Rihanna’s presence on this list might seem obvious. She’s an artist who makes her living selling her appearance and sexuality as much as her music. But she’s pretty much the only singer of that sort I like who works for me in both areas. I listed Shakira and Christina Aguilera as two performers who shouldn’t have to sell sex to sell CDs, but that’s probably because I don’t find either of them all that sexy. Rihanna, on the other hand…
But it is still very much about the music. On the flip side you have Beyonce, somebody to whom Rihanna is often compared. I find Beyonce sexy as hell but her music doesn’t do much for me. I’ll never change the channel if I come across her on TV but I have no interest in listening to any of her albums. I discovered Rihanna through her music before knowing much about her appearance.
It’s kind of like having a hair stylist who does a really great job on your hair and happens to look like, well, Rihanna. If she looked like Linda Hunt, you’d still go to her for the haircut but the fact that she looks like Rihanna makes the process a lot more exciting.
‘Take a Bow’ is a great song that was released as a single and then added to the “Reloaded” version of Good Girl Gone Bad. It was written by Chris Brown. How bizarre that he wrote this when he and Rihanna were a couple and wound up providing her with a perfect song to sing to his dumb ass after he beat her up on Grammy night. I mean, other than the one line about being unfaithful, this song could have been written about that whole ugly situation.
A standing ovation?
You look so dumb right now
Standing outside my house
Trying to apologize
You’re so ugly when you cry
Please, just cut it out
Don’t tell me you’re sorry ’cause you’re not
Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught
But you put on quite a show, really had me going
But now it’s time to go, curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show, very entertaining
But it’s over now
Go on and take a bow
Grab your clothes and get gone
You better hurry up before the sprinklers come on
Talking’ ’bout, “Girl, I love you,” “You’re the one”
This just looks like a rerun
Please, what else is on?
Don’t tell me you’re sorry ’cause you’?re not
Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught
But you put on quite a show, really had me going
But now it’s time to go, curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show, very entertaining
But it’s over now
Go on and take a bow
Oh, and the award for the best liar goes to you
For making me believe that you could be faithful to me
Let’s hear your speech out
How about a round of applause?
A standing ovation?
But you put on quite a show, really had me going
Now it’s time to go, curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show, very entertaining
But it’s over now
Go on and take a bow
But it’s over now
Meet Me In Montauk 
Okay, I was tempted to go in search of a clip from The Year of LIvinig Dangerously, but ultimately I don’t think I’d be able to launch the same defense of Ms. Hunt that I did for Amy Ray.
Rihanna and Beyonce certainly shouldn’t be lumped together, but the little I’ve seen and heard of Beyonce suggests you’re dismissing her a bit unfairly ;( Just this past week’s episode of Glee has me in non-stop “Single Ladies” mode.
The fact that Chris Brown wrote this song makes me seriously wonder what inspired it. Yikes.
a little teaser for the uninitiated gleeks among you 🙂
Funny. today’s SOTD was also on Glee (or so I’ve read).
I like a couple of Beyonce songs, including ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘Crazy in Love,’ but the rest haven’t done much for me.
I think the fundamental flaw with your whole “I liked her before I knew she was attractive/sexy” argument is that we all know perfectly well that, in order for a woman to make it into the commercial pop recording industry, she has to be attractive. So, when you first heard Rihana, and assuming that you had never before seen her, you likely correctly presumed she would NOT look like Linda Hunt (or even Amy Ray) and that she would be attractive. You could therefore put your fantasy physical look with the sound and, when you eventually saw her, she would not and did not disappoint.
Now, I admit that I haven’t heard much from Rihana beyond “Umbrella” and this song and something she did recently with Kanye West. I don’t really like “Umbrella” though I must admit that the damn chorus get’s stuck in one’s head like bubble gum on a shoe. This SOTD, while perhaps more interesting because of the Chris Brown irony, is really rather dull. And so I haven’t heard anything from Rihana that suggests she is more than a pretty girl with a pretty voice.
On the other hand, the little I have heard from Beyonce has me a bit more intrigued. I’ve seen her on Grammy shows holding her own with the likes of Aretha Franklin and I find “Single Ladies” to be really quite original musically, with the instrumental counter-melodies playing brazingly against her vocals, in addition to being catchy as hell. I’m not really sure I will be making any greater effort to seek out Beyonce than Rihana (because ultimately I’m just not a big fan of pop music), but, if I were to do so, I suspect I would gravitate more to Beyonce.
Beyonce definitely has a bigger and better voice than Rihanna but I haven’t heard anything from her that matches the pop/R&B excellence of Rihann’a last album.
I’m curious, when you say you’re not a big fan of pop music, what exactly do you mean?
After all, The Beatles are pop music. So are Ben Folds and Elton John. Lots of Counting Crows material could be classified as pop. It seems a lot of things you like fall into the broader definition of “pop music.”
Is it a specific subset of pop music you don’t like?
I agree that “pop” music may be a broad category. Perhaps I should have said dance/club music. However, I have also never been a big fan of rather generic and bland pop R&B songs like the one you feature today. I like music that is more interesting and complex. While there are exceptions to that rule, you won’t often find me listening repeatedly to a song that consists of a few basic chords that I could sit down and play on the piano on my first attempt. So, for example, when it comes to the Beatles, I will take a pass on “Love Me Do” and listen instead to “A Day in the Life”
And yet you remain a big fan of the boring James Taylor. 😉
Let’s not confuse mellow with boring. You are really on an island with regard to your opinion on Taylor.
Couldn’t you play most Taylor songs on your first attempt? I’m guessing yes (and keep in mind, I don’t consider this a bad thing… I like simple songs).
No, not nearly as easily as I could play this Rihana song. Here’s a comparison:
Chords in today’s SOTD:
C G Am7 F
C G Am7 F
C G Am7 F
C G/B Bbsus2
and repeat, basically, throughout the song.
By contrast, here is Fire and Rain:
C Gm7 F C
G Bb C Gm7
F C G Bb
F Dm7 G11 C F Dm7 G11
C F Dm7 G11 C
Bb F(A Bass) G7 Gm7 C7 C9
Nerd! 🙂
I think your music knowledge gets in the way of your music fandom sometimes. To my untrained ears, ‘Fire and Rain’ is an extremely simple song. Again, I don’t see that as a bad thing by any means. Some of my very favorite songs are simple.
I don’t know, maybe you’re right, although I don’t really listen to a song and consciously think, “I don’t like this because I can play it.”. I just know that I like what I like, and what I tend to like and return to repeatedly, generally, are songs that have more interesting and innovative structure.
You request; I deliver 🙂 What a voice this young woman has, huh?!
By the way, I don’t begin to understand half of this debate. I may as well dive in and say I like songs that have a chord progression like this…
x r z a b7
I like this song, and I agree with Clay that simple songs are often the most powerful. Especially when the lyrics are as effective as they are in this song – the irony and extended metaphor work beautifully (that’s right – I’m combatting your musical nerdiness with my English teacher nerdiness – deal!)
And I can’t wait for Glee tonight!!!! 🙂
I agree with Amy about the effectiveness of these lyrics. It’s definitely a great case study in extended metaphor. I particularly get a kick out of the lines: “This just looks like a rerun… please, what else is on?”
I like how the Glee clip takes it a step further by putting her in front of a mirror and playing off the way young people pretend to be famous performers.
I agree that the lyrics are interesting–far more interesting than the music. However, they are not interesting enough for me to feel the need to hear this song more than once.