INTERVIEW #554: RIHANNA - SPRING 2024

Interview is an American magazine founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol and British journalist John Wilcock featuring interviews with celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers.

In this issue

Okay, so it’s the night after the last day of Milan Fashion Week and I’m at a giant arena on the outskirts of Milan to interview my former boss, Rihanna, for our Spring cover story. I walked in and there were, like, 50 dancers rehearsing for a one-off private show she was doing in India later that week. Songs like “Work” and “We Found Love” were reverberating through the space in a really intense way that took me back to when I was her stylist. When you’re in an empty arena and the music is pumping like that, the whole place starts shaking and you realize the magnitude of megastardom—but I wasn’t stressed about it. I was just there to get this interview done. At 3 a.m. Rihanna and I ducked behind some lush curtains that opened up to a really comfortable backstage setup. We took off our shoes, got cozy, and for the next 90 minutes, she gave Interview her all.

Photography by Nadia Lee Cohen.