You have to be a strong person to live a public life, as well as to make it in the music business. Which means that in her 22 short years, R&B princess Rihanna has been blessed with a double dose of fortitude. Not only has the statuesque songstress conquered the world of pop music, but she has also endured the trauma of an abusive relationship—and seen it splashed across the pages of tabloids and Internet gossip sites.

But that was then. This month, the Caribbean cover girl arrives back in her home base of New York City, highlighting the last leg of her worldwide “Last Girl on Earth” tour (with Ke$ha) by making three high-profile concert appearances: Madison Square Garden (Aug. 12), Nikon at Jones Beach Theater (Aug. 15) and Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (Aug. 20) for the Good Morning America Summer Concert Series.

“I love New York and I love performing here,” declares Rihanna, who leased a SoHo apartment in the wake of last year’s scandal. “They’re a tough crowd, but I always have fun.”

That joy of performing is evident on her edgy new album Rated R: Remixed (a remix of her platinum 2009 release) and sexy video of the Latin-flavored “Te Amo,” which some are calling the “Thriller” of its time. “I made exactly the piece of art that I wanted to make,“ she says of Rated R. “It’s super fearless, which is exactly how I feel right now. I am in a really good place.” The numbers back her up: With six No. 1 singles and more than 12 million album sales, Rihanna is one of the most successful female artists of the last 10 years.

Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on Feb. 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, she is the oldest of three children of Barbadian warehouse supervisor Ronald Fenty and Guyanese-born accountant Monica, who divorced when Rihanna was 14. While growing up, singing professionally never crossed her mind. “I used to sing at home, in the shower and in front of the mirror,” she recalls. “I did one talent show at my high school, and I won it by singing Mariah Carey’s ‘Hero’.”

Fate intervened in 2003, when New York-based producer Evan Rogers, who had produced for Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson, discovered Rihanna singing with two friends while he was vacationing in Barbados. He brought the teen to live with him and his wife in Connecticut and secured a deal with Def Jam Records after a nail-biting audition for Jay-Z. Early hits “Umbrella” and “Take a Bow” exhibited her innocent persona, but soon a harder edge crept into kinetic dance tracks, such as “Disturbia” and “Rude Boy.”

“Everybody was really surprised when I started liking new things and changing my image,” she says. “I was 16 when I was signed and I’m 22 now. My musical taste and image are going to change naturally. Sometimes I like to be dark, other times I like to be really light and ladylike.”

It’s those ladylike moments—and her stunning, cutting-edge style—that have made Rihanna the darling of fashion designers. Gucci and Cavalli have draped her in their creations and during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York last February, couturiers reportedly paid the statuesque beauty $100,000 just to sit in the front row at their shows. Beyond the fashion houses of Seventh Avenue, girls around the world stroll into salons and ask for the angular haircut known as “The Rihanna.” Lately, she’s been sporting a cardinal-red coif that’s long on top, buzz-cut on the sides.

“The biggest example that I want to set for people is to dare to be different,” she says. “If you want to dye your hair green and that’s what makes you happy, then dye your hair green.” Women’s empowerment has become her personal crusade. She started the Believe Foundation to support the health and welfare of underprivileged children, and has raised funds for leukemia treatment and bone marrow transplants.

Rihanna has also maintained a very public presence in the city. She’s been seen having dinner at The Spotted Pig, hanging out at the 40/40 Club (sometimes with her beau, Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp) and shopping at Intermix, Fendi, Barneys New York and Louis Vuitton. She’s also been known to jump onstage at Karaoke Cave to belt out Paramore’s “Misery Business” and Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.”

“I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been in my life,” she says. “Sometimes you have to go through really bad things to come out a better person.”