Rihanna performed her latest single “Rude Boy” at the Echo Awards in Berlin, Germany. The use of the “Rude Boy” robots was pretty cool. Vocal performance could’ve been stronger, but it was definitely better than some of the ones we’ve seen earlier in this era.
The mother of 6 year old Jasmina Anema who lost her battle with Leukemia last month has an issue with Rihanna. Jasmina’s mother took to Twitter to state the following: “It has been a month since Jasmina’s passing. Still not even a card or text message from Rihanna. Did she use my child for a publicity stunt?.” Besides this coming off as somewhat tacky, it’s also somewhat untrue. Rihanna did post a statement on her website, where she remarked on Jasmina’s strength and courage throughout her ordeal. I think it’s a pretty low blow to even imply that Rihanna used her daughter for her own image. I couldn’t picture anyone with any decency doing that. Furthermore, when it boils down to the heart of the matter, Rihanna’s visits with Jasmina brought a smile to her daughters face while she was here and that’s what truly matters right?
Rihanna hit up the Alan Carr Show in the U.K to promote her new single “Rude Boy” , as well as her upcoming world tour. Take a look at the video above of RiRi teaching Alan how to do the “Butterfly”, ” The Bogle” and the infamous “Dutty Whine”. We can tell Rihanna, as Bajans say, “does get on reall bad” when she’s ready to party! You saw how hype she was when the Dutty Whine came on?
“See what a little champagne could do to ya” We see you Rihanna! We See You! Check out the behind the scenes footage from the “Rude Boy” shoot.
As a blogger, you have to read other blogs. I like to know what others are saying about different artists and their music as well as their current status in the industry. But I can’t help but notice that one artist who constantly gets shitted on is Rihanna.
Rihanna entered the industry at age 16 in 2005, fresh off the Caribbean island of Barbados with her debut album Music of The Sun. It spawned the hit single “Pon De Replay” which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The following year saw the release of her sophomore album A Girl Like Me, which saw continued chart success with the #1 single “S.O.S” and the top 10 hit “Unfaithful” which clocked in at 6. A transition was beginning and the her marketing moved away from her Caribbean roots and further into mainstream pop. In the space of 5 years, Rihanna released 4 albums 15 singles and literally became a pop phenomenon with the release of the 2007 hit “Umbrella”, a song that would escape no one in the summer of 2007. The album Good Girl Gone Bad, became a commercial success and again saw Rihanna change her image from the pretty teen pop star to a more edgy rock influenced demeanor. As Rihanna’s commercial success grew, so did her detractors.
There is a very thin line between telling the truth and being a hater, and the line is tripping up a lot of bloggers and many are finding themselves on the wrong side. Now we can’t sit here with a clear conscience and say that Rihanna is the next Aretha Franklin, but she does what she does well. Is there room for improvement? Sure. Rihanna is a performing phenomenon, because as little as she does on stage, she is still captivating. Think about it, her vocals don’t necessarily warrant her a pass to stay stationary on stage and belt a song like Mariah Carey, yet she just stands there for the most part. Rihanna hasn’t truly performed a fully choreographed number on stage or in a music video since “If It’s Loving That You Want” or “Umbrella”. She broke the conventions of pop music 101, which maintains that the following be true, you’re either a great singer who can’t dance (Mariah Carey), or a competent singer, usually with good tone but not a vocal powerhouse, who is a great dancer (Ciara, Janet Jackson), and every once in a while we get an enigma who the public believes is adept at both singing and dancing (Beyonce). Rihanna doesn’t quite fit into either of those categories comfortably, yet we watch her, we comment and we critique and we will continue to do so and care. The girl has created a signature style in the amount of time it takes some artist to establish a footing as a respectable artist. Her somewhat nasal tone can be slightly annoying and yet it works. There is room for improvement for every artist.
The most baffling thing is the double standards that are created to discredit Rihanna as an artist but those same standards are ignored when it comes to other artists. Take for example this comment that recurs most often: “Rihanna isn’t a great artist but she has a great team”. You dead ass though? Doesn’t every artist have a team behind them? Every artist has a stylist, every artist has creative director who they collaborate with to conceive stage shows and various live performances. In fact, Lady GaGa blatantly mentions her ‘Haus of GaGa’ team all the time, yet no one says that she’s a product of her team, and if you think for one second that each of those crazy outfits were all her unique vision then you are sorely mistaken. Nonetheless, if Rihanna is so disliked as an artist, why do we pay her any mind? Why are people buying her music and caring about what she does? You don’t have to love her, but give Rihanna her credit where its due. She has the ability to make a pop song a hit much in the manner that Madonna use to in years before her, and just like the Material Girl, despite her shortcomings, she keeps the public talking, watching and waiting for her to give them more.
Check out the video for Rihanna’s latest single “Rude Boy” Thoughts? This is the most dancing we’ve seen Rihanna do in a video in a long time. It’s very much inspired by the 80’s and West Indian culture with the use of the red, green and yellow colors and the pop art direction by Melina, who also directed “Hard” for the Bajan beauty as well. I like it! Rihanna can come “whine” with me anytime!
Here’s a sneak peak at Rihanna’s new video for her latest single from Rated R, “Rude Boy”. It seems to be visually stimulating with those Keith Haring-esque patterns.
Rihanna is in Miami for The Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam Concert which is tonight in Miami Beach. Check the video above for footage of Rihanna rehearsing earlier today! Asside from Rihanna, Justin Bieber with perform as well and Nelly Furtdado, Paulina Rubio and Pitbull will perform tomorrow for PEPSI MUSICA SUPER BOWL FAN JAM. The show airs Tonight on VH1 at 9pm, tune in!
Rihanna performed in France at the NRJ awards, where she also picked up the award for Best International Female Artist! Rihanna performed “Russian Roulette”. Check it out above.
Jay-Z performed “Empire State of Mind” with new Roc-nation artist Bridget Kelly filling in for Alicia Keys on the Hook. Surprised he didn’t call Alicia since she was in London
Kelly Rowland performed with David Guetta on their hit “When Love Takes Over” Kelly is said to be in talks with multiple labels trying to get a new deal. Good Luck Kelly!
While band mate Kelly Rowland is getting ready to take over, Beyonce won the Artist of The Decade award at NRJ.
You can help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti by downloading the songs that Rihanna and Maxwell performed on Oprah this morning. Maxwell’s “Fist Full of Tears” and Rihanna’s cover of the Bob Marley classic “Redemption Song” are available on Itunes! All proceeds from Rihanna’s cover will go directly to the relief effort. Download them today!
Rihanna “Redemption Song” (Bob Marley Cover)![Rihanna - Redemption Song (For Haiti Relief) [Live from Oprah] - Single - Redemption Song (For Haiti Relief) [Live from Oprah]](http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif){kind=small}
Oprah Winfrey’s Wednesday show will focus on the crisis occurring in Haiti since the devastating earthquake that hit last Tuesday. Rihanna, Wyclef and Maxwell will all perform/appear on the show. What do these three artists all have in common? They are of Caribbean descent,and this is something that hits close to home for them. Wyclef is of course from Haiti, Maxwell is of Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage and Rihanna is of course from the beautiful island nation of Barbados. This was a smart idea get artists that are from the Caribbean to come into our homes and make an effort to raise money. Tune in to see! The pop star is said to perform Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” while Maxwell will sing “Fistful of Tears” or “Help Somebody”.
Rihanna earns her 13th career top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart released today with her latest single “Hard” featuring Young Jeezy. The song jumped from #15 to #9! Congrats Rihanna! 13 Top ten including 5#1’s is impressive for 5 years in the business. In other Rihanna new, check out a behind the scenes video from the W Magazine shoot that we posted earlier.
Rihanna covers W magazine in a shoot shot by photographer Craig Mcdean. Our fellow Bajan friend is discovering that clothes can be you friend! Check out more photos and the interview at Rihanna Daily.
“Rude Boy” is coming to a radio station near you as Rihanna and Def Jam has selected the track to be the 4th single for platinum selling Rated R. The song is set to impact radio on February 9, 2010. Good Luck Rihanna! Maybe she can cop that 6th number 1 single.
Funkmaster Flex of NYC Hip-Hop radio station HOT 97 premiered a Lil Kim remix of Rihanna’s “Hard” which is said to be on her mix tape, check it out and tell us what you think.
=
Listen to This: Jus Right
Buy The Album on Itunes |Amazon Mp3
Base Magazine is using WP-Gravatar
