Inked Mag Staff
December 9th, 2015
VIDEO: Rihanna Straddles and Tattoos Somebody For Her Album Campaign
In case you haven’t heard—or seen—Rihanna has a new album coming out titled ANTI. The bad gal teamed up with Samsung to promote the LP by teasing the public with a video…
In case you haven’t heard—or seen—Rihanna has a new album coming out titled ANTI. The bad gal teamed up with Samsung to promote the LP by teasing the public with a video campaign, ANTIdiary. Each week, a new video is released in anticipation of her eighth studio album; she is keeping the release date top secret.
The point of the campaign is to show viewers how she got to where she is today. The first video (R1) of the series was titled “Bedr0om,” followed by R2, “Studio,” then R3, “Closet.” This week, RiRi debuted video R4, “Tatt0o Parlor,” in which she straddles a helpless, heavily tattooed guy while tattooing dots on his forehead. While being tattooed, blue ink seeps out from inside of him.
At the end of each video, the viewer is prompted to tour the room through a virtual simulation, using his/her smartphone as the interface. It kind of feels like you are playing Grand Theft Auto, except instead of wreaking havoc on peaceful streets you are roaming through Rihanna’s bedroom, seeing little girls (a little Rihanna?) in her closet mirror, and watching a man ink himself in a tattoo parlor. Each simulation is said to provide clues referencing what’s to come from ANTI.
Every simulation is also accompanied by a graphic denoting the meaning behind certain symbols. The graphic for “Tatt0o Parlor,” includes icons of a tattoo chair, a tattoo machine, a smartphone, and a thumbs-up. Here’s what each icon means:
And just like that, we finally know what Rihanna’s tattoo process feels like. Four more videos are locked following “Tatt0o Parlor,” so maybe only four more weeks until ANTI?
As for her virtual bedroom, it looks just as eerie as you’d expect. Watch her tattoo the hapless fella in “Tatt0o Parlor” below.
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