As Beyonce’s sizzling February GQ magazine cover hits shelves, readers are taking notice of the diva’s slim figure and sexy pose. Dressed in a football jersey – a nod to her upcoming Superbowl halftime show performance – Beyonce deadpans the camera and proves she has not only lost the baby weight, but is ready for a busy 2013.
Of course, as Beyonce’s cover was released, the inevitable Rihanna comparisons began. Rihanna was GQ‘s January cover girl and also graced the magazine wearing very little.
@jameelajamil wrote, “Woah! Look out Rihanna… Beyonce is on the naked bandwagon… #iamabsolutelyreadyforthisjelly.
However, when analyzing the two covers, they are very different, in keeping with the wildly different women they depict.
Rihanna’s cover, in which the “Umbrella” singer is clad in black leather, symbolizes the bad-girl-in-control persona she so desperately wants to project – if only to mask her possible insecurity over her tumultuous relationship with Chris Brown. Rihanna’s love triangle with Brown and Karrueche Tran plays out daily on social media, with the “Diamonds” singer Instagramming romantic photos with Brown one minute, and left in Paris the next. Yet the image on her GQ cover is dark and all about control, with the singer covering herself just enough to avoid Playboy territory.
Beyonce’s GQ cover, while sharing the commodity of skin, indicates that at her essence she is a brand. Decked out in a sports jersey, the cover is a promotional nod to a highly public event: her 2013 Superbowl performance that is set to launch the next step of her career.
Read more: Popular Critic
