Via Esquire.co.uk: You’ve been waiting for this for a while so here it is – a sneak preview of our July photoshoot with Rihanna.

These behind the scenes photos were taken back in February at a studio in Dalston, East London. As you can see, the photoshoot itself is going to be well worth waiting for.

See the full shoot and read the revealing interview with Rihanna in the July issue of Esquire, on sale June 4th.

Also keep an eye out for our exclusive Rihanna video, plus some more exclusive online shots from the photoshoot – coming soon.

Photographs by Melissa Forde

The Barbadian beauty opens up about finding love, having children, and how the incident with Chris Brown was her “liberation”:

On having kids: “It could be tomorrow. It could be 20 years from now. I just feel like when the time is right, God will send me a little angel. But first, of course, I have to find a man. I mean, there’s a very important missing piece to the puzzle here!”

On finding that man: “I feel like it’s hard for everybody! I don’t think it has anything to do with being famous. There’s just a major drought out there. […] But I just need to find the person who balances me out, because then things like my schedule won’t matter. I’ve done it before, so I know I can do it again.”

On her breakup with Chris Brown: “It gave me guns. I was like, well, fuck. They know more about me than I want them to know. It’s embarrassing. But that was my opening. That was my liberation, my moment of bring it. […] Now you know that, so you can say what you want about it. I don’t have anything to hide.”

On the backlash over their reconciliation: “The bottom line is that everyone thinks differently. It’s very hard for me to accept, but I get it. People end up wasting their time on the blogs or whatever, ranting away, and that’s all right. Because tomorrow I’m still going to be the same person. I’m still going to do what I want to do.”

Photoshoot

Behind the Scenes

Read the full interview and see more photos in the May issue on newsstands April 17!

For this month’s cover shoot, ELLE Creative Director Joe Zee imagined a romantic narrative starring Rihanna as the fiery heroine in a passionate affair with a salsa dancer. On an early February morning, the ELLE production team transformed the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch northwest of Los Angeles into the ideal backdrop: a windswept town evocative of documentary photographer Robert Polidori’s shots of deserted, patina-rich Havana interiors. Photographer Tom Munro went full Hollywood, using a RED digital camera to film the entire shoot as a movie, with dialogue, extras—the works! We couldn’t think of a better way for Rihanna to embrace her new persona as a blond bombshell—a color she chose exclusively for our shoot—than acting out in fabulous couture pieces from Atelier Versace and styles from Balmain and Jil Sander. Ur­sula Stephen, RiRi’s hairstylist and longtime friend, smoothed her bold new locks with a conditioning mask, and makeup artist Mylah Morales chose black eyeliner to give our cover girl a sultry look. Whether Rihanna was hamming it up during love scenes or defying gravity by running across the set’s dirt roads in sky-high Dior heels, her unstoppable energy was as infectious as the salsa music playing on set.

Read the article below:

Controversy is never very far from Rihanna these days. With the pop superstar in Sydney next week for the April 10 premiere of Battleship – her first Hollywood film – Rihanna is making headlines for her rumoured, romantic hook-up with newly single actor, Ashton Kutcher. On top of that, the Umbrella singer revealed last week in an interview that she feels “comfortable” being naked. But Rihanna, 24, denies courting attention – insisting she is simply living her life.

“I think the term rebellious is a term society has created for people being themselves,” she says. A lot of people just aren’t like the others and they understand that and they have accepted that, and they are not afraid to be that, and people don’t understand that and that’s why it comes off as rebellious. But to me, it’s just doing things my way, things that I believe in.”

Following her own path and sticking to her beliefs has paid off for Rihanna. She is arguably one of the world’s most in-demand pop stars and is now trying her luck at acting.

In Battleship, she stars alongside Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson and Alexander Skarsgard. The sci-fi action flick, which will have its Australian premiere at Sydney’s Luna Park on April 10, is a big screen adaptation of the children’s boardgame of the same name and is set in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor where an international naval fleet engages in a fierce battle with aliens.

Moving into film was an obvious transition for Rihanna, who plays navy officer and weapons specialist Cora Raikes.

“It’s a whole different ball game to me. After I started making music and travelling and making more albums, I just felt like, what else could I do and it had to be something creative. Acting was always something I was curious about as I got older and I wanted to try it just to see how I would do and I liked it.” Acting, she says, pushed her in ways music had not and she was understandably nervous about the prospect of being seen on the big screen. “I was scared to death,” she explains. “I really had to open up a lot to myself. In order to tap into the right emotions, I had to compare a lot of the experiences and the scenarios to personal scenarios of mine in order to get the right emotion and it was pretty intense in that way. I learned a lot about myself.”

While Battleship is a big budget Hollywood studio film, Rihanna is just one of an ensemble of actors, which ensured she was able to ease her way into acting without the pressure of a leading role.

Director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) hand-picked her for the role because of her reputation for being “rebellious in my real life”.

“It was a role that I felt like I was capable of handling or executing,” she says. “I never wanted to disrespect the industry or just take it for granted just to take the opportunity, just because I was Rihanna. I didn’t want it to be given to me, so I wanted to start out with a role that was small. I felt very comfortable being in the background.”

When it comes to her music, and her private life, Rihanna is anything but shy. The paparazzi follow her every move and her relationship status is under constant scrutiny.

Most recently she has been linked to Kutcher, reportedly dating him in secret for the past two months. In London last week, Rihanna dismissed questions about whether she is involved with the Two And A Half Men star, after she was spotted visiting his Los Angeles house.

When asked if Kutcher would join her in the UK, Rihanna said: “Wow, how disappointing was that question?”, before adding: “I’m happy and I’m single, if that’s what you’re really asking.”

Rihanna is also known for being provocative with her music, by pushing boundaries with her sexy outfits and explicit lyrics. Her video for S&M was banned in several countries because of its raunchy content.

“When I make a video clip it is a piece of art. I never do it to get banned, never do it for controversy, it’s always just honest, and at times, it’s too far for some.”

* Battleship opens on April 12. Sydney premiere at Luna Park on April 10

Special thanks to Charbel Rizk!

RiRi tweeted a picture of herself on the set of a new photoshoot in New York City today. The photos were taken by Terry Richardson — they have previously worked together in 2007, click here to see the beautiful photos.

“Terry Richardson is the ultimate #BadAss”

Follow Rihanna (badgalriri) and Rihanna Daily (rihannadaily) on Instagram!

Thanks Kamil for the scans :)

High quality photos of “The Sexiest Woman Alive” are available after the jump.

Thanks, Susie!