Can someone explain Rihanna to me? Does she consider herself

[closeupready]

an artist, or merely an entertainer? How does her latest video (to which I am NOT going to link) elevate ... well, anything, either herself, life, or anything at all? Seriously not getting the point. Is this her "Hell is for Children" moment? As a disclaimer, I have enjoyed almost all of her early stuff, but this is just too much, IMO.

Where to start with Rihanna’s video for Bitch Better Have My Money? It seems traditional to apologise for being too white and past-it to comment on any video by a young black artist. But tough, because I’m not going to. Then there’s the fact that Rihanna has produced better songs than this (sub-Sia ear-dung), and the seven-minute video (co-directed by Rihanna herself) primarily comes across as a painfully obvious self-indulgent attempt to revive industry interest in her God-awful acting.

However, people are mainly discussing the BBHMM video because it has a plot where a gangsta Rihanna is peeved with a male accountant (played by Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen). So with her henchwomen, Rihanna kidnaps his girlfriend (white, blonde, trophy, cuddling a pooch – so, you know, totally deserves it), and strips, drugs, tortures (swinging her upside down naked from a roof) and drowns her. The woman is last seen bobbing lifeless beneath gangsta Rihanna’s lilo.

Nice. Thanks for co-directing that, Rihanna, and for demonstrating how female-on-female torture and murder are just as “SEXY!” as the male-on-female versions. We were all a little unsure before – but now we know.

Perhaps more than Rihanna knows herself, because the BBHMM video also serves as a study in celebrity delusion: take away the skin colour and the “white spoilt bitch” has far more in common with real Rihanna than the gangsta Rihanna she’s portraying, whatever she likes to think of the state of her street cred. But I digress.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/05/rihannas-video-bitch-better-have-my-money-misogynistic

[LittleBlue]

1. She's okay. Another Jay Z created artist

Heavy on social media, fashion, and lots of singles

I like a few of her songs but overall this gen of music artists is mediocre.

[KamaAina]

30. Precisely.

She wants to be Beyonce when she grows up.

[Liberal_in_LA]

44. yes, and she is very pretty

[snooper2]

2. Here is the video so people can judge for themselves

I guess if Rihanna is making somebody have a sad it's a good day



WARNING WARNING! NUDITY AND BAD LANGUAGE!

WARNING WARNING! NUDITY AND BAD LANGUAGE!

WARNING WARNING! NUDITY AND BAD LANGUAGE!

Also Forced Marijuana Smoking!

One of my favorite Rihanna songs as a bonus

[Baitball Blogger]

4. It's a sick, delusional fantasy.

Last edited Mon Jul 6, 2015, 04:28 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't think the song is very good, either.

But, I'm sure that it will find its audience because of the shock value.

[Warpy]

3. She's another pop star

Decent enough pipes, manufactured persona.

Don't take it too seriously. Either you love that stuff or you don't.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Can't Go There Warpy

Listen to that hit she had "Only Girl in the World" Clearly pitch corrected and nearly every high note is still not nailed, even with the computer doing its magic.

I don't think she's that good a singer. At least some of the pop divas making hits today have a decent voice. Rhianna, like Katy Perry, is not among them.

[Warpy]

12. Pop music is like fingernails on a blackboard to me

so I never go there unless the sound is off.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Funny Stuff!

Thanks

[Bluenorthwest]

5. In my view it is shabby and self serving to smugly say 'I will not link to this' while offering up a

detailed characterization of the very work that is too awful to link to. 'It's bad, trust me, let me tell you all about it'.

It's a short piece of cinema, and I can't tell you what I think about it by reading what someone else thinks about it. It's inherently wrong to ask people to base an opinion on a piece of work on criticism of the work and not the work itself.

Without having seen it I can't know if this 'critic' is making a common bias based error and approaching a narrative work as a personal statement.

[tkmorris]

6. That's an excellent point

I have seen enough of this to tell you I think it's shite, but you need to see it for yourself.

[closeupready]

8. Aren't you just a ray of sunshine in every thread you post.

I can depend on you for a good chuckle...

[Bluenorthwest]

19. And a personal attack in lieu of actual response.

Which is basically the same thing this 'critic' did in your OP. High level work you have going on there. You showed me an article, I reviewed it. Show me the video, I'll review that.

[closeupready]

20. It's on youtube.

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. Oh, come on, that was light sarcasm, not 'a personal attack'

There was a link to the video in the Guardian article. If you actually wanted to think about the video, wouldn't you have followed the link the The Guardian and seen that?

[Bluenorthwest]

47. I don't give a shit about the video, the OP does. The OP presented a critique of a video and I spoke

about that. It's a sort of bullshit in criticism that I loath, characterization in place of review. Add to that the fact that this particular writer is playing with some forms that in my experience have a smacky smack of bias. My point is that if you want to talk about the video, post it. And if you post bogus, intellectually vapid and slightly biased criticism I will speak about that if I wish. I'm not here to go fetch video clips for the OP. He brought a piece of junk criticism and I criticized it.

I will repeat. It's vapid to refuse to show what you are talking about and instead describe it with editorial flourish. It's craven. The writer of this Guardian piece is a hack and a half.

[muriel_volestrangler]

48. And yet, you think you were the one under 'personal attack'

when it was you who said the OP was shabby, self serving, smug and craven? All because the thread starter didn't put the YouTube video in the OP?

Wow. It's clear you did give a shit about the video. You wanted to respond, but couldn't be bothered to go and look at the Guardian article the OP had an excerpt of. You are demanding that the OP contains the video. But you can't just ignore it either - you're responding.

[LanternWaste]

41. The reponse was almost as substantial, bright and cheerful as the OP

The reponse was almost as substantial, bright and cheerful as the OP

[Comrade Grumpy]

28. Well, go watch the video then. I'm sure you can find it if you really try. Like for 10 seconds.

[LWolf]

7. I can't,

because I don't know who she is.

Don't tell me. If I wanted to know, I already would.

[joeybee12]

9. God-awful actor is right...she was in Battleship...

It was painful to see such a small, small role totally ruined...I mean...anyone who could remember their lines could have done better.

[Brickbat]

11. I thought it was stylish, catchy and hilarious. Plus, it had a Scout II!

The author takes the "sunburn art trend seriously." C'mon now.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. aside from the nice Scout she's driving

there is not much redeeming about the video and the song sucks. rihanna is jus another 'splash' artist...

sP

[Brickbat]

18. I was ready to lecture you.

But I see you corrected it.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. after noticing your post, i went back and 'second looked' it...

and realize my egregious error... it was bad... i am disconsolate...

sP

[MrScorpio]

14. I'm still waiting for someone to explain "Jack Bauer"

Warning: Jack Bauer

[Babel_17]

39. Warning: Santa Claus! lol :)

[tavernier]

15. Isn't she the girl

who got the shit beat out of her by her boyfriend some time ago? I don't follow that genre so I don't know about her music, but it seems she runs with a pretty rough crowd. I don't think her videos would interest traditional rock and roll fans, but you have to play to your target audience.

[IVoteDFL]

16. Sorry, I don't think there is anything wrong with it

It's a music video. It's not a documentary or commentary on her life. There is no study in celebrity delusion. It is essentially just a short film with music. Notice actor Mads Mikkelson from Hannibal in the video. Imagine that we watched an episode of "Hannibal" and deduced that he was a psychotic cannibal based on his craft.


I also think it is weird that whenever a person of color gets to a place of excess wealth people automatically want to link them to whiteness.

[MrScorpio]

17. Race has nothing to do with this video

Only what the writer of the article inserted into it…

It's a money/revenge fantasy. Our media is full of that kind of stuff.

[Brickbat]

23. Yep.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. It's odd to make yourself the villain in a revenge fantasy, though

Playing a kidnapper and torturer of an innocent woman ... is Rhianna saying she feels guilty about wanting revenge? That she feels she is that evil?

[ismnotwasm]

21. Just watched it

Reminded me of a cross between the movies "52 Pick Up" and "Hostel 2". Although the video is graphically shocking--and nothing sells better than naked, tortured women--it's actually better than the song which is mediocre IMO. You could dance to it though.

So Rhianna took a very common theme (think Law and Order SVU) and stuck it in a video. She'll sell millions of records. Nothing to explain.

[Blue_Adept]

24. Damn artists not elevating everything

Where do they get off doing what they want to do artistically?! And a woman no less? This cannot stand!

[closeupready]

26. She's not an artist; she's a chanteuse, maybe.

But that's really stretching the meaning of the term, and the word sounds too French to apply to her.

[Cleita]

27. Anyone who attempts to create something original is an artist.

There are bad artists, mediocre artists, good artists and great artists, but they are nonetheless artists.

[closeupready]

29. Disagree.

[RadiationTherapy]

31. Please please please define "art" and "artist" and "artistry"

Please please please?

[closeupready]

32. Beyond the scope of DU. Certainly not a one-liner.

[RadiationTherapy]

36. Well, if one says "not art," then one must have criteria for "art."

If "art" is too complex, then it seems "not art" must also be complex.

[uriel1972]

33. Art is in essence communication of something...

So we are all artists and all that we do is art.. not all of it good mind you.

On the other hand there is no such thing as "Art" or "Artists" as far as I am concerned.

[RadiationTherapy]

37. I agree. It is communication with aesthetics.

Art is something conveying a message using more than what is essential to convey a message. Aesthetics as opposed to efficiency, I suppose.

[gwheezie]

34. I liked the video

It's about her former accountant who left her broke. Ripped her off for millions of dollars.
I'm not a huge fan of popular music so it doesn't effect me much one way or the other.

[olddots]

35. I consider it my civic duty to check into "pop" culture ocasionally

then realize that I would become a serial killer if I experienced more pop culture .

Hey isn't that Taylor Swift as cute as a bug in a rug ?

[Babel_17]

38. I guess if the top movie actors in the world can make violent action flicks

I guess if the top movie actors in the world can make violent action flicks and that burnishes their star power, well, this is the world that music video exists in.

Now I'll watch the video. If I'm appalled, I'll edit this. But unless it's torture porn or celebrates degrading women, my bar for being appalled is pretty high. I do watch some violent action movies.

Edit: Not appalled but it had some tawdry visuals that went no where and didn't justify the exploitative imagery. I think she can do better and the talent and resources involved could have been put to better use.

But she is a good singer, so there was that.

[Lurks Often]

40. She owes her career to her looks and good producing

Musically she is a mediocre singer who is at her best doing catchy up tempo dance songs.

Of course I'm not in the market segment her music is aimed at either, so your mileage may vary.

To me a great musician or band is one who's music lives on long after they've passed away, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James are all some notable examples of a great musician. (I'm on a jazz kick lately)

[Avalux]

42. As my daughter tells me...

The song and video are personal for Rhianna, after she was hoodwinked by an accountant who bilked her for a lot of money. She was pissed about it (as any of us would be), and chose to express her anger in this way. It's not my style, but good for her.

[Raine1967]

49. It appears your daughter may be correct:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/07/05/reasons-we-think-bbhmm-is-about-rihannas-former-accountant-peter-gounis/

[derby378]

46. Sorry, been too busy listening to REAL music...

...but I finally checked out the video. It reached me the same way Taylor Swift's newest video did - a mediocre tune paired with some high-falutin' video production leaves you with a mediocre tune with eye candy.