Rihanna performed her last show in Europe last night, at V Fest in England. Rihanna got up on stage in her own AW16 Fenty x Puma collection. Rihanna went out with a bang.
The collection, which features Rihanna’s close friend Naomi Campbell as the face of it’s campaign, will be in stores September 6. The pictures of Naomi are as fierce as they are edgy – everything they both stand for.
I gotta say nothing compares to seeing the collection on Rihanna though. There’s plenty of pieces we’re all gonna want to wear, but I’m not sure who’s going to be able to pull it off after seeing how it could be done:
Not to mention this promo pic PUMA just released….
While struck by her looks and this collection, I’m also so very sad that she’ll be leaving Europe now. It’s been amazing having her here and I’m scared we’ll have to wait another 3 years for it to happen again (even if I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long for the next album).
I’ve gotten to catch 4 shows myself and all of them were such an experience. The first set with Woo, Bitch Better Have My Money, Pour It Up, Numb, Birthday Cake etc was the highlight for me. It’s the ultimate party track and Rihanna looks so happy to perform each and every song. My second favorite set is the forth and final one (it can’t be number 1 when you know the show is about to end tbh). It’s the part of the show where she gets to shine, vocally and artistically, and there’s absolutely no doubt of how proud she is of the songs in it.
After the show last night, Rihanna revealed what her next single is going to be and to no one’s surprise it’s the already infamous Love on the brain. This song became a fan favorite as soon as ANTi dropped and has just continued to grow on us, her and the general audience with every performance.
Finally it’s becoming an official single, the forth off of ANTi.
On behalf of the entire navy I’d like to say THANK YOU for visiting us Rihanna! We’ve made so many memories together and for this we’re forever grateful. <3
I’m suffering from some kind of post concert(s) exhaustion and have been trying to recover on a windy Malmö beach but to be honest, there seem to be no way to come back from the experience. With 3 shows in 5 days (Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen) my mind is nowhere close to letting go of the experience.
I’m happy I went to these specific dates as they turned out to be very different from each other. In Oslo, the setting was extremely intimate and I could touch the stage by just stretching my arm out. As I did so during the concert Rihanna took my hand and I died. It was an experience I will never forget, but perhaps I didn’t realize just how special it was until after the other shows.
In Stockholm there was the endless queueing and huge stage, far beyond an arm’s length and way higher than the one in Oslo. The anticipation was so built up during the 24 hours of waiting that my adrenaline was on a completely different level (also my bladder almost exploded). It felt like Tele2 Arena was equally as shook by the hype inside its walls as Rihanna was and make no mistake, we felt in on the first row. Bruising was real, as were the many people having to be lifted out around us.
Copenhagen took place outside and with a completely different atmosphere. The ground was muddy from rain and with no seated guests it felt more like a festival show. Here we didn’t have Early Entry so no queueing was involved. We did however make sure to be front row for Stage B, which to my surprise no one else seemed to have thought of. As she made her lap around the white cubical and saw our faces she immediately recognized us which felt great. Once she got on the bridge we hurried to the mid section and got to witness the peak of Sex With Me from underneath her.
The Malmö show isn’t until Aug 2nd so I have plenty of time to get nervous again, anxious again, excited again. More and more fans are buying tickets for it each day, which means I’ll get to meet a lot of internet friends for the first time. Really looking forward to that, and seeing Fenty slay me one last time.
We feel a need to comment on the reviews and articles written about Rihanna and her performance in Stockholm, starting with our own segment on Kulturnyheterna. Like we said earlier, we are not happy about the way it was handled. In the article they describe our questioning of the reporter’s sexist statements as ”Ebba and Alexandra don’t appreciate being asked critical questions about their idol”.
Let us be perfectly clear: we do not appreciate slut shaming. Period.
If you slut shame Rihanna we’re gonna call you out on it. If you slut shame your sister we’re gonna call you out on it. Simple as that. How about asking us if there’s any problematic sides to being a fan? We will gladly elaborate on classism, ageism, ableism and disappointment (to name a few topics that would be interesting to discuss in the context of stanning), but don’t grab us in the middle of a 24 hour queuing session to question Rihanna’s right to her own body. That’s not only rude to her but to us who are sitting on some mighty fine knowledge and experience in the field of Fenty.
Now, let’s get into the reviews. Expressen’s Anders Nunstedt said she’s lip syncing her way through the show. He must not have watched her because Rihanna does not hide the fact that she doesn’t sing every line. There’s plenty of places where she leaves the singing to her audience, while she vibes out to her own beat, but she’s not pretending to sing when she isn’t. There’s also a lot of knowledge gaps attached to this, like him saying she’d rather snap her fingers than sing during Consideration, not knowing the voice we hear in the speakers is SZA’s (as this was a collaboration between the two).
”The dramaturgy is very unconsidered.” – Anders Nunstedt
Let’s get into this, because if there’s one thing this show has it’s a framing. The core is intimacy and authenticity, whether it’s seeing her walk in through the audience, getting to admire her butt cheeks from underneath or being let into a very private and unfiltered space during Love On The Brain. The set design and costumes are also clean and rather simple, with nothing to distract us from Rihanna (because Rihanna is what we came to see). When her stylist Mel Ottenberg talked to Vogue about the costumes, he said:
”I really wanted to start in something with canvas, with no decoration or beading or anything, sort of as a fresh start” and that the designs are ”anti what any pop diva would ever be wearing”. – Mel Ottenberg
So the show starts out with Rihanna walking into the arena to Stay, eyes covered by a giant hood attached to a mix between a boxer’s robe and a straight jacket. The first two songs are about not being able to let go and needing another person (however destructive they may be) in order to survive. The transition from that exposed and honest place she’s in on stage B to the main stage is executed with over-exposure. She has never been able to hide from the public eye and her respons is to own that situation rather than being contained by it. So she walks above our heads inviting fans to photograph as much as they like (and reposting much of it on her social media platforms later).
Then there’s the party section. The ratchet section. The hanging-with-your-friends-finding-happiness-section. The I don’t give a fuck and that’s what you love about me section. This is her show and she owns it. It’s obvious that the ANTI tracks are the most fun for her to perform so that’s what she’s gonna do.
Anders Nunstedt claims she doesn’t know how to do an arena show. What he doesn’t understand is that she’s not doing an arena show, she’s doing a Rihanna show. This is what her fans came to see. Not a perfectly choreographed Beyoncé show, not an over the top crazy pop fest with Lady Gaga, not Coldplay’s bombastic light plays, not Katy’s wonderlands – this is Rihanna and SHE is what drives everything forward. She’s the villain and hero all in one. The anti-hero.
The finale kicks off with Same Ol’ Mistakes (”Feel like a brand new persoooooon”) and ends with a series of ballads about liberation, self love and desire. This time around, the love songs centers herself rather than a partner. A matured Rihanna has taken off her straight jacket and says goodbye by walking across the stage looking us straight in the eyes, waving.
A show that started out with tortured love ends up in its opposite. The journey from one point to another is built on honesty, friendship and artistic development. She’s giving us her story. If the show seems messy it’s because life is.
— Rihanna Performances (@rihperformances) July 4, 2016
After reading Markus Larsson’s review for Aftonbladet we started to see a trend of middle aged white men not getting Rihanna. The fact that the papers even send these guys out to review her is mind-boggling. If you compare Larsson’s review with the one he did of Håkan Hellström at Ullevi for example, it’s obvious he identifies with one and not the other. That is of course perfectly fine, but what’s interesting is that both he and Nunstedt see it as her failure that she doesn’t appeal to them. We’d say that that’s what makes her precious.
But they’re not being adressed by Rihanna and can’t comprehend that other people are. None of them even questions if that might actually be an artistic quality instead of a failed attempt at filling their expectations. Rihanna clearly doesn’t give a fuck, they should know her well enough.
”The two shows at Ullevi are like a movie where the misfits, all the boys and girls of different ages that never got to feel normal, gets to play the lead. For a short while it’s the losers’ time to win.” – Markus Larsson reviews Håkan Hellström [our translation]
First of all LOL at Håkan representing some kind of misfits and losers. He’s a dude with a guitar and you’re a dude who likes music. While we’re sure both of you have lived through your share of darker times there’s no oppression or actual alienation involved. Try comparing it to a working class black girl from Barbados. Try adding addiction and abuse to that upbringing. If there ever was an audience of losers provided with someone like themselves to look up to for the first time, it’s at a Rihanna show. But once again, that’s out of Larsson’s reach. Instead he calls the show a ”poorly mixed dj-set”.
Try to imagine Aftonbladet and Expressen sending a young black girl to review Håkan Hellström. That would never happen, so why are they pushing these men upon us? Time to hire new people with the expertise that’s so obviously missing.
Let’s end this on a good note though. Here is Rihanna’s own review:
We’re in! The scene was crazy with people arriving just before doors opened cutting before those who’ve been here all night.
The stage is A LOT higher than in Oslo. Like a lot.
Four hours of fighting to keep our spots remain. At the same time our navy friends are trying to get Rihanna to bring us backstage later. Our hopes aren’t high but just seeing all these people direct messaging her about us is beyond. We love our fanbase so damn much!!!!! Nobody goes harder than Rihanna navy.
Aight, we’ve moved on to next step on this journey by registering as early entry and getting our wristbands. We’ve also received the VIP gifts that included a poster, laminated card and power bank.
Kulturnyheterna (SVT) came by to record a segment with us (Ebba and Alex) earlier. It will air at 6:15pm tonight for those of you who are interested. We have to say the questions were mad sexist and rude though, so not sure we’ll be all too happy with the outcome. Note to reporters: when you’re interviewing people who are really knowledgable in a field, treat their experience with respect and not insult. Half of the questions we got sounded like
”What do you think of Rihanna taking her clothes of all the time?”
”What’s the difference between you and a stalker?”
”Is it healthy to be this obsessed?”
Rihanna is in town and hundreds of people are queuing. We’re the first people in that queue and the amount of clothes Rihanna is or isn’t wearing is the most relevant thing you can think of? Nah. We don’t buy that.
4.15pm is out next happening. We’ll then be let in to the arena. Yikes.
Four hours of fighting to keep our spots remain. At the same time our navy friends are trying to get Rihanna to bring us backstage later. Our hopes aren’t high but just seeing all these people direct messaging her about us is beyond. We love our fanbase so damn much!!!!! Nobody goes harder than Rihanna navy.
