was fueled with intercourse positivity, amusing salaciousness, and girls’s empowerment that arguably made her the femme fatale of pop. Together with high-grossing excursions worldwide, modeling, and philanthropy work, the singer was additionally poised to make her full-length performing debut within the 2012 motion movie Battleship. Rihanna’s influence was accelerating: At a gradual tempo of releasing albums yearly, by 2012, Rihanna’s transition into Unapologetic territory was her most surprising act but.
Album opener “Phresh Out the Runway” recalled tantalizing Discuss That Discuss single “Birthday Cake,” however as an alternative of alluding to sexual wishes, Rihanna flaunted her designer drip from Givenchy to Bulgari. Co-produced by French DJ David Guetta, “Phresh Out the Runway” was a reunion between Rihanna and songwriter-producer The-Dream, who penned her 2007 reintroduction “Umbrella.” Every week previous to the discharge of Unapologetic, “Phresh Out the Runway” made its primetime debut throughout the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Trend Present as Rihanna strutted down the catwalk, fearlessly asserting her pop domination.
Though Unapologetic was overrun with hip-hop and EDM soundscapes, there have been moments the place Rihanna’s vulnerability shined by means of. First Unapologetic single “Diamonds” was an orchestral, synth-heavy ballad that pulsated with euphoric devotion. Rihanna’s twelfth No. 1 track on the Billboard Scorching 100, “Diamonds” was later licensed sextuple platinum, turning into an instantaneous signature traditional and one of many best-selling singles of all time.
Piano-driven ballad “Keep” featured Nashville singer-songwriter Mikky Ekko, who laced the observe along with his melancholic narrative of harrowing love as Rihanna intimately matched Ekko’s somberness with stripped-down poignancy. Within the visuals, Rihanna’s look is simply as emotive as her vocals, with tears delicately streaking her face as she sinks into jade-hued bathwater. Receiving related world reception as “Diamonds” and promoting greater than 10 million copies worldwide, “Keep” equally set the tone for Unapologetic, the place Rihanna enlisted male options together with Future (“Loveeeeeee Track”), Eminem (“Numb”), and even Chris Brown (reuniting on controversial observe “No one’s Enterprise”).
Rihanna seductively teased listeners all through Unapologetic, whether or not getting blitzed on strip-club anthem “Pour It Up” or interpolating 1996 Ginuwine hit “Pony” on “Soar.” The tough-as-nails resilience of Unapologetic subtly recalled Rated R — even with Rihanna donning fringed locks on the album cowl — however the singer ushered in a powerhouse disposition along with her eyes on an entrepreneurial future.
Unapologetic shot to the highest of the Billboard Scorching 200, turning into Rihanna’s first No. 1 album and promoting 4 million copies worldwide. Later nabbing a win for Finest City Up to date Album on the 2014 Grammys, Unapologetic solidified Rihanna’s defiant aptitude that made her a global pop dynamo. Together with dominating the charts, Rihanna’s affect on girls’s streetwear made her a distinguished fixation on Instagram and Tumblr as she eased into her subsequent act: turning into a mogul of epic proportions.
Honored as a “national hero” of Barbados after the nation formally grew to become a republic in November 2021, Rihanna boasts a legacy that’s not only a testomony to reaching stardom past music, however turning into a multi-hyphenate businesswoman. Aptly named after her 2012 track, Rihanna’s annual Diamond Ball has turn into a lavish occasion supporting her philanthropic Clara Lionel Basis. 2017 marked the inaugural 12 months for Fenty Magnificence, Rihanna’s opulent cosmetics line that boasts a variety of make-up, from lipwear to basis, for varied pores and skin tones. In 2018, Rihanna made a splash within the style trade by founding lingerie model Savage X Fenty, selling self-confidence and physique inclusivity for all genders with superstar ambassadors together with Normani, Kehlani, and Tinashe. Impressed by the success of Fenty Magnificence, in 2020 Rihanna launched Fenty Pores and skin, a clear and cruelty-free skincare model with wellness in thoughts.
Whereas Unapologetic arrived years previous to Rihanna’s entrepreneurial calling — and her 2016 magnum opus Anti — the singer nonetheless led the altering tides of pop music that has since grown extra inclusive of Black girls. On the coronary heart of Unapologetic, Rihanna sought to stay true to herself, an effort that has poured over into her eponymous, multifaceted Fenty model. A genre-bending pioneer, Rihanna and her attractive adaptability are ubiquitous with the legacy of Unapologetic, all within the identify of fine enjoyable.
