Baddie Bey

Her return back to the industry from her pregnancy began with a release of post-pregnancy photos in G.Q. Magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women of the Twenty First Century edition.” Grammy- award singer, Beyonce’ Knowles, graced the cover of G.Q. Magazine February 2013 edition, wearing only a cut cropped shirt revealing the bottom of her breast, and cheek panties. Of course, critics had a lot to say about this, but there was not much positive feedback. The cover and the photos stirred up controversy. Recently, Beyonce’ has seemingly began a streak of what may be “bad-girl” behavior by her revealing photos and most recent single named,” Bow Down.”

             This new bad girl image appears to be a new trend from Beyonce’. But is it a marketing scheme for Beyonce’ to remain in the limelight? After the release of her G.Q. Cover, many critics felt as though the G.Q. cover was a scheme to boost sales for Beyoncé’s upcoming solo and Destiny’s child album. Others assumed that she did it to heighten the excitement for her fans for her performance at the Super Bowl. Both reasons may be true; this new image is grasping the attention of the media and fans.

            The most recent controversial incident from Beyonce occurred about three days ago with the release of her new song “Bow Down.” “Bow Down,” along with “I Been On,” was released as teasers and are said to be the two hits of Beyonce’s upcoming album. However, many of her fans and other critics were not pleased with the release. The lyrics in the song suggest a more raw, bad girl attitude. It includes her constantly using the B-word, which caused critics and fans to question her squeaky clean, super-star image. However, Entertainment Weekly says that Beyonce’s new song shows that she is able to remain contemporary as an artist.

            With this new “bad-girl” image, Beyonce’ may begin to offend her fans and many others who are not used to seeing her in this light. However, after two years of not being in the spotlight, it is by no chance that Beyonce’ has decided to revamp her image, making it appeal more to what the market wants. If that means showing a little skin to stir up a buzz, then one can see more photos like the G.Q. cover to surface.

Here is the link to the new single from Beyonce.

http://cdn.mediatakeout.com/61796/well-looks-like-beyonce-s-album-is-gonna-flop-her-first-song-is-so-bad-it-sounds-like-this-is-a-joke.html

Rihanna and River Island

The edgy new line “Rihanna at River Island,” debuted at this years London Fashion week. The 120-piece collection showcased designs that were inspired by the 90’s and had a laid-back, chic, flirty, and sexy appeal. The launch of Rihanna’s line makes her the latest celebrity to cross over into fashion and design. However, this deal between River Island and Rihanna has brought about a lot of controversy.

The fashion industry has become very skeptical about the idea of untrained designers that put their work on the catwalk, particularly those who tend to be cashing in on their name. Many critics feel as though Rihanna has agreed to start this line with River Island, in order to cash in on the 800 million pounds promised to her in the deal. According to an article in the Guardian, fashion enthusiast who looked forward to London Fashion week were not pleased with the collection brought forth by the pop star. Critics’ reviews from the show were quite mixed. Many assumed that the line would make a sexy, creative, and influential debut to the fashion world but it was borderline pornographic. Based on the reviews, the deal between Rihanna and River Island may not become a cash cow as both parties hoped. Prior to the launch, the new partners began on rocky grounds.

On Valentine’s Day, Rihanna gave her new partners a headache by positing pictures on twitter of what looked like a flower- shaped cannabis bud that had the written text, “ Roses are green! Somebody knows how to make me happy.” River Island was not pleased with this. It was not the publicity they were looking for before the launch and words were exchanged. River Island sought it necessary to pursue damage control over this matter to protect their product and brand image. As a result, River Island reined Rihanna in for the weekend, in order to avoid any more scandals during their launch.

If the beginning of this partnership between Rihanna and River Island is an indication of what will transpire throughout the rest of the agreement, it could be a watershed moment for River Island; a chain that has been trailing behind.