Riri recently announced her new Fenty collection via a video on British Vogue, and it was one of the few times we've heard her say her own name out loud on camera:
First look at @Rihanna's Fenty collection at her pop-up in Paris: https://t.co/KU0Uqg8Vlt pic.twitter.com/dseHhqadQu
— British Vogue (@BritishVogue) May 23, 2019
While linguistic punishers love to correct those that pronounce "Nirvana" with the ahh sound, Rihanna's pronunciation is the opposite. It's not "ree-AH-nuh" but in fact "ree-ANN-uh."
The discovery has shaken a large swath of people who realized they've been pronouncing the name wrong all these years:
how has Rihanna's name pronounced "Rih-Anna" and not "Rih-Ah-Na" this whole time and no one told us
— erin (@_erinpaigee) May 31, 2019
so we've been pronouncing Rihanna's name wrong this whole time pic.twitter.com/lLZAQVRBzu
— b (@boopyape) May 29, 2019
Rihanna tells us - we are pronouncing her name incorrectly. And tells us how to pronounce her name, "Ree-Anna" not "Ree-Ah-Na," she says on Twitter pic.twitter.com/DVLX2ynvkc
— Jim O'Donnell (@jimsteve) May 30, 2019
Of course, there's also been a backlash to the reaction:
I can't believe how dumb Americans are... how do you not know how to pronounce Rihanna's name...
— CHERYL🌹 (@destiny_ifoot) May 31, 2019
She's been introducing herself for years im-
rihanna moved to britain bc we pronounce her name right https://t.co/ia7lk8fC4E
— holly archibald (@hollyarchibald) May 31, 2019
white people are so wild they pronounce rihanna as re-ah-nah and white terrorist as "lone wolf with mental illness" https://t.co/pb0OrYd53i
— gulab jamoron | #1 lyk stan (@spidernaan) May 31, 2019