Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2009 11:27:28 GMT -5
From Pitchfork (who love Rihanna):
Thursday, October 22, 2009
"Russian Roulette"
Rihanna
"Russian Roulette"
[Def Jam]
4/10
With the major-label music industry continuing to decay like hidden leftovers in the back of your fridge, the number of big time event albums is dwindling accordingly. The scarcity of this year's Mega Fourth Quarter releases seems particularly dire, so the announcement of Rihanna's black-Friday-ready Rated R is still exciting for someone who grew up in the era of the Blockbuster Album. The singer's last LP, 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad, marked her transition from record label puppet to avant-fashionista iconoclast. Somewhere along the way, she managed to surpass Beyoncé in terms of edge-cutting Billboard cred.
So, aside from the sensational tabloid side-story, everyone is curious about Rihanna's next move. Not only because she's one of the few true music stars we've got going, but because she's now a daring and unpredictable Internet-age Artist who is unafraid to wear a dubiously functional eye-patch and prickly prison fence material on her single sleeve. Gaga, your move, etc.
But while the "Russian Roulette" artwork is spectacularly tawdry and over-the-top while also coming off like a bottom-rung video game cover, the song is just tawdry and bottom-rung. There's nothing spectacular here. The supposedly suicidal nature of the track is "shocking" in the sense that "Entertainment Tonight" will refer to it as "Rihanna's Shocking New Single!" In reality, this is a (bad) Celine Dion song with barrel-turning revolver noises that actually sound like a can of spray paint being shook up. "We wanted to give her a movie," producer Chuck Harmony told MTV of "Russian Roulette", which was co-written by Ne-Yo and Rihanna. He did just that, except it's a TV movie. Exclusively premiering on Lifetime on Demand. Starring Swoosie Kurtz.
All hope is not lost, though. Because if you go to Rihanna's website, there's an oh-so-brief teaser video featuring grainy images reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"-via-Vogue and a tantalizing bit of music that sounds a hell of a lot like dubstep. The snippet is massive, booming, genuinely forward-thinking; it seems like the ballsy choice for Rihanna's comeback single. But Def Jam is playing it safe with their "edgy"-not-edgy pick-- hey, it's gotten them this far, right?
"Russian Roulette"
Rihanna
"Russian Roulette"
[Def Jam]
4/10
With the major-label music industry continuing to decay like hidden leftovers in the back of your fridge, the number of big time event albums is dwindling accordingly. The scarcity of this year's Mega Fourth Quarter releases seems particularly dire, so the announcement of Rihanna's black-Friday-ready Rated R is still exciting for someone who grew up in the era of the Blockbuster Album. The singer's last LP, 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad, marked her transition from record label puppet to avant-fashionista iconoclast. Somewhere along the way, she managed to surpass Beyoncé in terms of edge-cutting Billboard cred.
So, aside from the sensational tabloid side-story, everyone is curious about Rihanna's next move. Not only because she's one of the few true music stars we've got going, but because she's now a daring and unpredictable Internet-age Artist who is unafraid to wear a dubiously functional eye-patch and prickly prison fence material on her single sleeve. Gaga, your move, etc.
But while the "Russian Roulette" artwork is spectacularly tawdry and over-the-top while also coming off like a bottom-rung video game cover, the song is just tawdry and bottom-rung. There's nothing spectacular here. The supposedly suicidal nature of the track is "shocking" in the sense that "Entertainment Tonight" will refer to it as "Rihanna's Shocking New Single!" In reality, this is a (bad) Celine Dion song with barrel-turning revolver noises that actually sound like a can of spray paint being shook up. "We wanted to give her a movie," producer Chuck Harmony told MTV of "Russian Roulette", which was co-written by Ne-Yo and Rihanna. He did just that, except it's a TV movie. Exclusively premiering on Lifetime on Demand. Starring Swoosie Kurtz.
All hope is not lost, though. Because if you go to Rihanna's website, there's an oh-so-brief teaser video featuring grainy images reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"-via-Vogue and a tantalizing bit of music that sounds a hell of a lot like dubstep. The snippet is massive, booming, genuinely forward-thinking; it seems like the ballsy choice for Rihanna's comeback single. But Def Jam is playing it safe with their "edgy"-not-edgy pick-- hey, it's gotten them this far, right?
Holy f**k!