JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE November issue 2015 | Page 36

you because you’re
packaged a certain
way — they’ve been
programmed to
think a black man in
a hoodie means grab
your purse a little
tighter. For me, it
comes down to
smaller issues,
scenarios in which
people can assume
something of me
without knowing
me, just by my
packaging.’’
While none of us are
only our skin or
clothes, we do
increasingly expect
megastars to deploy
their whole being
through packaging
— a tidy and
consistent message.
If Rihanna has a
‘‘thing’’ it’s that she
changes her thing so
often. While a
performer
positioning
themselves in
relation to the art
world might try to
JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE

make this into a
more overt
performance,
something that
would reassure the
intelligentsia,
Rihanna isn’t meta
like that. She hasn’t
created a persona
around herself like
Beyoncé, Lady
Gaga, Madonna or
so many other stars
at her level. She
doesn’t have to
manufacture
dimensionality,
because she actually
is soulful, and this
comes across in
every little thing she
does.
Souls are funny
things. They stay
constant even when
the outside changes,
or when the heart
makes mistakes.
Souls don’t really
care about good or
bad, right or wrong
— they’re just true.
Everlasting. It
makes you sound