What’s Next For Mama Rihanna?
Is Rihanna the ultimate example of the changing face of modern motherhood? She can surprisingly teach us a lot about what it means to create your own path as a working mom today.
The narrative around Rihanna over the past few years has been that she’s slowed down. There had been no new albums since 2016 and no new singles for over two and a half years before her Oscar-nominated Lift Me Up for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and her long-awaited Super Bowl Half-Time Show. The fan frustration with Rihanna — reflected in some of the muted responses to that half-time show — reflects an entitlement many now have over their favorite artists.
But Rihanna has spent her entire career evolving, growing, and branching out to new avenues. She’s done everything from dancehall and RnB to EDM and pop, worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Calvin Harris, starred in movies, published a visual autobiography, launched two business empires, and now, on top of it all, has started a family. Rihanna has never been afraid to take her own path, and now that she’s entered motherhood – a time when many women begin to feel extremely pigeonholed – she’s continuing to refuse to be pegged down. She’s creating her own career, her own way, and opening up people’s minds to a whole new way to be a working mom.
Here’s our Take on Rihanna’s changing career paths, how she became a mom-spiration for working moms everywhere, and why it’s a good thing that she’s chosen to focus on herself instead of fan service.
A MultiI-Hyphenate Talent
It’s been seven years since Rihanna released Anti, her last studio album, and she also hadn’t performed solo onstage for the same length of time before her Superbowl performance. And her re-emergence into music feels undeniably intertwined with her new role as a mom.
Rihanna may have started out as a musician, but arguably she’s been so much more than that for so long. In addition to music, she created her clothing line SavageXFenty, her beloved makeup line Fenty Beauty, and has generally been working on building her brand behind the scenes instead of on stage. She speaks to the new age of celebrity that we’re in, with Glamour calling her the “definition of a multi-hyphenate”, pointing to her varied artistic and philanthropic efforts. And while this variety naturally pulls her away from music, it’s also key to her success. The Outline’s Nikkie Shaner-Bradford writes: “The rise of the “multi-hyphenate” has ironically eliminated the need for any specificity at all, instead implying a complex creative identity grounded in a jack-of-all-trades ideal that conflates production potential with individual worth.”
And while this widespread of interest and endeavors that aren’t music might have led to growing discord among fans, it actually set her up perfectly to enter the world of being a working mother on her own terms. Women often feel pressured to rush back into work after having a child, to prove that becoming a mother hasn’t caused them to “lose touch,” and also have to worry about being pigeonholed into only being seen as a “mom” and having all of their individuality stripped away. Because Rihanna had already become so adept at switching careers depending on what worked best for her, once she took the first steps into motherhood she was able to shift her focus to jobs that worked for her in that moment and leave behind the ones that didn’t. Obviously, Rihanna has much, much more freedom to do this than your average mom, not only because she’s incredibly wealthy but also because she owns her own companies, which changes the working dynamic. But she still provides a wonderful example to everyone that proves that pregnant women and mothers can be more than many stereotypes try to box them in as; they can be sexy and stylish and competent and change up things that are no longer working for them.
And one of the areas that Rihanna has particularly changed the game in is maternity wear. This was to be expected since Rihanna has been one of the most fashionable celebs for over a decade. But many may have been surprised by just how much her confidence and willingness to experiment with fashion during her pregnancies has changed everyone’s idea of what constitutes so-called “acceptable” fashion for pregnant women. Traditionally, many women often feel the need to dress in a very particular way while pregnant, often quite buttoned up and dowdy, regardless of what their true style is. But Rihanna brought out new, edgy looks throughout both of her pregnancies, as always totally unconcerned with the opinions of others. As Michelle Ruiz wrote for Vogue, “Pregnancy is a time often colored by restriction; one that thrusts women and their bodies into the realm of public property, ripe for touching, commenting and critiquing. But in the Rihanna Era, the sartorial rules, at least, are falling away.” And her influence is leading to new options for pregnant women everywhere, with maternity lines following her lead to offer new outfits designed to show off your bump instead of hide it away. And Rihanna herself is dropping a new fashion line for moms and moms-to-be. She told Vogue, “I want to remind people that you can still channel sexiness and feel good while being a parent.” Rihanna might not be making music, but she hasn’t stopped changing the culture. Her success in changing career tracks and unabashedly doing pregnancy and motherhood in her own style has shown the true depth of her multi-hyphenate abilities and continues to inspire women everywhere.
But even given all of this, there are still fans demanding more. They think that Rihanna should only be focusing on what they as fans want, regardless of what might work best for her…
Rihanna Vs Entitled Fans
Today, fans get more from their favorite artists than ever before. It used to be that we’d make do with tours, music and merch, but now this is buoyed by round-the-clock social media content, live Q&As, release premieres, and meet-and-greets. This in turn has made audiences more demanding. When Mitski, for example, asked fans to put their phones away during her performances, her fans pushed back and insisted that they should be able to film her gigs whether she likes it or not.
Rihanna has dealt with her own fair share of demanding stans – wanting new music, new looks, new visuals, new everything. But as she’s continued to gain more control over her career, she’s stopped giving in to demands and instead just done what she wants, when she wants. And looking back at her career, she’s never really followed one linear path or given people the follow-up they were expecting. Her debut, Pon De Replay, was very much part of the dancehall revival. But since then, she’s gone through several musical evolutions. Her second record was defined by mainstream pop like Unfaithful and SOS, before shifting again to something edgier with her breakthrough third record, Good Girl Gone Bad. You could even argue that since then, her biggest hits haven’t had a huge amount in common with each other. Four-Five Seconds, Kiss It Better, B*tch Better Have My Money, Work, Diamonds…these songs all skirt different universes, and speak to what an interesting and unique artist Rihanna is. Even within the realm of music, Rihanna never allowed herself to get put into a single box – so it shouldn’t be surprising that she kept that philosophy as she began to expand her career and empire.
And yet, some people still want more. Fans continue to cry out for new music (not satiated by her single on the Black Panther soundtrack,) continuing to see each new endeavor (including motherhood) as something that’s only taking away from her music. But thankfully as the years have gone on and Rihanna has made it clear that she isn’t going to give in to peer or fan pressure, many have relaxed and started to appreciate Rihanna fully as an artist and businesswoman. She may not be making music, but she is still putting out a lot into the world – and real fans have realized that they aren’t missing out, they’re just getting something else great instead. And she’s also clearly proven that not giving into fan service won’t automatically ruin your career – fans have been upset about her lack of new music for seven years, but will gladly wait around for her seven more if that’s what she wants – because at the end of the day, even if they might be disappointed, they’re not going to stop being fans.
Stepping back from music has also allowed Rihanna to remove herself from the more toxic aspects of that industry. Being a top-tier music act can be grueling, and often doesn’t pause even for new mothers – take Beyonce vowing to “never push [herself] that far again” after going into overdrive to get stage-ready for Beychella just months after giving birth. Stepping back from music and performing, and only agreeing to do it if it’s on her terms, also helped to keep herself healthy and safe during her pregnancies and early motherhood. Again, just taking however much time you want off of work unfortunately isn’t at all realistic for most pregnant women and new mothers. But Rihanna finding new ways to explore her creativity without having to get sucked back into the most grueling part of her work does give hope that the face of working motherhood can start changing for everyone.
Conclusion
Rihanna alone isn’t going to be enough to change the way pregnant women and working mothers are treated around the world, of course. But seeing her carve out her own path, and being unafraid to look however she wants while doing it, is inspirational. It’s also sparked many important discussions: from breaking the restrictions on maternity wear to following your creative path even if it isn’t what people might expect, to the larger problem with fan entitlement.
Undeniably, it feels good to have Rihanna back, performing, and dropping new music (even if it is only one song.) But part of that is because she’s come back on her terms, when she was ready. We could lament the time she spent away, and the records we didn’t get, or we could celebrate her achievements and her growth, and get excited about what that might mean for her upcoming eras. Rihanna has become an icon, larger than any one industry or career path, and she’s using her status to create the life she wants, as an artist, a mother, and a human being.
[ET 4:55: “You can get real comfortable by yourself being at home as a mom. Challenging yourself to live up to something you’ve never done in your career, I have to live up to that challenge.” https://youtu.be/xWGMAvNWdII]
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