If some artists released a highly sexualised song and called it 'S&M' they probably would have shied away from any more double entendres, PVC references or phallic metaphors in their video but not Rihanna.
The lady of the leather whip has wriggled into her PVC pink dress and tied and gagged up her minions and made them dance around in her Cbeebies version of a porn film. It's all a bit colourful really. I don't know many brothels and sex parlours but I would assume they didn't take decorating advice from a Smarties tube.
Perez Hilton makes a guest appearance but for no real reason it seems. It's not really as shocking as the angry parents groups would have you believe but it's still a damn good song.
When Rihanna started out way back in 2005 the fresh faced Bajan teenager could have easily suffered the same fate of 99% of young female singers. After the one hit and ok tour they hit the ripe old age of 24 and are resigned to a life working in the local Tesco’s. Scanning through a packet of custard creams whilst reminding the kids “You know I used to be somebody once”. It wasn't just luck that saved our Ri-Ri from that terrible fate and her newest release Loud proves why she’s a survivor.
Loud, Rihanna’s fifth studio album, is a fiercely intense album that could make the most pop-phobic individual break free of their sour indie rock grey cloud and throw shapes around their Morrissey plastered room. There are a few of the staple RnB love songs on here, ‘skin’ and ‘complicated’ are worth the 3 or 4 plays it takes for them to click, but ultimately this is a dance album. ‘Cheers (Drink to That)’ and the electro infused hit single ‘Only Girl (In The World)’ are both leave your bag with your man, grab your girlfriends and lose your mind on the dancefloor tracks.
Rihanna has decided to continue her leather-clad sex vixen shtick which can be seen on the imaginatively named opening track ‘S&M’. Over the best club beats of the year our girl steps up like a mini, if a little tamer, version of shock rock diva Peaches and declares “sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me.” The song is certainly a winner but something tells us that Rihanna didn’t have the final say on whether she wanted to spend another couple of years bound up in PVC pretending that’s what she likes.
Loud is packed with big named collaborations including rapper of the moment Nicki Minaj on ‘Raining Men’, her 112th collaboration of the year, allowing both women to show what they do best. While Minaj flows and spits Rihanna sings about sitting outside with a bucket to catch all those men falling her way. There are certainly a lot of Barbadian influences on Loud and tracks like the doomed love song ‘Man Down’ only benefit from them, who doesn’t love that Caribbean purr.
Despite the slightly tired sex doll antics that feature on the album Loud displays Rihanna at her best. Vocally she could diva off with the best of them, Whitney watch out. Loud is engaging, fun and easily her best release to date. At only 22 Rihanna has enough standout tracks to make sure she never fades into obscurity. Let’s just hope for the next album Rihanna puts away the whip and realises she’s interesting enough without it.
For this month's mixtape I wanted to pay homage to the girls that are immensely braver than me.
At some point in our life us women need to be hard, we need to be strong we need to be bitches and not give a hoot.
Remember if you're being called a bitch, a slut or a whore it's just because you're saying something people don't want to hear so say it louder.
This is for all the girls that say it loud and proud.
Tracklisting:
1. Bad Reputation- Joan Jett
2. Hard- Rihanna
3. Brat Girl- Bratmobile
4. Cherry Bomb- Runaways
5. Teenage Whore- Hole
6. You Know I'm No Good- Amy Winehouse
7. Bad Girls- Donna Summer
8. O Chenilla- Cadallaca
9. My Alcoholic Friends- Dresden Dolls
10. Hella Nervous- Gravy Train
11. Jail La La- Dum Dum Girls
Pop. That word, genre, capitalist marketing team, whatever you want to call it, is what the whole alternative scene came together to fight against.
Indie was meaningful, real, challenging and pop was, errr, well evil. Just evil no explanations.
Now that we've seen indie music jump stream into the mainstream, see what I did there, can we really hold it up to such high esteem and call it 'independent' any more. It is just as popular as traditional pop and r'n'b and it is fair to say indie has been equally bad at times.
With that in mind I believe we shouldn't turn our noses up at more popular music anymore.
It has made collosal mistakes, as does every other genre, but no one can deny that it has come up with as many gems over the years as any other genre.
So here's my mixtape with what I think are some particularly huge pop diamonds, enjoy.
Tracklisting:
1. Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)- Beyonce
2. Are You That Somebody?- Aaliyah
3. L.E.S Artistes- Santigold
4. Love Long Distance- Gossip
5. Bootylicious- Destiny's Child
6. Bulletproof- La Roux
7. Hot 'n' Cold- Katy Perry
8. Bad Romance- Lady Gaga
9. Bills Bills Bills- Destiny's Child
10. Rude Boy (Diplo Rudeboyz Remix)- Rihanna
11. Lights Out- Santigold
12. Sweet Dreams- Beyonce
13. Make It Take It- Amanda Blank
14. Stillness Is The Move (Dirty Projectors Cover)- Solange
15. Jai Ho- A. R. Rahman Ft. Pussycat Dolls
16. Telephone- Lady Gaga Ft. Beyonce
