Rihanna is a coffee table book

Coffee table book

A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...

 by Barbadian R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 singer Rihanna

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...

, in collaboration with artistic director Simon Henwood

Simon Henwood

Simon Henwood is a British artist, author, film director, and music video director. Henwood first gained attention as a children's writer and later on for his paintings inspired by adolescence, as well as combining "darkness and hip together"...

. It was released on October 19, 2010.

History

Whilst appearing on British television channel 4Music

4Music

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at with its own and pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and...

, Rihanna said of the book, "It's gonna be a coffee table book with all of these images that people have never seen before. It's like a backstage pass, like a fashion book. It is a creation of Rated R

Rated R (Rihanna album)

Rated R is the fourth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, first released November 20, 2009, on Def Jam Recordings. The album is a musical distance from her previous effort Good Girl Gone Bad , which contained up-tempo and ballad-oriented songs, and it heavily incorporated pop and...

from step one all the way to what it is now. From all the steps, how it was created and how it came to this."

The book was originally titled Rihanna: The Last Girl on Earth, tying in with Henwood's The Omega Man influences and the Last Girl on Earth Tour. The title was later changed to Rihanna.

Release

Rihanna was released in October 2010 in both hardcover and paperback editions.

Also available for a limited time was the Rihanna: Deluxe Edition, a limited edition version of the book featuring a rare photograph of Rihanna at the "Rude Boy" video shoot, signed by the singer herself. It also features a clamshell monogrammed with Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski is the brand name for a range of precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria...

crystals, as well as a CD featuring a special remix of "Photographs" from Rated R. Only a small amount of the Deluxe Edition were made.