It's easy to talk shit on the big-label world of pop music. It's pretty vanilla, even when people try to be hip. There's definitely some artists who stand out, ones you can point out as the ones that "got it." Rihanna is my newest intrigue/ mainstream badass/ crush all in one! I saw her band play on New Year's Eve, and they were freakin' awesome. Having a smokin' hot lead singer is an extra bonus, and so I had to investigate the music further. Rihanna has the bad girl edge, but nothing about it is forced. She's conflicted, experiences the full range of emotions, and the songs are pretty unbridled. I've never heard a song from the perspective of someone who cheated on the other person. It's always "you hurt me"--and she does that, too! Both sides of the coin! I like this, playing the angel and the demon, potentially on the same album. Plus she's hot. Did I mention this? Wow. She is so smokin' that boners around the world are wheezing. Just watch the video and observe how many costumes she rocks. There has been a massive crusade in popular music involving patriotic and military themes, most of which just look stupid and weak. This is the first one I've seen where the theme was (perhaps) pro-military but totally rocks it. Someone finally did it right! I didn't think it was possible. A few of her other videos feature some pretty amazing fashion choices, that only someone as amazing looking as this woman could pull off. She looks hot in an eye-patch for fuck's sake. She sings a song about suicide, and yet looks sexy doing it. How?
Her band is really good, and surprisingly anglo-saxon. There is a dude who play keys whose hair is so emo that he puts both contact lenses in the right eye. The other one is left for dead behind a sleeve of red streaks. Usually with these pop stars, the music is produced so much that it sounds too slick for its own good. On occasion, as I scoured every video on YouTube, Rihanna's sound goes that way, but usually not. I started to lose my buzz when every song started to go for the same exact structure. Boring. Lyrics like "Don't fumble / There's a flag on the play" are shitty references to football that I don't need (and I love football). But then I heard "Sell Me Candy" and after they mix things up, they do a breakdown in threes, and then some unexpected syncopation. Could Miley Cyrus even keep up with this? Rihanna has a voice that's one in a million, and everything else is top notch. I hope the darkness spreads and the smiles widen even more.
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