I would have never dreamed that my career would be this successful. I grew up in an average home in Barbados, and we didn't live in the best neighborhood. But I was never aware that we were poor; my mom never made us feel that way. She loved me unconditionally. She made us feel anything was possible and instilled in me such confidence.
RihannaWhen I was fourteen and first started going out, I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls.
RihannaI have several videos on my phone that I’ve never released. Having dance parties in our car, don’t be jealous!
RihannaAnything that feels familiar and comfortable [is home]. It's wherever I feel safe and safest. Most of the time, that's just Barbados. It's warm, it's beautiful, it's the beach, it's my family, it's the food, it's the music. Everything feels familiar, feels right and feels safe. So, Barbados is home for me.
RihannaAll humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes. I mean, I could see myself in a relationship with a girl.
RihannaSo I guess I'm a fool, I'm a fool in love. But I'm willing to stay here, and bask in the glory of his heart.
RihannaAs a young female I think it's important that young people know there's nothing wrong with having fun, nobody is telling us to be square or be boring, but we have to be safe.
RihannaI feel like pop stars can't be rock stars anymore because they have to be role models, and it takes the fun out of it for us, because we just want to have fun with art.
RihannaI stand up for what I believe in and a lot of the time that can be against people's opinion.
RihannaThere's not any religion or any culture or any race or any generation that cannot get AIDS or HIV. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves and get tested to know our status, and spread the word.
RihannaWhen something feels real, you don’t make any apologies for it. When it feels good to you, nothing else matters. Everything else is just noise.
RihannaWhen I was in love, I fell so hard. I was really, really, really in love. The way it made me feel was priceless. And in a blink of an eye, my whole life changed. Everything that I knew was different. I never thought I'd feel that pain in my life.
RihannaMusic and fashion go hand in hand. I think music inspires all types of arts; it inspires life, emotion, mood, and all of those things are reflected in my fashion and my style. One doesn’t go without the other.
RihannaSomething is wrong with Eminem. He has so much in his mind that I almost feel lucky that he has music. I feel like he has so much in his head that music is such a great release for him. He is one of my favorite artists. Absolutely.
RihannaThe music is an important and crucial part to an animated film. You don't think about it, but you can watch Tom and Jerry with no words, for hours, and the music dictates the emotion and where the story is going and how you're supposed to feel. Everything is in the music.
RihannaIf you sexy and you know it and you ain't afraid to show it. Put a candle on my motherfu*king back baby blow it.
RihannaI wouldn't want to promote teenage girls having sex. But the reality is, it's happening, and they're just a little too young to understand how careful they need to be. That's a big battle with me, because I'm 23, and a lot of my fans are eight years younger than I am, so there's a bit of a tug-of-war there. I want to set the right example and, at the same time, live my life.
RihannaI hate going to the gym and doing it the old-fashioned way. I hate anything that's too straightforward, too routine, too familiar. I get bored really, really quickly.
RihannaMan down is a song about a girl who has committed a murder that she regrets and is completely remorseful about.
RihannaWhen you realize who you live for, and who's important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I'm gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it - and I lived it for me.
RihannaWhile in America beautiful is skinny, in Barbados it's thick - girls with huge butts and nice curves.
RihannaYoung people, we have this thing about us, this invincibility, because we're young and we're growing up and we want to have fun, and we want to be crazy, and nothing's wrong with that unless you're not being responsible.
RihannaPeople think, because we're young, we aren't complex, but that's not true. We deal with life and love and broken hearts in the same way a woman a few years older might.
RihannaDon't be afraid to be yourself just because you're not like everybody else in class. If you want to dye your hair green and that's what makes you happy, then dye your hair green, no matter what other people might say about it. Not everybody is going to like you - that's the world we live in; that's reality.
Rihanna