Bank check the raw uncut outtakes from Rihanna'due south encompass story interview.

This feature appears in Complex'due south February/March 2013 issue.

Rihanna opened up virtually fans, fearlessness, and how to take the perfect self-portrait on Instagram in her latest Complex cover story. But the Bajan dazzler had a lot more than to say during our one-on-one interview. Read on equally she dishes about working with Hereafter and Eminem, her love for strip club records ,and what she'due south numb to.

Is there anything too private that you wouldn't want to share with your fans on Instagram?
Aye, that's why I can't tell you. [Laughs.]

Merely you're pretty comfy with connecting with your fans on social media.
Of course. They know who I am, that'south why I feel comfortable being myself around them. Really, I desire to encourage them to be that way. If you don't alive your life, then who will?

You have a special connection with your fans. How did yous and The Navy go so shut?
Well, at starting time I didn't really use annihilation in the social network globe. I was and then anti-social network, which is kind of ironic. I actually start started on a conversation room on my fan site. My fans didn't really believe it was me. They were asking all these questions and I was giving them existent answers, but they wouldn't believe me. I was like, "Oh my gosh." So I said, You know what? This is the same thing as Twitter. Twitter is merely like a giant chat room that you can text. Almost like you can text your fans.

And then I just started talking to them again. They would ask real questions and I would answer. I gauge we started building a relationship like that and getting really close. They started to observe out things near me, I started to find out a lot of things near them, and y'all realize how much you really have in common with people. They're definitely a fun group—they're really funny. Information technology's hilarious fifty-fifty to simply sentry them. They're and so entertaining. As much as they retrieve I'm entertaining, they entertain me but as much, if non more than.

Congratulations on your album. It'south my favorite so far.
Thanks so much.

You have twelve No. 1 singles which is already a huge achievement, just how important was it for you lot to get that No. 1 U.S. album? Was that the goal?
You know what? I thought almost it for the kickoff few albums and then, later you don't get information technology, eventually it merely goes out of your mind. So, with the seventh one, I actually was thinking to myself, "This album needs to be practiced enough to be a No. ane album."

Non that the others weren't. I just want people to know that information technology'south good plenty. I put so much pressure on myself when I was making this album that Jay-Z actually spoke to me and said, "If you're making this to be a No. one anthology, then y'all're doing information technology for the incorrect reason." Information technology kind of snapped me correct out of it. I said, "You're right. All I need to make is a great anthology." And that's where the pressure actually laid for me.

I wanted this music to be so proficient considering information technology's number seven and you don't get that back. It just had to be perfect for me. And I got worried that it wouldn't be finished in time. I knew I would be able to finish all the songs I had and so far, but I didn't know for certain that that was the body of the album. All the songs were fantastic but sometimes you're like, "Maybe we need a little more this or a little less of that." So I was getting worried in the end, correct up to the very last second, then information technology fell right into place.

Ane of the themes in the anthology seems to be virtually how people call back they know your personal life, merely they actually don't know the one-half of information technology. Was that your intention when you made this record?
I had no intention when I was making this record, except the truth. That's all I wanted. And then whatsoever is in that location is real, information technology'due south raw. It'south all the elements that I am, that I've grown to become so far. That's why the album is called Unapologetic, because it's the truth.

So were you ever apologetic ?
Non apologetic necessarily, simply that I held back before. I didn't bear witness a lot of myself. I was very guarded and it just didn't experience safe to exist like that. I felt like I just needed to be open and free and really only fearless with who I am. Basically just say, "Fuck it. What's the worst that can happen? They'll hate me? They've washed that before." I just felt like you accept to stay close to the footing. You really accept to.

Some of the songwriters and artists on the album you are working with for the showtime time. Do you reach out and pick these collaborators yourself or do these songwriters come to you?
Initially, when we start putting the album together and when we're trying to find the sound, I selection the people that I think can execute it. Nosotros put kind of a little camp together and we switch people in and out and put producers together, put writers together in a room and come across where they go. That kind of lays a foundation and gets people started in a fleck of a direction. When you become one that y'all love, then everybody knows, "OK, this is where we're going."

It was supposed to be me singing the hook on 'Loveeeeee Song,' only Ireally loved [Hereafter's] tone on it. I said we're definitely keeping him on it. Because I love his demeanor on the record.

It was that fashion with "Diamonds." I mean we had some other songs before, but "Diamonds," when I heard that, I knew this is exactly what I want to experience. I want to experience this the whole time. Whether it's fun or whether it's mellow, I want to just have it here [puts hands on her stomach]. And you also have to spend time with the writers, you have to spend time with the producers and really go in the studio, allow them to really know me so it's really piece of cake for them to help me become my story into words.

So there'due south the other half, where the writers write the songs and then they ship it to you, and we had a couple of those that kind of just blew our minds. Like the record with Future to be specific. For that ane, I simply called him and told him, "Just write me a vocal for you, don't write me a vocal for me. Simply write a song yous would beloved." Because I picked upwardly that he had some songwriting skills that could kind of work for a female. A female could also achieve those melodies and it would piece of work. And he sent me that record and the minute I heard it, I was like, "Oh my God. Oh my goodness." It was actually shocking. And sometimes you lot go ones like that that you have zero to do with. [Laughs.] Information technology was perfect.

What did you lot hear from Time to come that made you want to work with him?
I heard a couple songs on his album that only had some unexpected melodies. I wanted him to only write something that people wouldn't really expect to come from him. Just I didn't want to say that, because I didn't want to make him overthink information technology. I just wanted him to write something that he loves, because he already knew he was writing information technology for me. It was supposed to be me singing the hook on "Loveeeee Song," but I really loved his tone on it. I said we're definitely keeping him on information technology. Because I love his demeanor on the record.

I love information technology, because I love "Turn on the Lights." He's such a sensitive thug.
[Laughs.] Aye, that 1 for certain. For certain. The melodies in that? Ugh, sick.


Y'all said "Diamonds" was your favorite record since "Umbrella." What fabricated information technology take that number i spot for yous?
I want people to think similar that, considering, you know, the government even wants to tell people how to love. And I was actually tired of that, you know? That just doesn't make any sense. That vocal for me really did that, and at the aforementioned time, my grandma had just, you know, passed, and it really resonated with our connection and our relationship for me as well. So it was special. It was just special.

When you sing that song, practise you think virtually the human relationship you had with GranGran Dolly?
Every time. Every time. I think about a couple of things, but that's definitely one of them.

I just love working with Eminem. He's just i of my favorite rappers, and his lyrics—he'southward a true poet.

What are the other things that yous remember about?
Love. I recollect about love.

Do you like singing near love the most?
I think love is 1 of the purest things you can sing about. One of the best things you can sing about. But I similar songs that are quirky too, like "S&M." I like fun records too, but love is—there's nothing wrong with it. It'll never get old.

"Numb" is very different from your previous collaboration with Eminem. How did this one come about?
The moment I worked with him on "Love the Way You Lie," I wanted to piece of work with him again, and we did "Love the Manner You lot Lie Part 2." And and so I wanted to piece of work with him once more. [Laughs.] I just love working with Eminem. He'southward simply one of my favorite rappers, and his lyrics—he'south a true poet, and I savor that most him. For this vocal, I needed someone with not merely his skill, but his personality. And I needed someone who really understands the perspective and the metaphor in the song of going numb and being numb to everything around and to say, "Fuck you lot." Eminem is definitely the perfect guy for that.

What are yous numb to?
To the world, to opinions that don't matter, you know? People that don't hold whatever value in your life. That. I'm numb to that, considering that's none of their business concern.

"Bands A Make Her Dance" is one of your favorite songs.
Mmm-hmm.

So did you specifically want to make a strip club record on this album?
Yes, who told you that?

I just figured it out.
Oh shit, that'due south crazy. I specifically wanted to make a strip club record.

And what made yous pick a Mike Volition Made It record over something else?
Really, it picked me. It was 1 of those where I was sent a runway. As a thing of fact, the writers and Mike Will were in the studio and Chris went over there and came back and said, "There'due south this crazy vocal that Mike Will made, y'all should listen to it." And then I had somebody from the label bring it for me then I could hear it. Argh—like right away I knew like this was going to be my record. Like, I knew they made information technology for me, just I merely hadn't heard it withal. But when I heard it, I merely knew that I was keeping it. Information technology'southward one of my favorite ones. Right abroad I couldn't end listening to the demo, over and over.

So Chris heard the record first and was like, "You have to hear this now"?
He was in the studio with them while they were writing for me, so yeah.

One of my favorite songs on the album is "Stay." How did y'all find Mikky Ekko?
Mikky Ekko ended up writing the song for us, and when nosotros first heard it, we loved it. When the kids from Roc Nation constitute it and brought information technology to the states, I loved his voice on it. The tone of his phonation was really beautiful, and the label really asked united states if we could continue him on it. And it turned out perfect—I didn't have a problem with that, because I loved his tone in the first identify. That's what made me fall in dear with it. I just wanted to do it justice, or at to the lowest degree as good as him."

What are you trying to say with the record "Half of Me"?
It basically meant that people presume, and they think they know based off of whatever records, or whatsoever the media feeds to them. It'due south pretty much saying that's all yous accept, and that's not even really the half of it. People take the little scrap of data that they're fed, and they draw a picture of who you are. And about of the time it'south wrong.

You lot sing, you've designed, and you act. Is at that place annihilation else that you want to try?
 I mean, at that place's then many things. Then many things that I can't actually talk about, cause I don't want to give it away annihilation or blight information technology before it happens.

You're already a pop icon. You came from Barbados to America at historic period sixteen. Now you lot're i of the world'south biggest pop stars. Where do you go from hither?
Bigger. It's all about growth.

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