Rihanna for ELLE US December 2014

Photographed by Paola Kudacki

On if she ever sounds like her mother: "My mother doesn’t say much, but that one “ummmm” is a full paragraph of things I was grateful she didn’t say. I catch myself doing that a lot recently."

Her worst fear: "Childbirth."

Best hangover cure: "Ice, Chinese food! And an upside-down trash can and towels, preferably next to the toilet."

On being a good cook: "I’m a fun cook! My specialty is seafood, but I also make the sickest mac ’n’ cheese you will ever taste.

On which albums she'd listen to on repeat: "KoL’s Only By the Night, Buju Banton’s ’Til Shiloh, and Michael Bolton’s Greatest Hits (1985–1995). And the Waiting to Exhalesoundtrack."