Robyn Fenty, better known to the rest of the world as the successful pop star and fashion icon Rihanna, now has a net worth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. She’s one of the richest female entertainers in the world, right after Oprah Winfrey. However, it’s not the artist’s music alone that brought her all this wealth—a good chunk of her money comes from her makeup line, Fenty Beauty, with the rest lying in her lingerie company’s stake, along with her earnings as an actress and musician.
Here’s everything you need to know about Rihanna and her influence in the past decade:
Rihanna’s inclusive makeup line
This Barbados-born beauty isn’t alone in capitalizing on her social media presence to create a beauty brand, but she’s one of the most successful entrepreneurs to do so. Fenty Beauty was launched in 2017 as a half-and-half joint venture alongside one of the largest conglomerates for French luxury goods, LVMH, which is run by the second richest person in the world.
The goal of this beauty venture was to make women everywhere feel like they were included, and it’s clear that Rihanna succeeded considering the diverse range of shades. Darker shades in the foundation were notoriously difficult to find until she dropped her 50-shade line that’s modeled by diverse people.
The product witnessed instant success and beat other celebrity brands such as Kylie Cosmetics and KKW Beauty within the year.
Incredible lingerie line
Rihanna has always been known as a fashion icon who isn’t afraid to take risks and loves to play up her sexy, feminine side. Who’s a better face for the billion-dollar lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, than herself? The company was created as another joint venture alongside the TechStyleFashion Group and had many blue-chip investors such as Marcy Venture Partner—owned by Jay-Z—and L. Catterton.
The lingerie line was met with instant success as fans lauded the artist and entrepreneur for her inclusivity and modern, attractive designs that could fit many different body types and shapes.
Fans only have one complaint about Rihanna’s budding career as the ultimate beauty and fashion mogul—she’s way too busy. The singer used to release a new album almost every year since her debut, but we haven’t gotten a chance to hear her beautiful, husky vocals in anything new since 2016.
Radio influence
Critics often describe Rihanna’s singing as ‘thin’ or ‘flat,’ suggesting that her voice is a weak point compared to her otherwise impressive plumage. However, if you ever turn the radio on, you’re going to hear bits and pieces of her style in almost every song. Her slightly nasal yet husky even-toned voice is tinged with island influences without having any clear regional markers. It’s the perfect description for many popular pop songs by a lot of different artists these days.
It’s impossible to escape Rihanna’s vocal style and influence in the past decade. Almost every major dance-pop song with militant choruses and breathy verses can be replaced with Rihanna’s voice. Once you imagine these songs being sung by Rihanna, it’s hard to think of them as anything more than glorified references that never discovered a proper home.
Unique voice
Rihanna’s voice is incredibly adaptable—while the singer is from Barbados, and many interviews showcase her gorgeous Bajan accent, it’s rather obscured when it comes to her songs. Her singing voice is almost universal, with a linguist who doesn’t have any knowledge of her background easily being able to imagine that she was born in Wisconsin to a Bostonian mother and Jamaican father.
One possible reason for this scramble of different accents is because of her assimilation into American culture. According to the artist herself, she had to learn how to adjust her accent for business conversations and interviews. Rihanna Voice is an industry-wide phenomenon where all pop songs on the radio are lightly drizzled with her percussiveness before being released.
Find out more about Rihanna on our album review site!
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