Talented, stylish and quirky, the voice of “Diamonds” Famous from the age of 17, approximately 20 reached its peak. Over the past decade, she has become an icon of world music.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, and is 30 years old this year. On February 20, on the last day before turning a new age, she walked out wearing a T-shirt with the words “I hate Rihanna” (I hate Rihanna) as a way to affirm her personality and class: for a long time, she is no longer afraid of any hateful words.

On the occasion of Rihanna’s 30th birthday, many newspapers also reviewed her career. Many newspapers call her an “icon”, a title full of honor but not every artist deserves to wear it.

Became a sex symbol from the album

According to VH1, at 30 years old, Rihanna has achieved achievements that a person can hardly achieve in a lifetime. The key point that brought her to success is her perseverance in building the image of a “bad girl” (bad girl) throughout her career.

When she released her debut album Music of the Sun in 2005 with a very feminine image, hardly anyone could have predicted that the female singer would go so far if she had not announced that she had completely transformed into a “bad girl” image. with her third album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007).

Rihanna soon revealed her sexy beauty and rakish personality from her teenage years. Photo: Guardian.

Before that, her music was still praised, but her image was said to be similar to Beyonce’s. Being compared to Beyonce is a compliment to most artists. But for a talented singer like Rihanna, being like someone else can be a career killer.

With her bold but confident transformation in Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna goes beyond her role as an artist. She became a sex symbol with images and musical messages that were provocative to public opinion, and also full of charisma.

The lead single Umbrella of the album Good Girl Gone Bad with a performance of black umbrellas became a “viral” song. in an era where social networks were not yet popular, bringing her her first Grammy Award for Outstanding Rap Performance (with veteran rap artist Jay-Z) in 2008.

Rihanna is in the top 5 artists of the 2010-2019 decade selected by Billboard. Photo: VH1.

In the past 10 years, she has collected 19 Grammy awards and about 170 other awards.

“I really had a bad girl attitude, I became completely rebellious, did everything my way and didn’t listen to anyone. I also didn’t ask anyone for advice. I just want to have a little fun with my music and experiment a little with my image. I simply reinvented myself”, Rihanna said about the “bad girl” image; in Good Girl Gone Bad with The StarPhoenix.

Not until 2018, but in 2012, Rihanna was recognized as a new world music icon. That was after her 4 consecutive albums all achieved platinum status, of which her 7th album Unapologetic (2012) won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Music Album in 2014.

The female singer’s MVs leave many memorable iconic images. Photo: VH1.

In addition, there is an endless list of hits such as SOS, Unfaithful, Umbrella, Don’t Stop the Music, Take a Bow, Disturbia, Love the Way You Lie, Only Girl (In the World), Rehab, What’s My Name?, S&M, We Found Love, Diamonds, Stay, FourFiveSeconds, This Is What You Came For, Work, Love on the Brain….

This list is very difficult to reduce because these are all world-class hits. All of Rihanna’s hits are extremely familiar to both international and Vietnamese audiences. This proves that her music is not only highly appreciated professionally but also has great popularity.

Bad girl by blood and witchy beauty

It is not uncommon for female singers to transform from the image of young girls to mature, seductive and sexy women. But with Rihanna, both audiences and experts have to admit that she is the most successful artist with this transformation.

The reason lies in the female singer herself. The image of “bad girl” hot, unruly, with rebellious and artistic body displays in the MVs, completely consistent with Rihanna’s personality and lifestyle. It’s a style that’s in her blood, just waiting for the opportunity to shine. And she was successful.

Rihanna demonstrates a rebellious quality in both music and life. According to Rolling Stone, in 2011, when she stepped out on the street, paparazzi followed her and repeatedly asked her about dating rumors. “Ryan Phillippe, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Hartnett, Drake…”, they mentioned several male artists.

But Rihanna replied defiantly: “I hate to confuse you guys, but I like dating women”. “Nicki Minaj?”, a paparazzi asked again. The female singer laughed loudly: “I wish it was like that. She has the perfect butt!”.

Even Rihanna’s beauty is not the beauty of a good girl. Besides her body that is full of vitality due to exercise, she has an angular face, even more unique because of her dark skin. Unbelievable blue eyes and a sharp gaze like a knife make her feel like a beautiful and mysterious witch.

Katy Perry, a friend of Rihanna, once described: “She’s so beautiful that it’s… disgusting. Every time I introduce her to my friends, both male and female, they react like: Did she drink virgin blood?”. Shakira, during her collaboration with Rihanna, also called her “the sexiest woman in the world”.

Like her super hit song, Diamonds (2012), Rihanna is compared to a diamond: cold in both appearance and core. Even though it was composed by Sia, an equally talented vocalist, Diamonds still seems to be “tailor-made” for Rihanna’s thorny voice.

Because of maximizing the beauty of her toned body and sensual ideas in her songs and MVs, Rihanna also faces criticism many times. Her music products caused controversy about being “cheap or artistic”, and also faced condemnation from social organizations that her image had a negative influence on young people.

But those are controversies that almost every music icon has experienced on their way to achieving class.