Rihanna in Brazil.

For the past week Rihanna has been languishing in Brazil following a photoshoot for Vogue magazine. If you've not been aware of this do not worry. With the exception of Japanese 787 Dreamliners being grounded in another plea for sanity from an old ally and the unfortunate killing of water protesters in South Africa international reaction to this development has pretty much been nil.

As I explained when the trip was announced Vogue magazine invited Rihanna to Brazil in order to reduce the pressure for a suicidal South American leg of the Diamonds World Tour by giving the Brazilians access to Rihanna. Rather then trying to give the Brazilians some sort of competitive advantage the objective was to equip the Brazilians to cope with the special pressures put upon them through the hosting of the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Due to her appearance in the 2012 para-Olympic closing ceremony Rihanna is of course part of the package of issues handed over from the UK to Brazil.

Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) of course gave their permission for the trip in the hope that it would trick Argentina or other South American nations into demanding Diamonds World Tour concerts by making them think that Brazil was being given some great secret about Rihanna. To that end the trip coincided with the release of Rihanna's collaboration with Shakira "Can't Remember to Forget You." Releasing new material is always an anxious time for an artist and this collaboration focused on some very hard truths for Rihanna about her life.

To be honest no-one has seemed that interested at all about what Rihanna's been up to in Brazil. However the fact that Rihanna has been giving us all the silent treatment whilst in Brazil has got the Brazilians a little worried that they may be accused of keeping secrets. So someone started rumour that Vogue had banned Rihanna from using social media (Twitter, Instagram etc) in order to stop the contents of her interview with the magazine leaking out and damaging sales. This led to a bit of a Twitter campaign by Rihanna fans against Vogue magazine which helped send out the message that Rihanna's Brazilian hosts weren't particularly happy about the situation either.

The reasons behind Rihanna's relative silence is actually more complex and more mundane then anyone formally putting a gagging order on her. It is currently January. Being the month that is marked out by the fact that it is simply not Christmas anymore no-one feels particularly chatty in January. This problem is more acute for Rihanna because while her career isn't totally in ruins just yet absolutely everyone around her seems wholly dedicated to making sure that her career is totally destroyed as soon as possible. This mild depression and anxiety has meant that Rihanna has been in a far from talkative mood since long before she headed off for Brazil.

Therefore I suppose the whole thing is quite a good example of the more subtle manipulation the management exert over Rihanna. Knowing that Rihanna is already in quite a quiet and pensive mood and knowing that the pressure of the release of the Shakira collaboration would make the situation worse no-one needed to risk issuing a formal gagging order. That's because they knew the way that Rihanna would respond to the situation would take care of the problem without them having to do anything.

(Originally Posted) 12:10 on 19/1/14 (UK date).