I’ve just never stopped making music. I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.Rihanna

WEST: So all the trends with the shoulder pads and that shit is over with for you?

RIHANNA: Yeah. I’m not into trends or trendy style anymore.

WEST: So what’s your next look? Where do you see yourself a year from now?

RIHANNA: In fashion?

WEST: Yeah.

RIHANNA: I probably see a lot of menswear, or something extremely, extremely feminine. But I like to play with both. It would have to be so extreme that it’s a look, because I don’t usu­ally like typical ladylike, girly-girly stuff. It would be a look if I were to do it. I always like something that’s a little off, so it’s just not typical or expected.

WEST: When you make songs, do you think about what you’re going to wear when you’re performing them? Does it directly relate to the music in that way?

RIHANNA: I think not so much about what I’m going to wear yet, but when I make songs or make music, I do always think about the video. The video always plays in my head while I’m lis­tening to the song.

WEST: So what inspired you to have that pink tank on your last tour? That was amazing, when you were sitting on top of the army tank.

RIHANNA: I love to combine femininity with a kind of extreme masculine edge, and I felt like the tank is just not a typical thing that you think of when you think of a girl-or in any kind of rela­tion to a girl. Then we made it hot pink. We just added that touch.

WEST: I mean, people really need to see a photograph-the entire tank was pink. That was a great piece of commercial pop art. Was the idea of that to kind of portray an American Dream- like the fantasy of this hot black girl sitting on top of a pink tank?

RIHANNA: [laughs] I never actually thought of it like that.

WEST: How does it feel to know that you could have any man in the world? Or woman. How does it feel to know that you can turn straight women gay?

RIHANNA: Is that a real question?

WEST: Yeah.

RIHANNA: Well . . . Thank you. I don’t know how to feel about that. [laughs] I guess that’s flattering.

WEST: But just to have that level of power. How do you deal with it? No one woman should have that much power.

RIHANNA: I try not to depend on it. It’s just a part of what’s hap­pening right now in my life, and I appreciate it. It helps a lot. [laughs]