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Posts Tagged “rihanna”

umbrellas for sale

Rihanna: A Career In Advertising

Anyone who watches TV probably knows that Rihanna is not opposed to being part of an ad campaign, but a New York Times article about celebrity endorsements shows that one could map out the course of her career through her promotional contracts even easier than through her albums. Where lots of acts who agree to be involved with advertisements claim to be choosy for ethical reasons, Rihanna's handlers haven't worried about offending her fans through her rapid rise to fame, so as much as making sure the ad campaigns are ones that can help introduce their act to a desired audience. (Are you a rather pragmatic R & B idol? Consider dancing for Overstock.com.) But nobody's story is as inspirational as Rihanna's, who went from exotic novelty to superstar in three years. More »

Another track from the reissue of Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad has leaked, and the fact that it's titled "Disturbia" makes me think that it was actually recorded for the 2007 Rear Window ripoff starring Shia LeBoeuf, but replaced at the last minute on the soundtrack by Afroman's "Because I Got High" because of contractual issues. Listening to the song only solidifies that feeling, particularly since there's more vocoder on it than there is on a picture-edition 12-inch of Cher's "Believe." [Pretty Much Amazing!]

100 and single

From Zombies to Ri-Ri: Bonus Hits are Album-Buyer's Ripoff and Chart Bonanza

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts. This week he takes a look at the long, fan-aggravating history of belated "bonus track" re-releases, and how the music industry turned these anomalies into a premeditated punishment for making an album popular:
More »

videodrone

Maroon 5 And Rihanna Sex-Stare At (Or Next To) Each Other


Rihanna does her best to imitate Adam Levine's frozen sex-stare in Maroon 5's video for "If I Never See Your Face Again," but you can't pretend to be a homicidal maniac. Adam seems more comfortable eye-fucking the camera than her, but that's because her eyes made him think about how much he'd love to wrap a phone cord around her neck while Phil Collins plays in the background and naturally it made him a little nervous. The song? It's another nasty sex romp that will have Greg Dulli shooting ever more darts into an thoroughly punctured picture of Mr. Levine. "He gets Rihanna and Kanye, I get Marcy Mays and Mark Lanegan! Why did I have to peak in the '90s!?! Argh, my groin!" [YouTube]

videodrone

Rihanna's Handlers Still Trying To Turn "Umbrella" Into The Ultimate Mash-Up Fodder


Tonight's Brit Awards didn't just serve as the latest stop on Amy Winehouse's during-rehab Rehab Tour: the ceremony also had a segment where Rihanna interpolated "Umbrella" with the Klaxons' "Golden Skans," the latest incidence of her formerly ubiquitous hit being smooshed together with a song from a different genre/era. But did melding the track with the "Shattered Dreams" soundalike really work? I'm unsure, although I should note that said uneasiness didn't really hit me until "Golden Skans"' "ooh-ooh-oohs" kicked in—and I'm pretty sure Ri-Ri's somewhat challenged enunciation didn't help my overall perception much. For comparison's sake, the version Rihanna performed with the Time last week at the Grammys is after the jump. More »

pairings

Rihanna To Break Out The Glowsticks At The Brit Awards

After mixing "Umbrella" up with The Time's "Jungle Love" at last week's Grammys, Rihanna is set to perform the umpteenth "live remix" of the song at Wednesday's Brit Awards. Her foils this time: The Klaxons, who told Radio One that their take on the still-pretty-ubiquitous hit will be "an electronic version with guitars on it." Which sounds to me like it could describe the original take on the song, but apparently Rihanna's people disagree in a hilarious way! "They've got this funny idea of what our band sounds like and we've done three or four different versions," the band said. "Her people kept sending versions back going 'No, this sounds more like you.'" Perhaps her management thought that she would actually be working with the Jacksons? [Guardian / Photo: AP]

announcements

Mark Your Calendars: Idolator Is Live-Blogging The Grammys This Sunday

Yes, that's right—Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET is when our live coverage of the Grammys, which will be filled with the walking dead and the incredibly awkward, begins. It'll be my first liveblog from my four-person orange couch! Here's the nominee list, so you can read up on who's in, who's out, and who's up for Best Polka Album. And to get you even more excited for Sunday, here are a few final news items on the show, presented in handy bullet form:
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idolator gift guide

The Rihanna Umbrellas: Now In Extra Sparkly

Totes' line of Rihanna-branded umbrellas were so successful, they've branched out into a second line of the portable shelters. The one pictured at left, which I suppose was designed to emulate the umbrella that Rihanna's phantom legs dance around in the song's video, will set you back fifty bucks. Fifty! I feel bad spending more than seven dollars on an umbrella because I've left about 12 of them on the subway during the six years that I've lived in New York, but maybe people who own their own cars and don't have to worry about such commuting-related losses will be less wary of dropping the cash. [totes-isotoner.com, via Songs For Soap]

100 and single

Mama-say, Mama-sa, Ma-Ma-Hard-Sell: Rihanna Throws Michael Jackson A Lifeline

Ed. note: Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

Imagine, for a moment, you're in promotions at Sony/BMG, and you're trying to stoke interest in the 25th-anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller. This isn't the first time you guys have rereleased the record, and with Michael coming up on his 50th birthday, you've got your work cut out to make him look relevant.

Sure, the obvious move is lining up some current acts to help Jacko remix those classic tracks—like bringing in Akon to rethink "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." While you're at it, try convincing the Grammy people to let Michael perform on the show (what the hell, they need ratings and hey, you can't guarantee that Michael won't have a Britney-in-Vegas-style meltdown...). But then you think:

You know what would really seal it? If we could get a current act...somebody really hot...to sample something from Thriller and have a big, fat hit with it. Like, Justin biting "Billie Jean"...or Jigga rapping over "Thriller"...or something. I mean, Kanye sampling "P.Y.T." was helpful, but that record peaked months ago. We need something hot right now, just as we're dropping the disc...

And then, like a table-dancing angel from above, Rihanna answers your prayers.

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Kanye West's summer tour will feature Rihanna, N.E.R.D., and Lupe Fiasco as openers. No word on whether Pharrell will be selling his "music universe-inspired" jewelry collection—a sample is at left—at the shows' merch tables. If that does somehow come to pass, prices for said rings and things start at $2,000, so those people looking to up their "classy" quotient while out on the town might want to bring their high-limit credit cards. [Kanyeuniversecity.com / Songs For Soap]

oh wee oh wee oh

The Bestest Possible Grammy News Ever (That Has Nothing To Do With The Damn Strike)

For the longest time we thought it was just a rumor floating around the Internet thanks to rabid Morris Day fans, but the only reason not to spend Feb. 10 at the bar (or at least the only reason to remember to set the DVR before leaving for the bar) is finally, officially confirmed:

And in a special 50th anniversary moment, Rihanna will perform with the Time, which is reuniting for the occasion.

ZOMG. If this means a live version of "Don't Stop The Music," then it will totally make all of the agonizing pauses and flubbed transitions and cringeworthy ad libbing totally worth it. Okay, it won't at all, but still: the Time!

Beyonce, Rihanna, Underwood Performing At Grammys [Billboard]


petition for an actual videodrone

Rihanna Once Again Gives Us Good Dreams


Whatever his songwriting chops—he wrote "Umbrella," after all, meaning I can appreciate the skill even if left cold by the end results—I got fleeced buying a used copy of Lovehate, the debut album from Atlanta pop R&B radio killer The-Dream. Every other song is sunk by some of the most sophomoric baby-playa lyrics imaginable, embarrassing even when librettos crafted from horny teens' text messages are sadly the rule. But one of the few songs on the record worth your .99—quite a bit more, actually—is "Living A Lie," redeemed by the typically tart contributions from The-Dream's key foil/muse, Rihanna. More »

project x

Project X Pits The Family Against The Critics

As part of Idolator's continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Jackin' Pop editor Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. After the click-through, he [hilariously] examines the results of the Idolator Pop Critics Poll Tracks Top 10 with some special help:

By now you've seen the critics' lists of the year's best music. But what about the folks who really count—the people? In interest of fairness and balance, I've decided to take the critics' choices to some regular folks. That's right: it's time once again for this column to exploit my family.

More »

No. 11: Rihanna And Ne-Yo Make Neediness Sound Like The Best Thing Ever Because when your better half sings so sweet, it's easy to overlook diminishing relationship returns.

putting the (multilingual) pseudo in pseudo-event

The World Music Awards Prove "Smack That" Sucks In All Languages

Last night, a few dozen UHF viewers got a little taste of international glamour at the World Music Awards, where America's pop elite and a bunch of foreigners were airlifted to Monte-Carlo to prove that middle-aged white people awkwardly bumping asses to "Ayo Technology" transcends borders. Or something. The WMAs' Model U.N. included winners Rihanna, DJ David Guetta, 50 Cent, Mika, and basically whoever else had bothered to turn up, but it turned out we were the real winners, because the show was really celebrating us for "buying albums and legally downloading." (RIAA propaganda is apparently also universal.) See, we thought the real winners were lovers of exaggerated comedy accents; if you were a fan of frighteningly stern supermodels who sound like they're hunting moose and squirrel or beefy rugby players who sound like Charo, this was the awards show for you.


No. 20: Rihanna Will Shelter You From The Storm Even though the song at No. 20 was pretty much an unstoppable force of nature itself.

Did flashing a little too much sideboob get Rihanna kicked out of a family wedding in Barbados? Hey, at least her "leather mommy" outfit was at the cleaners that day. [Celebitchy / Photo: Getty]

videodrone

Rihanna Tries Out For Victoria's Secret Modeling Gig


Most of Rihanna's shots in the video for "Hate That I Love You," her duet with Ne-Yo, feature the singer in her skivvies; no doubt that was a compromise that was struck after the powers that be realized that she wouldn't be able to move around that much during her video shoot. However, this breezy, bittersweet lament is still as good as it was when I first heard it back in May, and the sorta-noirish video—which even has a (not-very-good, but still) twist at the end!—is actually well-paired with the track, underwear modeling aside.

Rihanna ft. Ne-Yo - Hate That I Love You [YouTube]