Rihanna's 777 Tour Documentary - Review
It was billed as the trip of a lifetime. A chance to spend seven days travelling the world with one of the biggest global superstars and an opportunity to find out what the A-list lifestyle is really like. But would a week withRihanna live up to the hype?
Rihanna’s 777 tour - a feat to perform seven tours across seven countries in seven days - begins in a whirlwind of madness as 256 journalists and competition winners board a Boeing 777 chartered by the Bajan babe, and excitedly rip open goodie bags.
In each is a tiny diamond on a string, with Rihanna announcing over the aircraft's PA system: “You can never say you’ve never had a diamond" - with many clearly hoping this was the start of things to come.
So the party begins. Gold champagne bottles are cracked open, shots of Tequila are poured and RiRi is in high spirits as the flight heads for Mexico, followed by Toronto, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, London and finally, New York.
Of course, RiRi looks mind-blowing at every performance, donning a variety of revealing thigh-skimming outfits paired with her signature stacks of bling. Fans scream, cry and swoon, and after the shows come the after-parties, most of which Rihanna doesn’t join until gone 3am.
But the story of the film is as much about Rihanna’s insane schedule as it is about her crew and guests aboard the plane. In one candid moment, her band are so delighted when she joins them in their dressing room after a performance, that it’s clear she puts the "solo" in solo artist.
Back on the plane, a lively Australian DJ resorts to streaking to keep everyone entertained once exhaustion sets in. It was a dare by a fellow passenger, who then admits she has no money to pay him. We could have skipped the frivolity for more Rihanna screen time, but the star was probably catching up on some much needed sleep anyway.
In fact there’s not a lot of "the real" Rihanna in the documentary at all. Apart from a short intro at the start of the journey and a thank you once it’s finished, it doesn’t seem like her passengers got to spend much time up close and personal with the Diamonds singer… certainly not half as much RiRi time as they would have hoped.
In desperation to file out some stories about the trip, one person says that the journalists and passengers have taken to interviewing each other about the experience.
The tour was clearly both mentally and physically gruelling - with both Rihanna and a journo describing the ordeal as "brutal" - a theme that is riddled throughout the hour-long film.
Rihanna says: “I think a rock star is more of an attitude.” And it's clear that to survive this sort of craziness on a regular basis, you would need some serious attitude.
She adds: “I can’t make everybody happy. But if I can make my fans happy, that’s all I care about.”
It may be glamorous to be an A-list jet-setter, but it’s definitely not a job for the faint-hearted.
Rihanna's 777 Tour Documentary is out on May 7. It was co-produced and directed by Toby L and Nicholas Abbott from LoveLive.
By Leigh Gower @mtvuknews
