The difference between a

"Pop Performer" and a "Pop Star"

POP PERFORMER: May/may not be

famous. Just performs music

POP STAR: Image constructed to

audience

Rihanna is both these things, as she is very involved with her fan base, and has a lot of publicity around her, but her fandom and fame do not intersect much with her public life, allowing her to be both absent and present.

Rihanna is both ordinary in a way that she is funny, down to earth and easily relatable, yet she is beautiful and unique and sticks out from the masses, making her extraordinary.

The incoherence of the star image ensure that audiences continually strive to ‘complete’ or ‘make sense’ of that image.

Fans will be determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to ‘complete’ their image.

Rihanna the pop star, otherwise known as Riri, was unknown before her signing to Def Jam Records and her first album, ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’. The label transformed her image from wholesome island girl from Barbados, to a sexy, weed-smoking pop-sensation.

Before

After

Stars are made fundamentally to make money and sell records, which

is exactly what Rihanna does. Rihanna has

broken the record of Most Pop Songs No. 1s, and is one

of the most successful artists of her generation,

with a legion of fans called the

‘Navy’.

Rihanna has been in many films, such as Battlefield, and the comedy This is The End.

This spread her fan base to action film and comedy film fan bases.

RIHANNA THROUGH THE AGES