In this age of digital music, it's unusual for a major artist to take her cover art so seriously. But Rihanna clearly has a stake in how she appears on the covers surrounding her new album, Rated R. The cover of the single "Russian Roulette" was already unveiled last week, and it cast Rihanna as a badass sorta-pirate bound by barbed wire. Today she revealed the proper album cover for Rated R. It's a black-and-white image that retains her new "R" logo and shows her covering her right eye (the same eye blackened by Chris Brown back in February). The image, shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth (who has also worked with Britney Spears and Janet Jackson) is everything that makes Rihanna interesting: sparse, slightly futuristic and gorgeous.
But what do the fans think? We sent an MTV News crew to a rainy Times Square today to gather some reactions, and the results were decidedly mixed.
Many people saw the correlation between the covered eye and the altercation with Brown, but many more just seemed hyper-aware of the more "adult" vibe. "She looks quite scary and somewhat intriguing," one respondent noted.
"I like it, but it's a little dark," another added.
Based on "Russian Roulette" and now this album cover, it seems like there will be more musical comment coming from Rihanna about Brown. Rated R hits the streets on November 23.
What do you think: Is Rihanna's album cover a beauty or a beast? Leave your thoughts in the comments or head over to Your.MTV.com to make your voice heard!
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