JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE November issue 2015 | Page 29

We were all the first
black face of Dior.
We were all punk
enough to wear the
silk-screened jeans
of SonyA
Sombreuil. Being
Rihanna just feels
good, at least from
the outside.
‘‘Can you describe
what it’s like in your
head?’’
‘‘You’re a ‘nextmoment’ person,’’
she surmised. ‘‘Not
an ‘in-the-moment’
person.’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ I admitted,
knowing that this is
the wrong kind of
person to be.
‘‘I’m the same way.
Only now are things
hitting me, like I’m
feeling them
emotionally. I used
to feel unsafe right
in the moment of an
accomplishment — I
felt the ground fall
from under my feet
JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE

because this could
be the end. And
even now, while
everyone is
celebrating, I’m on
to the next thing. I
don’t want to get
lost in this big
cushion of success.’’
And this is how you
go from being a
child with a good
voice to selling 54
million albums in
just 10 years. Don’t
believe the pictures
— in between each
poolside party photo
is an untaken one in
which she’s simply
working. Almost
every night, when
you’re asleep,
Rihanna is in the
studio. She was
headed there after
our meeting and
Jennifer said she’d
be there until
morning. At that
very moment the
sound engineer was
waiting for her, just
as I had been