Right, so Rihanna's been at the top of the charts for a fifth of a year. Congratulations are definately in order. But.... (oh there's always a but!). I can't help but notice a trend, and I can't quite fathom whether it is a good thing gone bad or not.
Rihanna, has quite obviously been given a stylistic and musical overhaul, as the whole album has a slightly rock chick feel, and I couldn't help but think, 'if only the album were as exotic as she is.'
The title track sounds as though it took half an hour to make on a Casio keyboard, and has taken my dad's favourite revival beats and made them into the type of song that will be the last track played to a dwindling dancefloor of drunkards before they throw up. 'Hate that I love you,' penned by Ne-yo, has a distinct deja vu effect ie, isn't he tired of using the 'Sexy Love' beat yet?
The whole thing is a bit 'Ibiza here I come,' with the bonus tracks filled with dance versions of the originals, which conjour up scary images of her performing with glow sticks everywhere.
But the record sales speak for themselves with first week sales of 68k, 115k and 162k for 'Music of the Sun,' 'A Girl like Me' and 'Good Girl Gone Bad' respectively. So, it seems that Sugababe-with-a-Bajan-accent stylee wins through. But does that make her a sell out?
Well, no. It's not like she didn't try to express herself('pon de replay', 'if it's loving that you want' etc), and she has certainly not allowed elocution lessons to distort that tenuous twang. But it's not the first time that somebody has been accused of such things for going down a slightly different path. Think Lemar, Sugababes, Big Brovaz, Gnarls Barkley, Sonique etc. Why do we assume that a black person has to sing "black" music or be labelled a coconut?
I resist the term sellout, but embrace the term manipulation. Marketing a clever people. So we have figured out who the powers that be are (not really that hard, think Chris Rock rich vs wealthy). I think that where the problem lies is in the rigorous testing of an artist's pliability, in other words, we'd like a bit of black...yep, that's just about enough thank you! It's the same reason that Brian from BB is now 2/1 to win the series, 'cos he's the right type of digestible black boy - the Essex cockney, with gelled hair, who you can laugh at rather than be scared of.
Personally, the genre of music doesn't bother me, so long as one remains true to oneself. However, it seems that the deciding factor these days is, how big do you want to be? Is your main concern your musical integrity or getting a sponsership deal with Clinique?
I think I know which Rihanna has opted for. She has obviously stuck two fingers up to file sharing lot of us and opted to use her shelf life to make some serious moolah from those that actually BUY cds. But to be fair, when you were discovered at a talent show, and have a voice that pierces the eardrum like a foghorn in the night, you're not exactly a legend in the making, so I guess you should be that good girl gone bad/good/chinese/mormon or whatever, until the next pint-sized beauty comes along. But let's just give thanks that there's another representative in the glossies for the entire black female race, aside from Beyonce for now.
