Page 7 - Pop History: Rihanna Pt II

Episode Date: June 9, 2020

We follow Rihanna as she goes on tour, reaches new levels of celebrity and becomes a makeup and fashion mogul.Want even more Page 7? Check out our Patreon page! Patreon.com/Page7Podcast Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Page 7 ad-free.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jackie, I feel like Rihanna would really be into the skirt you're wearing. You think so? Is it because I'd shine bright like a diamond? Yeah, you do. Shine bright like a diamond. Beautiful like diamond. I like all the goth version of her. I like all of her sad songs.

I love her. A say is a song that I will still just pop on whenever. It is such a good fucking song. You should have seen me this morning playing all of the lights. and love the way you lie, both one and two, over and over again. Hell, yeah. And we're living 2010 and 2011.

I just, again, I know I said this last week, and I'm going to say it again, every time I look at the name, I was just like, where have you been? Do I know that song? And then I put the, where have you been all my life? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

And I was like, of course I know the song. I fucking love this song. It makes you, there's so many, we were talking about this yesterday. There's so many of her songs that you know that the Dreeps, the dreep the dream the dream you know the dreams you know the dreams you know the dream you know the dream you know that the beat is about to drop and every time it does it makes my brain explode it gives me all of my feelings of my drug ears it takes me back because i think that when that song came out

was more of my dancing till four a.m. stay your loose your loose face A bit of a loose. Bit of having a couple, throwing back a couple of margs. Are we? I don't know. I didn't. I couldn't afford margs then. No, no, no.

That was pre-jizzy even. That was pre-jizzies, for sure. No, I couldn't afford hard liquor unless it was in someone's belly button and I was getting it free. Tacades, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was Tacades. It was bottom shelf tequila. It was, you know, really whatever. You know, put a line in and I'll drink it.

Those belly button shots are really how you get through when you're broke. I forget, I've taken too many belly button shots. Is that something we can confess? I don't think I've ever taken a belly button shot. I've done the ice luge. I've done an ice luge. Oh, yeah, oh man, liquor luge. Yeah, I remember those.

I think, though, if Rihanna, though, Rihanna comes up to you right now, at the ages we are at, pours tequila in her belly. I feel like you wouldn't be able to get much because her stomach is very tight. I know, I don't, she's not good for belly shots. She's not good. You know what? Me. Because I've got, like, then you could have a canal.

of tequila. A couple of, maybe just a couple of clamps, but a couple of clamps on that button. Clamp it around, I would for sure. I would get up in that. I'm a, I stared at just pictures of Rihanna yesterday. She's so fucking gorgeous. Her eyes. Her style is insane.

It's, and this is something that we're going to talk about today with Fenty uh, Mesaun. And that her style is all over the place, which is what we love about her. But at the same time, I was looking at this picture of her. in baggy, ripped up jeans with Doc Martin's on

in an oversized plaid shirt and was like, how is she still so fucking hot? She still looks so put together. Well, that's what really, I think, stands out about her fashion sense. It is all over the place, but it doesn't feel manufactured. It doesn't feel like somebody's putting clothes on her.

It feels like she's creating this art piece on herself all the time. And it's like so inspirational. It makes me just want to put on crazy outfits all day. She talked about a lot of how, Fashion is what, like a defense mechanism for her. A, a, a, just a huge fallback for her, too. This thing that she can invest passion and time in that, that sort of gets her away from all the bullshit with the fame and the fame game and everything.

Fame game. And also in remembering that Rihanna is a very shy person. Yeah, I love that. Did you read that interview magazine interview? Yes. I loved that interview magazine. I'd have to say, in doing research for the show, show. Interview magazine just may have to be something I get like a

I want to start getting it. I thought about it almost every week. There's so much more it feels like two friends are talking and you're getting so much so many more insights and that seems to be down the line. All right. All right. Let's get like a ad deal with them or something before you started doing that. Let's get in there. Let's get out. Let's get one. Interbiased up. Man but my favorite Rihanna song is the one that goes clamp up my belly button. Give me that shot tequila. I love that song. I don't know what it's about.

Man, if you clamped my stomach for tequila shots, you can fit half a bottle of tequila. I feel like there is just, man, what a moat so I can protect my undercarriage. You know what I mean? I mean, my vagina. Welcome to Rihanna Part 2. Oh shit. Clap the belly button, put that tequila. Why don't you want tequila in your vagina?

It might probably be a cleanser. I don't know if you... Yeah, maybe it would clean you out a little bit. Maybe you needed a little bit. Like an enema, but for my front. Tequila, dekila. Tequila douche. Ooh.

All right, let's just say, like, we'll start our own version of Goop and just say, try it. We don't know. Maybe it's true. Because from word on the street is, it's looking like a rabid dog down there. You know what I mean?

Yeah, man. Quarantine, bro. You know what I mean? Yes, it's always yipping. Every time I take off my pants, it goes, yep, yep, yep, yep. And I go, no, no, no, no,

No, no, no. Can't feed you yet. Yeah, you should definitely pour some vodka or some tequila on your vagina. Tequila for sure. I need the sugar content. All right. Let's get into it where we last left off. She had just released Rated R. This album goes double platinum in the U.S. in the UK as well as platinum in five other countries and gold and six more.

It is a gothic imagery inspired, rock-infused, dark turn for her. R. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. album. I also love that Rihanna noted that I'm such a fucking lady was the mantra behind rated R pointing to its well-documented badass nature. This mantra is also a lyric in one

of the album singles, Wait Your Turn. This is her coming out and saying, I'm not just the face of sexual assault. Right. Or just like a cheesy pop singer. Yes. I've got depth. This is what I want to be singing and that's when she goes on her man i wanted to go see the last girl on earth tour so bad sixty seven shows four continents spanning world tour uh and riana said about it i like to think of myself as the last girl on earth because sometimes people make decisions based on the outlook of others and you know to me my life is my life it's my world and i'm going to live it the way I want to. That's how I think about everything. That way, that way I'm focused on me and my work. It's a really narrow space of focus. You know what's something I'm very envious of Rihanna of

besides many other things? She can pull off the tiny sunglasses that I could never ever pull off. And I was, I was even around this time, even a couple years ago when the tiny sunglasses weren't back in yet, she was rocking the tiny sunglasses and she always looks so good in them. And I look like a bug. Also, she, of course, became famous around this time for her car shoes, little tiny cars that also acted as shoes. Strap them on. And she would go, whoop, boop, bo, bo, bo, bo, you turn on. Yeah, you have a little steering wheel in your hands that controls them.

It's unbelievable. Can we get, I mean, that's such a step up from the wheelies. I know. I want that. It's sort of like a personalized, like, scooter. Oh, yeah, double scoot. For sure. That's what we start calling them.

But unfortunately, she would break two parts of her spine in a fatal car shoe accident. Oh, not car shoes. Why don't you back on us? They got pulled from the shelf very shortly after terribly dangerous. Rihanna opened up about this time on her The Last Girl on Earth tour that she has a few unorthodox pre-show rituals. She says, I eat lozenges, steam my voice, do my makeup, I Skype my vocal coach, and we sit there in the makeup table and do warm-ups for about a half hour. Then she starts to have some fun. I was trying to say I'm like, this is totally normal pre-show stuff.

Okay, cool. Now we're getting into it. My personal assistant slash bartender brings me a shot that she dilutes with a little something so it's not so harsh. Like OJ or soda or water or lime. I have to have it. I take it very seriously. So there's a level of anxiety always. I overthink everything when it comes to my job.

The drink calms my nerves. I sip it while I watch the opening act for my dressing room. Sometimes I go out into the audience. I put on a really big hoodie and sneak out. there, which is also What a baller-ass move. I love it. I bet you people would never think twice

because they would never expect her to be in the audience. So even if they saw her face, they wouldn't assume it was her. Yeah. Remember when we saw Lizzo leaving the Lizzo concert? Oh my God, when we saw Lizzo leaving the Lizzo concert. She just put on a wig and she walked out the back

in front of all these people. We think that's her. We think that's her. And then we go, is that Lizzo? Is that Lizzo? And she heard us. And she started giggling and she ran away. And it was totally 100% her.

I mean, it would have been very weird and creepy if we followed her. We were very good. We were respectful. I did that once. I was with Henry and we were on like a lunch break and our office that we used to work at was near Washington Square and we were walking and Henry goes, oh, that's Bill Murray. And he was like across the street walking in the opposite direction of us. And I literally just stopped and I turned.

And then I just started walking in his direction. And then after a minute I was like, what the fuck am I doing? I just went on autopilot. I turned into a weird. Bill Murray zombie. I was like, I'll just start following him because that's the natural thing you do when you spot Bill Murray on the street, right? You just sort of weirdly follow him for a little while. And then I think Henry was like, what are we doing? What are you doing? I was like, oh, right, right. I should probably not just weirdly follow him for, you know, 10 blocks.

Sadly, sadly for Bill Murray, that is usually who follows him as 20-something boys. Yes. Weird. Incredibly horny. Remember goals. Just unlaced. Yeah. Just terrified. Yeah, just terrifying. Remember it. Remember it. Oh, I do.

So around this time, it's the summer of 2010. She collaborates with Eminem on the song. Love the way you lie. She says about Eminem. He's just so mysterious. It makes you curious as to what's going on in his mind. I feel like I could ask him a million questions in a day. I love their little friendship.

I do too. And I know that Eminem is a divisive person, but I love Eminem. And that song is, beautiful and sad. And if you listen to it, it's, it's so much about what she just went through. Also,

oh my God, you guys, did you watch the music video? Because I was just about to bring it off the music video. I forgot that in the music video, the lead to people are Megan Fox and the guy who plays Mary in Lord of the Rings. Oh,

that's the guy. So the guy who plays the little hobbit, the little cute hobbit, he plays sort of like an Eminem. Yeah, he's not weird. He's a little hairy. Yeah, she kisses his little ears.

Yeah, but then he kicks with those big feet, and it's not fun. Oh, it's very scam. But you know what? She loves the way that he lies. And Rihanna also had a version two of this song on her album, which isn't as noticed or known, but it's mostly her singing with M doing one-verse rap. Ooh, M. And it's really- Sure thing, D-S.

Wow, you really know M, does it? I wasn't in a commercial with him once. Wow. Did he kiss you? Did he kiss your knees, which is where he could reach? He did. Short joke. I got it.

I could say that because I'm also short. Maybe that's why Eminem chose Mary the guy from The Hobbit. Because he understood. He wanted someone to get look in the eye. Don't want no short, short, man. I wish it was a little bit taller. I wish it was a baller. Oh, God.

Rabbit and a hat and a bat. She's sang on that fucking song, too. All right. Then she does Kanye West's all of the lights on his. This masterpiece album, my beautiful dark twisted fantasy. I remember when that came out. It was such a big deal. I still think that is an incredible album.

Really good collaborations. And then she performs on Nikki Minaj's Fly and David Guettas. Who's That Chick? She's just really a go-to for killer hooks for people's big pop hits at this time. It is just ridiculous. And this is when she starts making my favorite run of albums with, I think, starting with Loud. I think my favorite album's Auntie will get into Auntie, her most recent. album that came out so many years ago.

But yeah, are we ready to talk about getting loud with Rihanna? I just- Sorry, I just wanted Mary to play a little bit of all of the lights because it's such a beautiful song and there's so much pain in it and it really like affected me this morning. But it is again about domestic abuse. It's the second song in that time period that's about violence in the home. Yep. And I think that very purposely so.

Hit it, Mary. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Or is that a weird reaction to have? This is around the time, speaking of collabs that we are about to start talking about the collab she does with Drake on this album for What's My Name. This is also around the time that she starts dating Drake as well. This is a fun.

I think it's a little bit of a fun. Even though I know that we shouldn't celebrate a woman doing the same thing back to a man, but sometimes we can't, especially when it's Drake, because per. personally, not a Drake fan. I do love the songs that they do together, but not a huge Drake fan. And she says about him, I was definitely attracted to Drake. But I think it is what it is, like, was what it was. We didn't want to take it any further.

It was at a really fragile time in my life. So I just didn't want to get too serious with anything or anyone at that time. And then Drake also opened up about their brief relationship, telling the New York Times that he was a pawn. He says, she was doing exactly what I've done into so many. women throughout my life, which is show them quality time, then disappear. I was like, wow, this feels terrible. Oh, she ghosted him. And she fucking ghosted his ass.

And then she said about relationships, she says, I don't have time to be lonely. And I get fearful of relationships because I feel guilty about wanting someone to be completely faithful and loyal when I can't even give them 10% of the attention that they need. It's just the reality of my time, my life, my schedule. They think that being a real man is actually being a real man. is actually being a pussy. That if you take a chair out for a lady or you're nice or even affectionate to your girl

in front of your boys, you're less of a man. It's so sick. They won't be a gentleman because that makes them appear soft. That's what we're dealing with now, 100%. And girls are settling for that, but I won't. Whoa. Wow. Holden is moved.

Are you moved? I moved. She's taking a stand. I'm also moved by producer Tor, Eric Hermanson, of the production team Stargate talking about her next album loud. Rihanna came to us before we started recording Only Girl in the World and said,

I feel great about myself. I want to go back to having fun. I want to make happy and up-tempo records. So here is Rihanna getting back to the fun of it, which I like a little mix between. I like a little somewhere in between. I love that she took the turn she took and rated R.

You know what I mean? See, because I love upsetting balance as well. Me too. So that's more my thing. But I love the uptempo stuff because it does remind you. It's great dance music. It's my day up. Let's get pumped.

Oh, yeah. So for this one, L.A. Reed pulls together a group of songwriters and record producers at different recording studios in L.A. for a two-week-long writing session for Rihanna's next album. This is insane. I guess I could have predicted or could see this as being the case for a big pop album. But it still blows me away that around 200 songs were written, of which they chose 11. 11 of them.

Even Rihanna said, I wanted songs that were all Rihanna songs that nobody else could do. I didn't want the generic pop record that Keshah or Lady Gaga or Katie Perry could just do and it'll work. I wanted a song or songs that were Rihanna songs that only I could do.

Had that little West Indian vibe to it, had that certain tone, a certain sass, and a certain energy. Yes, the sound returns to Caribbean-inspired dance pop that Rihanna was working. with at the beginning of her career, bringing it all back around. Only Girl in the World, I mean, massive hit.

The album's lead single, followed by what's my name. Only, everywhere I went. Only, All in the World! I'm the Only Girl in the World. Can I say that? Is that problematic? Whatever. Yeah.

Holdenina. Even Director X, who is the director of... Holdenina, yes. Please call me Holdenina for the rest of the episode, please. No, you don't get that. You don't get that. We start calling you Ho-ho. I'd rather that.

I was like, Where's a cream at, ho. Holdenina. Back on the track. Holo, going solo, because I'm the only girl in the way. Don't you fucking say for her beautiful music? But Director X, who created the Pondy replay music video,

had a lot to say because a lot of people were giving her backlash that she had lost the West Indian vibe that she had come to the scene with. And he said, I thought it was always interesting that Rihanna really took off when she actually put the West Indianness to the background. It's always been who she was. It was always the foundation. But at the same time, being West Indian doesn't mean you got to do West Indian music.

She proves that. She was 17 when we did the first video. And now she's in her 30s. She's grown not even as an artist, but as a woman and businesswoman. She's this very mature, secure, good, intelligent person, a real natural leader. She did literally grow up as she was a child When she started She's a literal child

So it There's a, I read a lot of stories about She is definitely, I don't want to use the word diva But very confident Sure In every meeting She gets what she wants She knows what she wants

And of course I feel like the word diva Is put onto someone like Rihanna Saying that in a bad way Like she's being a bitch about it But she is very strong-willed and always has been and was just someone that came in saying what they wanted and getting what they wanted,

that how do you not grow into someone that is almost too confident at times? Like Beyonce says, nah, a diva is a female version of a hustler. Yes. Of a hustler. Of a, of a hustler.

Call it a Riva. Ooh, Riva. McIntyre. That's a holo, original. All right. So get it now. Yeah, no. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Which is the song she does with Drake. That is. Watch that.

Watch that video. That's a clapback song that she wrote to you. Yes, to you about holo. She was done with holo. She wanted him to be put into the ground. which I get, but the music video for What's My Name is this. It's definitely a, it's a upsetting video of two people that are, you know, drug addicted and abuse each other.

But it is still this like weird, beautiful depiction of having a fucked up relationship in New York City. Maybe it's just a New York thing that I look at it. It's my town. It's my town. I've been a drug addict in my town too. But I love that music video. So after the album comes out, she goes on a

101 show tour all over North America, Central America, South America, Europe through 2011. During the Loud Tour, she is also, though, doing that thing that I believe we talked about on the Mariah Carey episode that I am shocked when I find out about. I cannot believe that this is a practice at all. She is working on her sixth album while on tour, which is called Talk That Talk.

On top of that. Yeah, on top of the tour. On top of the tour, she's doing that as well as filming her first role in a big movie in the movie Battleship. While doing the promo blitz for the album loud, she starts on this film. She said it's been really, really good so far. Working with Peter Berg is unbelievable. I love doing movies now. It's something I want to do more of.

I just want to pick films that are wise for me and roles that I can pull off. Like Battleship. Nothing that's too big for me because Rihanna played a knowledgeable weapons officer named Rakes, who she describes as really intelligent but really, really bad ass. But she was so good for this role because she was a cadet in high school. And she said, I have shot some weapons before when I was cadets in school. So having that background really, really helped when I was doing the film. And she says, I didn't have a lot of time in between being Rakes and being Rihanna.

I literally left the set at night and went straight to do a music video for Only Girl in the World. I flew to L.A. from Hawaii and started immediately shooting that video. That's crazy. They had a portable studio that they would set up in whatever hotel they were staying at. She would do her show, then do a meet and greet afterwards until 1 a.m., and I know how fucking exhausted, that shit is on the smallest level. And then hundreds of people. Then after that, head into the studio around two hours.

or three in the morning to record on the album. She eventually, of course, collapsed under the weight of this. Rihanna said it was the best shit ever. It was some rock star shit. This is the craziest schedule I've ever been on in my entire life. One morning I woke up and started crying so hard. I finally just got to my bedroom from the IV drip and I was like, good. I can actually get to sleep tonight because we stayed up all night and I finished the album at 5 p.m. the day before. I get that, man, that feeling, though, of doing all that stuff at the same time, I can get the, like, rush of that. Right. And I feel like, to an extent, I would love that schedule, especially if people are just, like, handling me and, like, handing me off and, like, taking care of me and shit.

You do this now. You do this now. Of course, eventually it will kill you. But it will kill you. But, I mean, for her, these are the working years. And she does find that work-life balance eventually, which I'm glad to see someone at her level talk about that. Because I think more people need to talk about work-life balance and about what that is and what that means and how it's not just go, go, go. I think this country is all about teaching you go, go, go.

But honestly, this is actually one thing that Ben Kissel said to me that I'll always remember that I actually say to my wife because she's very much cannot just take a day off. Everyone should have a day. Everyone should have a day once a week. Just one day out of the week. It's yours to do with what you will that you don't feel obligatory. to go, go, go. I try to do that myself. Really important. Anyways, we'll get there. And then you work your ass off every other day of the week.

But it's why it makes sense of why she just didn't even have time for a relationship. She doesn't have fucking time with this. Would you? She even says, you know what? I love making music. Music is what I do. So I don't feel like there should be a break unless I chose to take a break. There's no such thing as taking a break if you don't want to.

I'm here to make music. Which is, it's almost unhealthy. it's definitely an addiction. Working is an addiction. Being a workaholic is a true addiction. But then how do you say that to someone that in her downtime between making albums created three huge businesses

to blow the fashion world out of it, but I know we're not there yet. We'll get there really soon. But because of battleship is why Rehon's, which now this makes more sense. Because of battleship, it's why her fans call themselves the Navy with individual fans referring to them.

themselves as sailors. I was very confused by this at first. It's like Scientology. Yes, Pop Sugar realized the name came for Rihanna herself, who started calling her fans the Navy after playing a naval officer in 2012's battleship, a singer, a designer, a makeup mogul, and an actress. There's nothing our master and commander can't do,

which is a very scary phrase. It's a little terrifying. It's a little much. Stans are really scary people. The master and commander, that's a scary thing to be referred to unless you are at the head of the ship. but you know, I think she likes it.

The lead single on Talk That Talk is We Found Love, one of my favorite to Rihanna's songs. Produced and performed by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, this song surpasses Umbrella as Rihanna's longest running number one single. And for Harris, it changed his life. He said it changed absolutely everything. Career-wise, it was the best thing that could ever have happened. everyone and their brother hit him up to do songs with him afterwards. It took him to the next level. And it is a phenomenal song.

Other big hits include You DeWan. Talk That Talk featuring Jay-Z. Birthday Cake, the remix featuring Chris Brown. I hate the fact that I, whatever, where have you been? And cockiness, love it. Oh, cockiness is so fun. Very fun. Is this the time period?

Does anyone know if this is when skin came out? Because that song is so fucking sexy. Ooh, which one is? There is a good amount of her singles that are not on albums. I, that's great. I don't understand how the music industry works enough. Well, it's very different now, but you can definitely drop a song outside of an album. In fact, we talked about this in the Lizzo album because one of which song was it,

well, man, great, when it got to be great. Yes. That song, she ended up doing that song outside of her album, then her album debuted, and then they retroactively added it to that album. But yeah, it was one of those where like, that's just the way things work now. At the end of the day, you can just pull whatever out whenever. And then it's really, it's almost like a dinosaurish approach to release full albums at this point. But I'm glad people do it.

I think it's a different form of the art because an album tends to be like nowadays more of a comprehensive piece. And a lot of times it comes with full art and full story. It's like almost making its own little like encapsulated movie. Yeah. Yeah. And the flow of the album makes. They're put in a specific order. And it's someone that always used to put everything I listen to I usually put on shuffle

until it was Ed Larson that was like, that's not how albums are supposed to be listened to. I agree wholeheartedly with that. You have to at least listen to it a couple of times all the way through of the way it's intended to be listened to. And he's completely right. Yeah, I am a big album guy, so I do appreciate it. But, I mean, at the end of the day, yeah, you can just release however whenever. So immediately working on her follow-up to talk that talk in early 2012 in London, she said, I love working with different sounds and putting them together, so they're not one-dimensional.

Right now, we're working on collecting and creating the sound first before we even start working on the lyrical direction or melodies. I kind of have an idea, though, and it's very rough right now, so I'm very eager to start that. And so she gets in there with producers Sean Garrett and French DJ David Guetta, and she works towards a great mishmash of genres. Garrett even talked about how essentially Guetta and Garrett clashed in this really good way where Garrett was more into the international sounds of the world and Guetta was more into an urban sound

and so they're constantly pulling each other in different directions with Rihanna in the middle like pulling those two passions together and creating a unique and interesting sound and approach to an album which I think is really smart and really cool. And so with this, you get the trap beat-trenched clubbanger fresh out the runway, followed by the orchestral synth-filled diamonds.

And my-lal diamond. Now, this is also around the time that Rihanna decides to stage one of the most impressive publicity stunts in music history, the 777 tour. It was a seven-day trek with seven shows in seven days and seven countries and 150 journalists were invited in a world win press junket to join her that apparently was an endurance test to see who could keep up with Rihanna's grueling schedule. It also served to underline the brilliance of her live performances. So I read a bunch of interviews of different journalists that went on this crazy tour every day in another country. And it was too much for Rihanna to handle. And that she was kind of ripped apart by a lot of them

because she was barely around them because in those different time, she said the singer clarified her absence from the parties because it was like crazy parties on this jet all over the world but people weren't being fed enough. No one was sleeping. No one was taking care of themselves. It was like it was kind of a bit of a shit show.

And she even said her absence from the parties that it was a result of her resting so she could save her voice for. the shows. She says they all want you to host a party every time you get on the plane after a show, but you really only have that time to sleep until you get to the next country. Sometimes it was a two-hour ride to the next country and that was all the sleep you could get. The person at the top is always expected to throw the party, but most of the time they're the ones who aren't there because they physically can't. No. I mean, it's even down to the, that's what they say about

your wedding day. Yeah. Where it's like that day is at that point not even about you. You're really going to remember it. It is for everybody else, unfortunately. Or you just only get a few moments with everybody. Like, you can't, you can't be around, you know, you can't be that person. And that's what sucks about the needy family member. I cannot stand the needy family member during, but you're, but I'm the mother. You have to spend the whole day with me too, right? Because I'm the, no, fuck off. It's not about you. It's not about anybody. I hate that shit. It drives me crazy. I think she definitely learned a lesson with this of, um, that she could, she thought that she could do it. and she just couldn't.

And even Jason Newman, who was a reporter from Fuse, said to be completely fair to Def Jam. And I wonder if this is part of the reason why she ends up leaving Def Jam around this time. He says, I genuinely think that that's what they thought it would be. A unique, glamorous experience. I don't blame them. Obviously, what it ended up being was slightly different. The whole point was that we don't know what's going to happen. Newman continued explaining they had skeletons of a schedule in place in terms of show locations and times.

The crew assembled mixed stops in Mexico City, Toronto, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, London, and New York City in one week. Ridiculous. God, that just, for the little amount of traveling that we've done with touring and I've been around for last podcast, like, that schedule is, I can't fathom it. I cannot fathom doing that. No, but you can watch, there's a bit of, there's a documentary of the 777, 24. that you can look up that they put out in a way of just like trying to make it seem like it was a good thing. But it really wasn't. So yeah, to go talk about diamonds for just a little bit.

Of course, diamonds, as most people know, was written by Sia right before her big, huge comeback splash kind of solo career. Done with Benny Blanco and Stargate, who I mentioned earlier, co-writing the music. Rihanna said, I think a lot of people are afraid of being happy because of what others might think of it. They're afraid to embrace that and embrace themselves and love themselves and do what they love and do what makes them happy. Another big single was Stay featuring Mickey Echo. Oh, that

song. Oh my God, that song is so good. It's so beautiful and haunting. And after this album and tour, Rihanna finally and probably a lot because of the 777 tour, she finally decides to take a year off to quote, just do whatever I want artistically

creatively. This lasts a week. A week. This lasts one week and she is back in the studio. Somebody's addicted. Before we move forward, can I just also put another request in to Mary to play the song Skin? Because that's one of her

maybe not as popular songs that is super sexy and you should hear it. Before her next album, she has an incredible set of releases. Some of my favorite of hers. and the first of that is four, five seconds, alongside Kanye West and Paul McCartney. She said, the thing that made me fall in love with four or five seconds is the juxtaposition of the music and lyrics. When you read the lyrics, it's a completely different song than what you are hearing.

The music is easygoing. But the lyrical content is very loud and in your face, which going back, I pulled up the lyrics. I love that. song. I was just listening. It's definitely, it's very different from what she usually does. I think that they received a lot of I think there was a lot of backlash

about it as well because it's not a stereotypical Rihanna song. It's not a stereotypical Kanye song. It's not a stereotypical Paul McCartney song. But it's such an interesting fusion of the three of them. That's why it's fun. Also, Kanye is such a, like a mixed bag. To me, it seems more like a Kanye song.

than a Rihanna song. That a Rihanna song, yeah. It's why Connie gets, is kind of disappointing a lot of time because his albums are so good. Yes, yeah, undeniable. So albums are so fucking good. Yeah, for sure.

Just dislike him so much. Yeah. For sure. But yeah, he, I mean, his music is undeniably, if nothing else fascinating, but I also really enjoy it. But yeah, it has lyrics like, woke up an optimist, sun was shining, I'm positive, then I heard you talking trash,

hold me back, I'm about the spas. Like, it's all, you know, if I go to jail tonight, promise you'll pay my bail. See, they want to buy my pride, but that just ain't for sale. See all my kindness is taken for weakness. It's, yeah, it's a really funny, inspiring sounding song. Also, I love that Rihanna said that working with Paul McCartney was like,

it's like he doesn't even know he's a beetle. Like, he doesn't know he's famous. You know what I mean? Like, apparently he's a really humble, sweet guy to work with, which I like to do. I mean, and also the combination of those three is such a cool, badass thing to do. For sure. I don't know why you get criticism for that. That's amazing.

It's like generational. all like coming together and making this cool ass song. It's because they expect more of things like, bitch, better have my money, which is what comes out right after. The next song, Rihanna said there's something about that attitude or that confidence, that level of discarding something because it's also just very final. It's a very final statement. That song can be taken in so many ways, you know, and hardly ever is it actually money.

I mean, money's pretty big and pretty much the obvious thing. The non-obvious thing is when somebody is somebody who's just joccing you. You're not paying them any attention You're minding your own business And everything that comes out of them Is targeted towards you You feel like at the end of the day You might as well get paid for this shit

So you know what I'm saying? Yes, I do know what you're saying And I remember that's why I ended up Finally getting title Because bitch but out of my money It was only released on title originally And I was like, God damn it Fine, fine, fine, fine, all right, all right

I'll get it And it was completely worth it It's so good It's such a great song. It is a great power-up song, and it is a phrase that is usually, it was separated. It was more of a man's phrase that she took back,

and I think that that is beautiful in its own way. Bitch, but I have my money. I also love the video. The video for that is probably my favorite music video of Rihanna. We played it the other night on Jack and Ease, the Twitch stream we do on Friday nights, and yeah, I forgot how much nudity is in it. I hope I told a kid kicked off a Twitch.

Pretty nude. Not a bit as. She essentially kidnaps like a white woman. Bitch but I have my money. The wife's in the backseat of my brand new foreign car. Yeah, dude. Now let's get into her eighth studio album. Now we haven't talked a lot about her sponsorship deals.

Just know she's had a ton of them leading up to this, but she signs for her eighth album a $25 million contract with Samsung to sponsor the album. She also struggles creatively at this point until, she rents a house in Malibu to focus. And I think Auntie really is the sum of everything leading up to this. I really feel like Auntie is her first album that feels to me truly like a work of art. It is a beautiful...

She says every time we've done an album, we've always stepped out a little bit. But this time, again, we spend so much time in between albums that I needed the music to match my growth. I didn't want to get caught up with anything the world liked, anything the radio liked, anything that I liked,

that I've already heard. I just wanted it to be me. Bad girl, Riri. It's such a beautiful album. And it really is the first, and you can see that every other album that she had come out with was every year since she had made it.

And this was the first time that there was a little bit of a break in between albums, which you have to have. Even it makes so much sense for her to go to Malibu, to focus her brain, because all you're doing is creating content, creating content, how are you supposed to put your life experiences into it?

She was also starting a bunch of fucking companies. This was all, and then we don't find that out until later on in the next year, which is, that's what she was doing in her time. Building an empire is what she did in her downtime. But here we have Rihanna really coming into her own, I think, as a producer. She's getting really, really into the attention to detail, the need to fully have personal expression in her music. The vocal producer on the album tried to move more quickly in the production. But Rihanna would say things like, listen, let's up the quality level. Let's make sure

we have the emotion and make sure it's a masterpiece. I do also love how many times that she was like, I would, I hit a point or I was like, I'm not getting a song tonight. I'm just not doing it. She's like, and then we break out the whiskey. And you know what? That would usually be the take. So some of her biggest hits that they would just start to chill her out. Yeah, at five in the morning, drinking some whiskey, just being like, no, I got this. I got the confidence back. Yeah, she was saying things like, let's not chase radio. We're not trying to get radio hits. We're not trying to make sure that we can have a song that anybody could sing. And also, I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the

things that feel great to you, you can never lose. Because settling is the worst feeling in the world. Settling makes you feel like a sellout. It makes you feel like a liar. It doesn't make you feel like you believe anything. You're saying or singing or performing. If you're a performing music that is not who you are or where you're at, it is painful. It's painful for the performer and for the audience. And I didn't want to be caught doing what I felt like would sell or do what I've done before. I needed to do what I believed in. And I think that also comes from her having done now a bunch of tours. And now she can be in the studio and envision what that song's going to be like in a year from now in her 70th performance of said tour. You know what I mean?

Yeah, and I think that's also a good way to live in general for anybody is don't settle for a person. Don't settle for squashing your hopes and dreams. Don't settle for life you don't want. Like, that translates everywhere. Yeah, I love it. I love it. And, you know, and it's never too late. You fucks it home.

I'm sorry. Was that too strong? Yeah, you fucking ask you. I'm sorry. It also does make me, it's still so inspirational that she's still fairly. open about her anxiety still, even after all this time, she said anxiety still rules her life, even at her 2016 performance for the Grammys. She said, oh, I'm nervous before even getting in the car to go to something. It can be devastating. And when I pull up to the red carpet, I'm like,

she imitates crisis breathing. Are you kidding me? I left the Grammys one time, left in the middle of my hair and makeup. My hair half up, half my lashes on. It was 2016, and she had been due to perform kiss it better from her anti-album. At the time, she was said to have left because of issues with her voice, but anxiety can be just as flooring. She laughs about it now, but she wants to know it's harder for her than it looks. Being on camera, being in a room full of celebrities is still not normal for me, by the way. So even all of this, that she's a huge superstar and still has to battle her anxiety.

That makes her, like probably a human and not a sociopath. Yes. A lot of celebrities are. Her song, Work featuring Drake, became Rihanna's 27. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. What's the name is on? Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Yeah. That became Rianna's 27th, top 10 hit. The idea was to repeat the word work until it is unrecognizable. It is a reference to the Barbadian culture. Rianna said, I felt like if I enunciated the words too perfectly, it would just not be the same attitude or the same sass. Because that's how we speak in the Caribbean. It's very brooky. And it's like you can understand everything someone means without even finishing the words.

This song is definitely a song that represents my culture. And so I had to put a little twist on my delivery. And I do love that because it does feel like culturally based in that. While at the same time, it feels like a new top 40 hit. I think that's really hard to achieve. And which of course she does with Drake. And she was asked, how is working with Drake different from working with anyone else? She said, um, Drake.

I mean, Drake has a lot to offer. he's very intelligent and so I trust him a lot with his direction. Doing a collaboration with him, you know it's going to be great. Everything he does is so amazing. He's so talented that you kind of just trust that it'll be right. And plus, we know each other. So I know that whatever he writes is going to be honest and it's going to make sense to where I am at in my life.

That's the difference. We know each other. Although I will say, and not to be another anti-Drake just for another second, that right after this is when he does a collab, with Chris Brown, which is not cool in the Navy. He claimed that before Chris Brown became his nemesis over a, quote, woman, guess who that could be? He initially had a moment of hesitation about the collaboration. Why?

Well, he apparently didn't want Rihanna to feel disrespected. That said, he continued by saying that he believes she would be all right with it. Oh, he believes she would. He says, I think of her as family more than anything. And I felt I actually had kind of a moment of hesitation. before because I didn't want her to feel disrespected by me linking up with him, but I also know how many nights she knows

that me and him have both been consumed by this issue. I think she's a good person with a good heart who would rather see us put the issue to bed than continue like childish shit that could end up in a serious situation. Fuck you. Shut up. Why is he still?

Why is he still making music? That's a whole. I mean, that's a whole. I also had to say this about Drake's weiner. Is it dumb? Whatever. Whatever. Fence are good in it.

Oh, the wiener got to whatever jail. Yes, put that weiner in whatever jail. Whatever. All right. Jackie, the floodgates have now been opened. You are now allowed to talk about Fenty. Oh. Fenty!

Fenty! Fenty! I'm wearing Fenty right now. Really? What finty are you wearing? Makeup? Yeah, I'm wearing the diamond, like, highlighter. Oh, cool.

If you ever say you like the look of my cheeks. Because of that highlighter baby from Fenty Beauty. But that's also really cool because I know we're about to get into it, but she talks about how she released, wanted something to release in all different shades and colors. So the fact that, you know, you're enjoying, you know,

shades of, of that release as well. Oh, she represents everybody in the makeup. She really does. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's exactly.

It's incredibly diverse line of makeup, which I think is so cool, exhibited here. And she does say, I'm not the face of my brand. Are you calling us pale as fuck over here? Yes, I'm calling you a pale.

bitch woman. And she says about Fenty, I'm not the face of the brand, but I am the muse, and my DNA has to run all the way through it. I don't want anyone to pull up my website and think Rihanna would never wear that. I also can definitely speak for Savage by Fenty

because I love her lingerie line. Because again, she makes great stuff for all sizes. We'll get into that. I haven't got to go look through that. Oh, yes. And so she had never expected the chairman and chief executive, Bernard Arnold, to invite her to create a fashion house from scratch. She said, I just thought, really? Is he sure? Like now? And then you're left with this opportunity that's a really big risk for everyone involved. But I've never been afraid to take risks. That's the thing that got me out of my own way. I was like, you've never been afraid to do anything or try anything, regardless of the outcome.

So I accepted and we went full steam ahead. Wow, Fenty's only been around since 2017. Yeah, dude. That's crazy. It feels like it's been around forever. It's not even been three years ago. I must have- September of 2017.

I must have started buying it right away then. Yes, I think we were all, they did such a great job of souping it up before everything came out that I've, I still haven't bought anything by Fenty Mason just because I'm a trash person. But I do stare at it. And I think about it a lot.

But it's really more the makeup line and her lingerie line that I stan. Is that what the kids say? Stahn. So let's talk about the timeline here of how she ends up where she gets to with having this great success in fashion. It's just because you're watching. She collaborated in 2011 with Armani and presented her own woman's fashion collection in 2013 for British brand River Island and went on to do three more.

collections with them. That's where it starts. It's back all the way back in 2011. In 2014, she became the creative director of the fashion sportswear Puma over seeing the women's line. That's right. I have some of her Puma shoes, too. They're fucking awesome. Hell yeah. Yeah, she became the first black woman to be the face of

Dior in 2015. So, making huge moves. 2015, that's insane. I know, right? They had no black woman ever? Yeah. Isn't that insane? I guess. At the end of 2015, she launched a beauty and stylist agency named Fame with an eight where the A would be

to assist artists in booking commercials, editorial shoots, and red carpet appearances. So I think this is like, I have a big commercial coming up, or a big, let's say red carpet appearance coming up. I can go to fame and they will give me the whole nine. They'll get me, I'll get set up with the makeup, the clothes, everything. They will all work as a team.

Oh, I would love to see you all done up. You need it. You look pretty. It'd be fun. I wonder how much that costs to get. that service. At least $12. At least $12.

At least $12. Yes. In 2017, she launches Fenty Beauty. I love it. That's like asking a five-year-old how much they think. Yeah, probably $5 at least. I bet it's like $12 whole dollars. In 2017, she launches Finty Beauty, which we were just talking about, the makeup line,

and their first installment included foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush, compacts, lip glosses, and blotting sheets, which were praised for the diverse range for all skin colors. I love this. even had the pale bitch skin color, which is great. That's, of course, the one. Natalie's been using, dad. Celebrity lines are often seen as vanity and brand projects, not serious contenders within an industry.

And overnight, Fenty Beauty seems to be making the $80, $80 billion a year. American beauty and personal care industry take notice. So my favorite is that, so a lot of people say that Fenty was the first makeup company to establish 40 shades in their foundation, everything that they provide. And then makeup forever came out and was like, actually, Rihanna, we were the ones that had 40 shades before you did. But as Rihanna herself decided to point out, just because a foundation shade matches your skin tone doesn't guarantee it'll actually. compliment your skin. Rihanna commented on Makeup Forever's Post twice writing L.O.L. Still ashy and shook. And so that's why I love to. Then reading so many people be like, yes, you can have all the shades. That doesn't mean that it's going to work for women of

color or people of color. You have to know your audience and they didn't have people in there that knew the audience. And as well, even Rihanna is shocked by how people keep saying she says, I'm shocked by people saying, oh my God, what made you think of making makeup for black girls? She said, I'm like, what? You thought this was like a marketing strategy? Like I'm a genius? It's shocking most of the time.

Who the fuck would ask that question? Yeah, it's crazy. That this is a groundbreaking thing right now. In my mind, this was just normal. It's because she even says, as someone that works in beauty, that she would still go from drugstore foundation to drugstore foundation, She said I would go to five different Walmart and Target stores that carried the line,

and I still couldn't find my shade. One day I'd go to one store, the next day I'd driveaways to the other. After all that, I had to end up buying it online. And you know how hard it is to match yourself online. A thousand. I mean, I get that. And so they're calling it the fenty effect, quote unquote, of what she has done for the makeup industry. So in between all this, she's revolutionizing.

the makeup industry as well. On top of the fact that she also writes all of the copy on Fenty Beauty product labels. She says, oh yeah, I write all the copy for the websites, the product descriptions, product names, the color names. Doesn't she have a huge team doing that for her? She says, I do have a huge team, but I just don't necessarily think their tone is mine. I feel like a fraud selling something that I can't stand by. She also writes all of the she, uh, Rihanna and her team strategically used Twitter as the main platform to market Fenty, which garners more followers than her Instagram and thus reaches a wider audience. Wow.

Meanwhile, on Instagram, her social presence is synonymous with her personality as a performer. Her Instagram profile includes story highlights centered around personal and entertaining topics, such as music, makeup, selfies, and insightful Bible verses. But if you look up the Fenty, the Fenty PR, it's all written in her voice. It's something, it makes you, it makes you feel connected to it. It makes you feel like you were buying from Rihanna. Well, it's definitely not a common thing for a celebrity, put their name on a line and then actually oversee everything. Yeah.

Yeah. For sure. Usually they just kind of sell their image to it. Yeah. And you can, you can tell that, you know, she, and I mean, even just based off her Met Gala appearances and things that she super cares about the fashion that she's putting out. I love there was one interview talking about how. She, you know, and I think the first line that she put out, there was like a denim dress that she was saying. She was like, the second I saw that, I had them make it in my size so that I could see what it looked like on me.

I was so excited to, you know, put it out and to be a part of it and to, you know, wear it myself. She's effortlessly beautiful as well, or at least she comes off as effortlessly beautiful. because even down to, I forget if it was Gucci or Dior. She wore a dress where her nipples were exposed. And everyone was like, she's making the stand. She's making the stand. She's freeing the nipples. She's like, no, the dress just didn't look good with the bra.

Yeah. And I wanted to wear it. Her nipples are standing at attention. I mean, they were standing at attention. But you know what? She looked gorgeous. It makes sense. Fucking wear it.

Love it. So the Finty fashion brand formerly launched in May of 2019 under the luxury fashion group LVMH. Rihanna is the first woman and person of color to do this, saying she had been given a, quote, unique opportunity to develop a fashion house in the luxury sector with no artistic limits. And if you know much about fashion houses, I don't know enough, but I do know how impossible it is to get your own. Like, it is so steeped in tradition. It is so historical these houses. Yes.

It really is an incredible feat that she was able to break in. and have her own stuff. Because this is also the same time that she releases Savage by Fenty, which she's got bras available from 32A to 44 D. And some of them go up to H as well. She's got underwear and lingerie from extra small to 3XL. And she says, I approach everything with the same mentality. It has to be authentic.

It has to be me, my perspective. I wanted to do a laundry line for a long time. But it was important to me that it's done right. Everyone should feel good wearing lingerie. That's it. So you were just saying how difficult it is to get into the fashion houses, especially to change it. And I watched The Savage by Fenty Fashion Show, which is unlike any fashion show you have ever seen. You can look up clips online.

So her models don't simply do the loop of the stage. They twerk, they sashay, and they perform intricate movement pieces choreographed by Rihanna's go-to choreogal Paris Gobol. The show plays out like a performance. performance art. A constantly moving and evolving show complete with accompanying performances by the world's bigs like Halsey, DJ Khalid, Migos, Big Sean, and more. It's part fashion show, part music festival, and part contemporary dance recital. Rihanna creates an endlessly entertaining world where women are fierce and in charge of their bodies. It's more edgy Broadway musical than fashion show, and we are here for it. So cool. She also has 41 dancers in the show,

30 models of all sizes. Other models featured in the show were actress and trans-right activist Laverne Cox, drag queen Aquaria, former Fifth Harmony member Normani, plus size model Paloma El Cessner, and amputee mamacacs. Rihanna provided a platform

for women of all shapes, sizes, and creeds to be seen and celebrated. According to the Amazon special, the only stipulation in the casting process was that women love their bodies. That's also a great advertisement for the lingerie. So smart.

If you're moving around in it, that's already saying something because most lingerie, you can stand still in it. Yes, or you can lay flat. Or you can lay. And anything in between. No. You can't adjust yourself in any way. So that is good advertising.

It's so smart. She came in and blew the whole thing out of the water. Isn't that amazing? Also, though, I just want to point out or just take us back to the fact that she started in the streets in a tiny cart selling clothing. Insane. And now, and then she got here. And she got here before she was 30. Before she's 30 years old. Yeah, yeah. Because 2017, she was 29. Isn't that crazy? You can do it.

She works her fucking ass off. And it's not, I don't even, but don't hold yourself to this timeline because it's nearly impossible. Yeah, no, no, we're far past it. So that's, Anybody listening, don't be discouraged by this. This almost never happened. No, we can do it. We can't. We can't. We can't.

But if you don't do it in the timeline that she did, it's okay. Well, I think you should give up. Hit 30, not a billionaire. Give up. That's what I always say. But of course, if you're going to focus on these different business endeavors and stuff, you're not going to be pumping an album out a year and touring is crazy and everything. Rihanna said an album isn't being spat out like it used to.

I used to be in the studio only the studio. studio for three months straight and an album would come out. Now it's like a carousel. I do fashion one day, lingerie the next, beauty the next, then music the next. It's like having a bunch of kids and you need to take care of them all. And also, like I said before, now she is finally taking personal days. She talks about how she has the infamous P on her calendar written on certain days and that people can't mess with her on those days and she actually does self-care at this point. She even puts her phone down, you know? Yeah. Also, while she's doing this into 2018 is when she makes

Guava Island with Donald Glover as well. And apparently she and Donald, which is a, it's a beautiful little experience if you haven't watched Guava Island yet. She calls Childish Gambino a true gem to the culture.

She'd said in an Instagram post, I'm so proud of you in the work you put into making this film because this was Donald Glover's baby. And in it, Rihanna doesn't even sing, and it's about Donald Glover's music. We should do Donald Glover at some point. He blows my mind. But she went to Cuba and they just shut their phones off while they were making the movie.

And they cut out the outside world and they were just in it together. It's beautiful. You know, at the end of the day, you can't be, I want to say that Rihanna, you can't be the best at everything you do. I'm not saying she's going to be winning an Oscar anytime soon. But in this, it seems like she was very close to the peaceful side of herself, or at least that's what it says. seemed like, I really enjoyed it. And it was something that I remember when it came out and I was all excited about it, and then I completely forgot about it.

It's, I think that I watched it on Amazon, even though it's evil. But it's beautiful. Is it on Prime? Yeah, I believe it was streaming on there. I don't, I'll have to check it out. I haven't seen that. She also does Luke Bisson's film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the sci-fi film. It was very bad.

Yeah, I feel like that was very good, apparently. But it's so cool she's doing Luke Bisson's stuff. She also was a part of the all-female cast of Oceans 8, which was big box office hit in 2018. So this is again, while she's building a groundbreaking empire. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. I will also say, I did read enough of it about her to say that she is a woman of faith.

She starts every day with a prayer. She said, I always want to start my day with a little devotion. I buy these devotion books and they're dated. So you just pull up the date and that devotion is for the day. that day and also that this all came from her grandmother. She said, I've always been. My first time praying and fasting was when I was seven years old. I did

that on my own because I wanted to go to New York and I knew that this was a sacrifice. I had to make an order for God to make sure I could get there. My grandmother was the one who started me on this. She gave me a devotion book, a physical one. It was the last thing she gave me before she passed away. Sadly, she lost the book

on an airplane. But I love how she clearly has her head in the right place. She's like, someone's going to find that book. needs it. It needs it. Isn't that beautiful? Yeah, I really do love that. It seems like it reminds me kind of like, I don't know, my wife gets uncomfortable about it, but reminds me a bit of her relationship with this stuff. And I think that's a beautiful way to go.

A beautiful. A beautiful. A beautiful. A beautiful. A beautiful. That's what I think is the most beautiful and it's personal in that way. And Rihanna was even open about, she says, I've been in a place where I felt like maybe I had disappointed God so much that we weren't as close.

Actually, that happened to me while I was making ante. That was a really hard time. But thank God, I got through. it. She's also been very open to the fact that she said that she grew up having seen and that exorcisms were something that happened

in her house. Often. She said, yes, she would see them not only in because she comes from very devout family, she would see them in the churches that she would go to, but apparently she would also see them in her own home. She said, they were praying all around this table and we were young

though, but my aunt, you know, she's really involved in the church. So it was like a few of them. They were praying. And one of the girls got up and she just started screaming. And I remember they locked us in the bedroom because they didn't want kids to see that. But she was screaming and just like throwing herself around. And every time that they would pray, she just starts screaming.

No, no, no, no in this weird voice. I swear to you. It's funny now, but I swear at the time, I was like shitting myself. But you know what, though? Exorcisms are fascinating. I've done a lot of research into them. Yeah. And it really is almost to me, it's a lot of times I think a replacement for,

instead of going into like a metal phase. It's a spiritual cleanse. You have to just scream it out sometimes. And like if you want to call it an exorcism, go ahead. I did it the other day. I drove out. I know I couldn't go to the park. I drove, I parked.

I got out of the car and just went, ah, I think I just needed to scream. Sure. I mean, I will say, though, Jackie, and you're a kid. case, I do think specifically you have a demon that lives in your breasts. Oh my God. Exerciseize it. That is cute. That's why you're always gnashing that about my breasts.

Yeah. With your hands. All I have left to talk about is just a little bit of her philanthropy because it is pretty prolific. All I have left, the huge philanthropic organizations. She's also built. In 2006, she created her Believe Foundation to help terminally ill children. Help me fill in gaps.

By the way, guys, if I'm missing anything or skipping over too much. In 2012, she founded the Clara Lionel Foundation, in honor of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, that hosts several programs, including education programs, and the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology in a hospital in Barbados. It has a big focus on how the world responds to natural disasters, and it supported relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Dorian. They also created a scholarship program for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries

and has given over 60 developing countries access to education. And it's for this organization that she hosts her star studded diamond ball every year. That I've always looked at the pictures of. And I didn't realize that it was for very wealthy celebrities to give money towards her foundation. Maybe we can go sometime. I think we need more money? I think it's more than what I make in a year to attend. That's okay. We just go, Henry.

Henry. Lee. And one of their most recent campaigns is a five-year initiative. Just put all the book money and to go into Diamond Ball. How about that? All right. Every sin he made from the book into Jackie and Natalie going to Diamond Ball. We got to go to Diamond Ball.

One of the most recent campaigns is a five-year initiative donating bicycles to Malawian school girls to keep them safe from the dangers of walking long distances of the road and to reduce school dropout rage. She spent a good amount of time. in Malawi talking to the people that ran all these small towns inside of it to realize what they needed most and is starting to, it's a five-year initiative. I love it. An initiative.

You love to see it. And even recently, in March of 2020, she donated $5 million to COVID-19 relief and a further $2 million in April to provide support and resources to individuals and children suffering from domestic violence amid the lockdown. Oh, my heart. Oh, that's my biggest cause. during this time. Totally, right, Natalie?

I feel like that's one of the scariest thoughts to have is all of these people and these terrible relationships now fully trapped in them. And it always has an uptick during a time where everyone is forced to be in the home together. And she works as an ambassador

for the Global Partnership for Education and even just for instance of what the kind of stuff she does. In February of 2018, with a string of tweets addressing leaders of Britain, France, Australia, Norway. She was like coming at them. Coming at them. She, in

lead up to the International Education Conference in Senegal, she helped raise over $2 billion by tweeting at the leaders of these countries just leading up to the conference. But just being like, where's your head at? Give us money. What are you fucking thinking

about right now? We need money. And she just like, packed out $2 billion. That's wild. And well, she also teamed up with Prince Harry for AIDS awareness. So she does, she is an ambassador for Barbados. And this is something that she has never dropped. So in December of 2016, she met up with Prince Harry to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of Barbadian independence and spread awareness about AIDS. The two of them each took an HIV

test in front of everyone, which is an important step in destigmatizing the disease and bringing the issue to the forefront of the global conversation. I don't want to hear anybody shit talking Harry and fucking Megan, okay? They're good people. You know, well, they might not have HIV, which I, you know, take it or leave it. Another way that they, another way that they spread AIDS awareness, by the way, they would get into a car and roll the window down and just drive around and just scream, AIDS. Yeah, they were looking for it at that point. No, I was like, well, don't do that.

Well, what are you doing for it? What are you doing to help? Huh? At least they're making people think about it. Just screaming it. Don't even say anything about it, just screaming the word AIDS, really. It did, though, help people remember that. But if you forgot about AIDS for a second.

And now she, of course, is being people, no matter what. It's like, it's like, Rihanna can't do anything else. The people are still knocking on her door, asking where her next album is. What I love is that she's like holding it over people, is that she's like, sit there, listen to it. Apparently, she says that an album is done. And she says, it really does suck that it can't just come out because I'm working on a really fun one right now. I'm really happy with a lot of the material we have so far, but I'm not going to put it out until it's complete. Hell yeah.

And she keeps getting asked about it, and she likes to antagonize her fans. She says, well, they antagonize me too, so they get it right back. She says she doesn't want her albums to feel like they have themes. She said, there are no rules. There's no format. There's just good music. And if I feel it, I'm putting it out. Does that mean contrary to reports?

It's not going to be a reggae album, I ask, trying to hide my disappointment. This is an interview. She says, oh, no, no, no, that's happening. I feel like I have no boundaries. I've done everything. I've done all the hits. I've tried every genre. Now I'm just wide open.

I can make anything that I want. I'm very, I know that this is a weird thing to say, I'm very proud of her. I think you're allowed to. I love her. This is insane. Especially because she came in such a young girl.

I feel like the pride comes from the fact that she figured out how to survive that and not fall of itself. And survive her traumatic childhood. Yes. Survive everything. And be a good. person after all of it, she even says, I can't tell you where I'll see myself in five years, but I can tell you I will work my best to be the most successful artist that I can be.

I want to be remembered as Rihanna, remembered as being the artist from the Caribbean who came here and made it internationally, just remembered as me, because I'm true to my music and I just want people to realize that and appreciate me for that. The end! There it is. It is the end. I mean, Lord knows what she's going to keep doing. And, you know, maybe at a couple of years we'll revisit,

we'll probably have a whole other hour of things to talk about with Rihanna to keep you updated because with the way that she's moving, it's such an insane clip. I don't think that her, I don't think her work's going to stop. Her whack, wow, wah, la, la, la. Is it stuck in your head? Thank you so much for joining us for pop history. Thank you so much for joining us for pop history.

This has been a fantastic one. Rihanna Part 2. We did it. If you'd like to check us out further, patreon.com forward slash page 7 podcast. There's constant stuff coming out every single week, $5 a month. Get it, got it, good.

Great. Twitch.tvon TV forward slash Holdenator. So Friday nights, Jackanese. It's fantastic. It is fun. Natalie. Follow me at the Natty Jean and us at page 7 LPN. And all the Trulville episodes are up now for free on YouTube.

So check that out if you need some free entertainment. Noi! There you go. My name is Jackie Zabrowski. You follow me on Instagram at Jack That Worm. We love you guys. Be safe. And we'll be back next week.

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