Chris Brown has found himself deeply embroiled in scandal over the past year.
Accordingly his image has undergone a series of overhauls. Chris has been floundering while trying to find his place in the industry post-domestic abuse scandal. He was immediately vilified after details of his fight with Rihanna surfaced to the public, and lost much if the fan base that adored him for his clean cut image. He has clearly struggled to regain that respect, with several failed attempts at proving to his audience that he remains the talented kid that they once lauded. Now it seems that Chris has given up that battle and resolved to be what he is inevitably labeled as; the industry bad boy. Lets take a look back at Chris’ image transformations. What do you think? Should he be content with being labeled as the resident good boy gone bad?
Take a look back at Breezy over the years and you decide which image suits him best.
The Boy Next Door
Remember when Chris was the perfect little gentleman, singing “excuse me miss?” He was the guy that everyone thought was charming and adorable in all his bubble-gum pop glory. His boy next door image didn’t last long, but it was definitely his prime.
Take a look at what we mean:
Hot Boy
When Chris Brown decided that it was time to grow up a little bit, he did so quite publicly. The former pop prince got a fly girl, started tackling more sensual topics in his music and revamped his image to suit his cosmopolitan, cool, almost-grown lifestyle. For the most part he remained the apple of the public eye, as the sexy up-start living the uber-glamorous lifestyle of the young, flashy and fabulous.
Check out this video of this Chris Brown and Rihanna performing at the VMAs; an all time high for the two as a couple. Ironically, Rosario Dawson introduces him by stating: “he’s one of the biggest stars in the world.”
Domestically Violent Villain
After the Chrihannagate debacle Chris’ image fall into a downward spiral. He became a villain in the public eye. His music was banned on several radio stations, he accused some huge national retailers of “blackballing” his album-resulting in a severe decrease in record sales, and he lost much of the following that once adored him. to make matters worse, he lacked a remorseful disposition following the incident and assumed a life-as-usual attitude that prevented him from garnering public sympathy or empathy. He was photographed jet-skiing with friends partying, and released tweets and Youtube videos of himself and his friends making light of the situation.
Breezy 3 weeks post scandal:
Breezy’s dancers go in on Rihanna:
After the incident involving Rihanna and Chris Brown, many passed their own judgement. Even comedian Affion put in his two cents with this spoof of Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West‘s “Run This Town.” Affion cleverly titled this video “Hunt Chris Brown.” Take a look for a perfect example of how Chris was negatively viewed at the time.
Remorseful Breezy
Once Chris got in line with his PR team’s direction, his focus switched to saying sorry both to Rihanna and America. For many, though, it was too little too late. Chris attempted to regain his clean cut image by doing countless interviews and TV appearances to publicly flaunt his remorse. He clung to the the good guy image citing his slip up as a one-time-thing. He even released a few songs along these same sorry lines. Check out the most infamous musical apology, “Crawl:”
Straight Up Bad Boy
Now it seems that Chris has given up the bow tie and the hopes of ever regaining his old image. He is owning this bad boy persona, and exploiting it. In his newest video for “No Bull***t,” Breezy sings almost explicitly about sex. He’s seen donning all black everything, dancing suggestively and claiming he’s “reaching for the condoms,” and “not stopping until 9 am.” Apparently he couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks, and is just as bad as he wants to be; no bull***t.
What do you think? Should Breezy do the bad boy thing, or does he still need to prove that he is a good person?
