Rihanna to publish 500-page "visual autobiography"

By Sam Barsanti | October 7, 2019 | 9:17pm

Aux Features Music

Rihanna to publish 500-page "visual autobiography"

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris

According to Rolling Stone, Rihanna has just announced a “visual autobiography” (“her first,” as if that’s a totally common thing) that will come in at over 500 pages and with over 1,000 photos of Rihanna from throughout her life—that’s two photos for every page! An official statement about the book promises a look at her childhood in Barbados and her current status as a musical icon, plus “quintessential fashion moments” and “private time with friends and family.” The idea behind the book makes it sound like some kind of graphic novel about Rihanna’s life, which would be fun, but in reality it sounds more like a fancy collection of Rihanna photos, which makes us wonder what makes it an autobiography and not just… a book of pictures of Rihanna. Did she take the pictures herself? If not, isn’t it a visual biography and not an autobiography?

That’s really beside the point, though, because the more interesting thing here is that the book—simply titled Rihanna—is apparently fucking enormous. Rolling Stone says the large-format version of it will be bigger than 12 x 16 inches and will weigh 15 pounds, and there will be an Ultra Luxury Supreme “Stoner” edition that comes with a custom marble pedestal to display the book on. Only 10 of those will be produced, with Cardi B winning an auction for one at Rihanna’s Diamond Ball for $111,000. If you’re famous enough to convince anyone to spend that much money on your giant book and a marble pedestal, you can call it whatever you want. The book will be available on October 24.