Rihanna continues her 2015 reign of the front cover with a new feature for the T: The New York Times Style Magazine‘s “The Greats” issue. Unlike most interviews, though, this one featured a fellow artist on the other side of the tape recorder: indie multi-hyphenate Miranda July.
Their unorthodox interview spans a number of personal topics, including Rihanna’s relationship status, childbirth, and (quite frankly) sex. The pop star (whose new album Anti is slated to drop before the end of the year) also discussed how being a black woman has impacted her career.
“People are judging you because you’re packaged a certain way — they’ve been programmed to think a black man in a hoodie means grab your purse a little tighter,” she told July. “For me, it comes down to smaller issues, scenarios in which people can assume something of me without knowing me, just by my packaging.”
Rihanna added that when she began to “have [her] race be highlighted,” it had the most impact on the business end of her work. “That never ends, by the way,” she said. “It’s still a thing. And it’s the thing that makes me want to prove people wrong. It almost excites me; I know what they’re expecting and I can’t wait to show them that I’m here to exceed those expectations.’’
