Rihanna and Akon will be at the Pontiac Theatre Bowl at GM Place Saturday Sept. 15. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.ca and cost $39.50-$55.50.

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At 19, stunning Barbadian R & B beauty Rihanna has already sold 5.4 million albums, released five No. 1 singles, worked with industry mega-stars, been compared to one-woman-brand Beyonce and insured her legs for US$1-million. That might explain the barely-out-of-high-school teen’s new bad-girl demeanour, which comes complete with scandalous outfits, sexy videos and diva behaviour.

Rihanna’s fittingly titled third record, Good Girl Gone Bad, has been dominating the charts through the prowess of the catchy first single, Umbrella, which features a guest spot by rapper Jay-Z, who discovered the singer and put her on his Def Jam label. The record has also ushered in a naughtier image for the fresh-faced singer, who was first introduced to us as a soft, island beauty with songs such as last summer’s inescapable dance-hall smash SOS, club classic Pon De Replay, power-ballad Unfaithful and R & B staple We Ride. Now, Rihanna has traded in her ballads and tropical dresses for latex booty shorts, fishnet stockings and, sometimes, nothing but body paint, such as in the video for Umbrella.

“I basically took the attitude of the bad girl, and I really got rebellious and just did everything the way I wanted to do it,” she says of her new album. “I didn’t want to listen to anybody. I didn’t consult with anybody. I just want to have a little more fun with my music and be a little more experimental in terms of my image and my sound. I just reinvented myself.”

It seems the bad-girl attitude isn’t only an act: Arriving more than an hour late for our interview, Rihanna was finally ushered in, accompanied by an army-sized entourage that included several publicists and managers. The starlet ignored everyone as she rubbed her arms with coconut body butter and pouted to her stylist about her clothes, while a makeup artist touched up her lipstick and a hairdresser smoothed out strands that dared to stray out of place. Looking bored and bothered by the proceedings, the singer certainly wasn’t on good-girl behaviour.

“A bad girl, it’s all about the attitude that you take toward things,” she says. “I’m not being careful. I’m just having fun. I’m taking risks because bad girls take risks.”

As for the risky new outfits she’s been donning, Rihanna explains that she wasn’t pressured to sex it up by anyone –it all came from her.

“Actually, when I dress in a sexier way, I feel pressure to hold back,” she says, even while acknowledging that she was a little uncomfortable in body paint for her new video. “I was actually anxious. After I got it on and had to actually go in front of a camera, then I got a little nervous. But while I was doing it, while someone was putting it on, I was having fun. I was having a blast!”

The hit-maker says that recording Good Girl Gone Bad was enjoyable, largely because of the help she had from artists such as Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.

“It’s just an honour to work with Justin. He’s a fun guy, a great artist and a very talented person,” she boasts. “Jay-Z, he is such a perfectionist. That’s what I love about working with him; everything has to be done in the most perfect way possible. Timbaland, he just has so much fun with his creativity.”

It wasn’t too long ago that Rihanna’s singing was more of a nuisance than a commodity sought by the hottest producers. Growing up in Barbados, the teen would sing in the shower, much to the dismay of her curmudgeonly neighbours, who complained about her loud vocals.

“I laugh about it all the time. It’s just crazy to me. It’s like, ‘Whoa, I remember those days. That’s crazy,’” Rihanna says of her humble past. “Every time I go back to Barbados, I see ‘the neighbours.’ And, no, they don’t complain any more.”

-Rihanna performs at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto on Sept. 22.
Source: Canada.com