Rihanna is never one to shy away from speaking her mind, whether its expressing her feelings about a situation -- or more often -- crafting the perfectly timed diss. Reuters
Rihanna is known for her shameless displays of unconcern. Whether in interviews or on her social media accounts, she expresses her mind freely and continually addresses situations in the most honest manner she knows how.
In celebration of Rihanna turning another year older this month, we’re honoring pop culture’s reigning mean girl with a recap of some of her best shade-throwing from the past year.
1. When She Took Chris Brown to the Grammy Awards
When it comes to music's biggest night, what better way to throw a massive middle finger to your concerned fans and the entire industry by sitting beside your ex and convicted abuser. Rihanna did just that at the Grammy Awards in 2013, publicly verifying the troubled pair’s renewed friendship and stirring questions about just how close the two had grown in the months leading up to the ceremony.
Though things apparently cooled off between the two as the year continued, their Grammys appearance remains a legendary example of Rihanna's unabashed dedication to living her life as exactly how she chooses – even if it includes a little awards show cuddling with her ex.
2. When She Questioned the Relevance of Ciara’s Career
Rihanna slammed Ciara in an Instagram post last spring, questioning why the rival songstress was willing to let her feud with Rihanna be the focus of her interviews:
"Why am I still the main topic of her interviews!! She don't be shame tho? How she let em play her like that everytime?? It's like, "yea, I know you're here to talk about (insert album title) but we wanna talk about a more relevant topic... Rihanna!!!" Like she sits there and falls for it everytime!!" she said.
And though humility can be a lovely trait, it's nice to know Rihanna proudly recognizes her never-ending relevance in our lives.
3. When She Mocked Teyana Taylor and Snatched One of Her Checks
After a questionable video was posted on Rihanna's Instagram account that appeared to mock the singer, Teyana took to her Twitter account to blast mean girl RiRi. Unfortunately for her, Taylor took her jabs a little to far and ultimately was dropped from her highly anticipated sneaker deal with Adidas.
On the other hand, Rihanna continues to pump out the promotional deals, magazine covers and lucrative MAC collaborations. No need to say who got the last laugh, again.
4. When She Repurposed Karrueche Tran’s Halloween Costume
Rihanna happily copied Karrueche Tran's Halloween look. Instagram/Karrueche and BadGalRiRI
It seems that RiRi never runs out of ways to subliminally call out Brown’s sometime girlfriend Karrueche Tran.
Just last Halloween, Tran posted a black-and-white picture to Instagram of her Chola-inspired costume. Days later, Rihanna posted several images to IG of her own Halloween costume -- a greyed-out female Chola look, eerily similar to Tran’s. But the kicker was the "zombie" paint that made her pictures appear to be black-and-white photos. The “coincidence” was beyond intentional. But we're sure Tran is numb to the disses by now.
5. When She Wanted to Be Anywhere But the MTV VMAs
Miley Cyrus, Drake, and Robin Thicke all received cold stares from RiRi during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. That warm August night marked some of her most hilarious expressions of both annoyance and discontent.
She came.
She saw.
She was unimpressed.
6. When She Attempted to Elevate the Doobie Wrap to an Actual Hairstyle
The epitome of "I don't care" came when Rihanna attended the 2013 American Music Awards with her hair in a doobie wrap -- a way that women set their hair at night for it to be more easily styled the next day. She was there to receive the AMAs' first Icon Award ever presented to an artist. But Rihanna threw some bedazzled bobby pins in her doobie, walked on stage and successfully showed the audience and millions of viewers at home that the freshness of her hair comes before any measly musical honor.
And with that, here's to yet another year of unapologetic side eyes and shade!
