Rihanna is already considered pop royalty, but some believe she’s deserving of a regal title. In the London newspaper, The Sunday Times, writer Camille Paglia crowns Rihanna “The New Princess Diana.” The writer cites both icons’ storied, chronicled and tumultous love affairs, and the paparrazzi’s fascination with documenting and profiting on every moment with relentless photographs. But while Princess Diana used photo ops to give subtle clues into the life she faced, Rihanna is armed with her own arsenal for self-documenting her every move, thanks to social media:
“The problem is that, in this era of social media, Rihanna in her fury of tainted love has tools ready to hand that Diana never dreamed of. Instagram, for example, a photo-sharing program with a palette of special-effects filters, allows Rihanna to send personal pictures to friend and foe in the blink of an eye, without the mediation of professional photographers. It is autobiography written by a volatile mix of impulse and mood…”
Don’t think Rih knows the power of her own hype? She shared The Sunday Times cover on Instagram, and was ecstatic about the comparison:
“Just so happens I came home drunk to this in a pile of papers outside my hotel room! My lil Bajan behind, never thought these many people would even know my name, now it’s next to Princess Diana’s on the front of a newspaper! Life can be such a beautiful thing when you let it be #yourejealous 
”
In both narratives, Princess Diana and Rihanna are two precocious wide-eyed girls who become the people’s obsession, and decide to turn the tables by giving the people exactly what they want. Considering the tragic tale of Lady Di, this could be a gift or a curse for Rih. Let’s just hope this fairy tale has a much happier ending.
StyleBlazers, do you think Rihanna is the new Princess Diana?
-Jada Gomez-Lacayo
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