Rihanna is the cover girl for the February 2010 issue of W Magazine, and the photo spread was photographed beautifully by Craig McDean. I really like the cover shot and all of the photos from the magazine. And the interview is a good read as well – a surprisingly breezy interview with Rihanna, done as sort of a portrait of young musical superstar who is finding her footing, her comeback, her voice, yet again. The full article is here, but here are some of the highlights:

Rihanna on her maturity: “I’ve been paying my own bills since I was 17, living in a foreign country. And I’ve always been a little older than my real age. People always said that to me, and I always felt that in my head.”

On her favorite part of the day: “When I’m with my glam team getting my hair and makeup done—we talk so much sh-t!”

She‘s proud of herself for not talking a lot about Chris Brown: “Not talking was a big thing for me. I’m glad I didn’t talk to people, because I was able to deal with things in my own way, without saying the wrong things or giving people the wrong impression.”

On her new album, Rated R: “This was a different type of record for me. It was really personal; it was from me in the most authentic way. It’s like a movie… in that when I was making this album, every day I was in a different mood. Sometimes I was pissed off, sometimes I was miserable, and every song brings out a different story.”

On her “young fans”: “My fans have until now been really young, like five years old to just before adulthood. But now older adults are into my music. Straight men too! Men couldn’t really bump my last album in the car. With this album they can play it and still feel tough.”

After the beating: “I started to go crazy after about a month in the house,” she says of the time after her split from Brown, “so I went back to work, and the mic was my therapist. With the mic, there were no negative comments, no negative energy. At first I completely shut down. But now I feel like this happened to me so I could be a voice for young girls who are going through what I went through and don’t know how to talk about it. It’s not about Chris, about hurting him or sabotaging his career. I don’t care about that part of it.”

On not being able to confide in those closest to her: “It’s like they are too close to you. When you have to talk about something so painful, they are going to get too emotional. And that wasn’t helping me, because I already felt the same way and I’m looking to not feel like this. I felt like, If I’m going to tell you something and you’re going to have pity for me, then I’m not going to talk to you.”

The warning signs with Chris Brown: “There were control issues, insecurity,” she says. “When people are insecure they become very controlling and they can get very aggressive and in turn abusive. It doesn’t have to be physical. Like they would say bad stuff to you to make you feel lesser than them just so they would have control in the relationship. It takes a big toll on your emotions and on your everyday life. It changes you.”

On her appearance on SNL, which had a skit that mocked the alleged violence between Elin and Tiger Woods: “Violence should of course be avoided at any cost, but Saturday Night Live is a show that finds humor in every serious situation, so it wasn’t offensive to me in any way,” she says.

[From W Magazine]

I’ve said before that I think Rihanna has spent this last year figuring out she is and playing around with imagery that is both empowering and confusing. For most of her photo shoots, she seems to be playing around with domination-subjugation imagery, which I take as Rihanna attempting to control her environment through the only way she knows how. As far as the interview goes, this might be one of the most “over it” ones Rihanna has done all year – it doesn’t seem like she’s completely over Chris Brown, but it sounds like she’s being introspective and intelligent about all of the crap that’s come her way.

W Magazine cover and additional images courtesy of W online.