It’s not like the American Music Awards are really about the awards, but I’ll give you the brief list of winners just in case. Favorite Group: The Black Eyed Peas; Country Band/Duo/Group: Rascal Flatts; Female Pop/Rock Artist: Taylor Swift; Alternative Rock Artist: Green Day; Male Soul/R&B Artist: Michael Jackson; Male Country Artist: Keith Urban; Female Soul/R&B Artist: Beyonce; Female Country Artist: Taylor Swift; Male Pop/Rock Artist: Michael Jackson; Male Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Jay-Z; Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift. So, yeah. Taylor Swift was the big winner, once again. She didn’t even show up. She accepted via satellite, because she’s in Europe.
As far as the fashion went, well… it looks like no one really called their stylist to ensure they would look amazing last night. I guess Nicole Kidman looked cute, sort of. She was her husband’s date (he won) and she was a presenter with Kate Hudson, who almost flashed her bits in a really low-cut silver number. Kidman wore silver too – a silver and pink striped gown that I find ugly, but whatever.
One of the biggest fashion disasters was Rihanna, of course. The girl can’t go a week without getting something wrong in some epic, horrible way. On the red carpet, she wore an ugly black strapless gown. For her performance, however, she changed into this monstrosity. White bondage… that is pretty much grotesque. Oh, and she fake-tattooed her album name (“Rated R”) on her chest and neck.
And of course, Lady Gaga. She scares children at this point.
And then, of course, there was Adam Lambert’s performance. Ugh. People are describing this sh-t as “raunchy”. I think it’s just weak. You can tell how bad his voice is, and now all he’s got is dumb “I’m so avant garde because I’m gay” crap. The Huffington Post is claiming Lambert “fell” during his performance just like Jennifer Lopez, but I kind of think the tumble was minor, and may have been part of the thing. Whatever:
You know what I did last night? I watched my DVDs of The West Wing, season 7. And I feel like a better person for it. Seriously.
Photos below credit: WENN.com. Shown are Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Paula Abdul, Leona Lewis, Shakira, Selena Gomez, Pete Wentz, Toni Braxton with her son Diezel, Fergie, Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood.
Rihanna is quoted as telling German Magazine Bravo that she’s looking for a guy who’s well hung. She supposedly said “He has to be good in bed and the size matters. You know what I mean?” She also allegedly went on about how she sizes a guy up by checking out his package first. It doesn’t sound like something Rihanna would say, and the quotes are too good to be true. They’re funny as hell and sound like something a parody website would make up. I can’t find the article on Bravo’s website and I’ll try and pick it up this weekend to see if I can verify the quotes. (I’m in Germany. If any of our German readers have seen the article and can verify the quotes, please let us know.) It’s worth noting that Gala, a German celebrity magazine similar to Hello!, is running the quotes. It’s possible they got them from the same dubious source as everyone else, though. The translation is accurate based on the quotes in Gala, according to my German husband.
This is all pretty amusing, but I honestly don’t think she said this. We’ll see:
Rihanna has revealed she is on the hunt for a new man – but he has to have a big ”toy” and it has to be fun.
Rihanna wants a man with a big pen*s.
The ‘Umbrella’ singer – who has been single since Chris Brown assaulted her in February – is ready to date again but isn’t interested in suitors who don’t measure up in the bedroom.
When asked what a guy needed to impress her, she quipped to German magazine Bravo: “He has to be good in bed and the size matters. You know what I mean? The inner beauty counts as well, but without a toy it doesn’t make it fun. Right now I don’t want to have a serious relationship, I want to have fun.”
Although she is on the look-out for a guy, Rihanna is careful about who she gives her number to.
She said: “I love flirting at the moment. I’m single and I’m enjoying my freedom. But I don´t give my phone number out that often. But if I’m dating, I check the boy from the top to the bottom.”
One guy Rihanna has her eye is ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ actor Jesse Williams – who plays her love interest in the video for ‘Russian Roulette’.
The 21-year-old star revealed: “Jesse, who’s in my music video for ‘Russian Roulette’, is soooo hot!”
I’m in the “motion of the ocean” camp, but only to a point. There’s too small and too big, but anything in the average spectrum is usually fine and more than average is a nice surprise. Again, chances are really high that these quotes were a joke and someone is misinterpreting them. If not, Rihanna is pretty foolish to spill to some random magazine that she likes a man who is packing. (As an only mildly related aside, is anyone else annoyed that Hung won’t be coming back on HBO until the summer of next year? I love that show.)
Rihanna also recently admitted in a radio interview that she sometimes misses Chris Brown when she’s reminded of their relationship. She said she doesn’t turn off Chris’ music when it comes on the radio and added “I like his music.” She’s not haunted by his memory, though. “I’ve gotten over it, but there’s definitely constant reminders. A lot of it is listening to the radio and songs coming on.” As for the rumors that she’s dating Tristan Wilds from 90210, she said “I don’t even have his number.” She said he came over to a house party she threw and that’s it. When asked if she’s open to dating now, Rihanna answered “No, I’m a very flirty girl though. I don’t think I have a lot of time for a commitment right now. Or the energy.” She probably has the energy for some hot encounters, but I doubt she said that she vets guys by their size and performance. Or else why would she have been with Chris Brown for so long?
Update: Thanks to reader Arvedia for confirming that Bravo does have this interview and that Rihanna is quoted accurately! Her comment is below.
Rihanna is shown at LAX yesterday. Credit: WENN.com
These are photos of Rihanna leaving a club in London a few nights ago, and they’re getting a lot of play in the British media. That’s because some a-hole photographer crouched down to take up skirt photos of Rihanna as she was getting into the back of a car – and instead of getting a shot of her cooch, they got photos of her cellulite. I’ve put those photos at the bottom of the post.
Anyway, cellulite or no cellulite, Rihanna might have a new actor boyfriend. The guy’s name is Tristan Wilds and he used to be on HBO’s The Wire (photo here). The dating rumors seem to originate from Tristan coming to a party and being affectionate with Rihanna. I know it’s impossible to judge a book by it’s cover, but this guy looks nice. He looks respectful. Let’s hope that if she is dating him, he’s a nice guy.
Every gal has her flaws — even Rihanna.
The usually stunning songstress was caught in an unflattering pose on Monday night after partying at Mahiki, a nightclub in London. As she climbed into a limo, photographers caught a glimpse of her too-short skirt — and a bit of cellulite.
But the “Good Girl Gone Bad” has at least one male admirer who doesn’t seem to mind her imperfections: Spies tell us that the singer is dating actor Tristan Wilds. The “90210″ star was an unexpected guest at a party RiRi held over the weekend at her L.A. home, where she was saying goodbye to pals before taking off for a set of London gigs.
“No one knew why Tristan was there initially, because it was not an industry party — it was very intimate,” says a fellow guest. “But everyone quickly realized they weren’t meeting for the first time, because they were openly affectionate for everyone to see.”
Our source adds that 21-year-old Rihanna and the 20-year-old actor, who has also starred in “The Wire” and Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” music video, were introduced by a music producer who has worked with both of them — Wilds is currently working on an album of his own.
They hit it off the moment they laid eyes on each other, the insider says. “He’s a real gentleman,” says the source. “She likes him a lot, and it shows. From the moment he walked into her party, Rihanna lit up.”
So what now? Although RiRi will be traveling to promote her album “Rated R,” which drops on Monday, our source thinks the fling will last.
“They’ll keep in touch while she’s away,” the snitch insists. “They’re already planning to use iChat and Skype to stay in contact until Tristan finishes shooting ’90210′ for the season and can fly out to meet her on the road.”
While that may be the case, Rihanna may want to ask her new beau why he’s palling around with her ex, Chris Brown — on Twitter, at least. On Sunday, Brown tweeted that he was “so tired.” Shortly thereafter, Wilds took to his page to give the singer some words of encouragement. “Keep grinding, kid. All we can do,” he wrote.
Let’s hope Rihanna straightens out that issue ASAP — along with her wardrobe.
But of course, Rihanna isn’t the only one moving on from her abusive relationship. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Chris Brown still gets a ton of attention from the ladies – women approach him and “with most of them, without fail, figuring out some way to slip Chris their numbers… many dropping off notes, their e-mail addresses and phone numbers, and some including some pretty explicit photos” a source tells the Sun-Times. The source also says that there are three women “stalking” Chris currently, one of whom is even too “crazy and obsessive” that she’s freaking out his entourage. Who are these morons?
Rihanna exiting Mahiki nightclub in London on November 16 2009. Credit: Pacific Coast News
I don’t know what to make of these pictures of Rihanna. She’s in London right now, and these photos are of RiRi entering her hotel. She’s got a sizable lump above her eye, like somebody slammed her head-first into a wall or something. I’m hoping that it’s just something innocuous, like she was considering an eyebrow ring and it got infected or something. That was my first thought, actually – “infected piercing”. Something is definitely up.
Meanwhile, Rihanna is in London to promote her album, Rated R, which is out next week. From the reports, I think Jay-Z is in town too, and they’re going to be performing together. Rihanna told the British media that “London is one of my favorite cities, it’s where I get most of my creative energy- we made a lot of the album here.”
Speaking of, has everyone seen Rihanna’s new music video for “Russian Roulette”? It’s a little heavy for a Monday morning, but it’s definitely interesting. Many thought the lyrics (and the title) to “Russian Roulette” were totally iffy, but I can understand that Rihanna’s got a process, and she’s trying to work some sh-t out through her music. Anyway, here’s the video:
Here’s Rihanna in London today, November 16, 2009. Credit: WENN
Chris Brown says he really is sorry for beating the sh*t out of ex-girlfriend Rihanna, and if we don’t get that, it’s because we’re misinterpreting his behavior. Maybe his posture isn’t erect enough. Maybe he’s fiddling. Maybe he hears a noise and glances over his shoulder. But it’s just because we’re not smart enough to disregard that stuff. It has nothing to do with things Brown has said or done. Like spending $300,000 on a custom-made diamond “OOPS!” pendant that he had made for Diddy’s 4th of July party. Or writing on his Facebook page “You’ll begin to see her true colors. Believe it!” Or releasing nude photos of Rihanna (of course denied). Why would any of those things make us think he’s not sorry? Clearly it’s just because we’re all too dumb and are just paying attention to his body language. It’s certainly not the things he’s said.
As he continues to apologize publicly for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown says he doesn’t know why people have a hard time believing that he is remorseful.
“The steps that I’ve taken to show that I’m sorry probably have been perceived wrong,” Brown, 20, says in an interview on The Wendy Williams Show Friday (check your local listings).”Certain things when I’m doing certain interviews and how my posture is to how I’m acting.
“At the end of the day, I’m definitely remorseful and it’s not something that I take lightly or think that it’s like under the rug,” he goes on. “I really think it’s something that is a serious matter and I’m learning from it.”
The New York Post reports that Brown still can’t live down the attack.
The paper posts a video of a woman getting within a few feet of him Wednesday in NYC and screaming: “[bleep]ing beater!” and “I hope someone beats the [bleep]ing [bleep] out of you!”
Here’s the video of that woman screaming at Chris Brown that Us mentions. Apparently we’re supposed to believe he’s all better because he just smiled and walked past her. There are a hundred people around the Times Square Footaction store. What else is he going to do? Of course he managed to smile and just walk past her. I’m not giving him any credit for that. But I freaking love that lady. New Yorkers are the best.
Chris, we think you’re a douche because of your behavior. Because of the things you say and the things you do. No one is misinterpreting anything. We’re just not seeing the golden angel version of you that your narcissism sees. You’re the one who’s misinterpreting. Everyone else is not the problem. Your inability to see why your actions are perceived the way they are makes it impossible for you to change. I understand that’s probably frustrating. Checking yourself into some kind of locked down facility might be a good route to go. Get some help. Or learn to stop talking.
Here’s Chris Brown exiting Kitchen 24 at 4am after reportedly dining with six ladies on October 17th. Images thanks to Pacific Coast News.
Here’s Rihanna at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York last night. She’s wearing an ivory Stephane Rolland dress that I will name “the origami/paper airplane dress”. It’s a spectacular fashion statement, and one of the few from Rihanna I actually love. Some people are calling it a “wedding dress”, but do you know any bride who would want this dress for her wedding day? I don’t. Just because it’s white and amazing, doesn’t mean it’s a wedding dress.
Anyway, while on the red carpet, Rihanna spoke to People Magazine about her album, and her responsibility to young women everywhere to speak out about domestic violence. Rihanna is fresh off the extensive coverage she got for her sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer (coverage here and here). Meanwhile, Chris Brown is stick a f-cking douchebag, but Rihanna seems to be finding her voice as a role model and advocate:
From the pain comes the creativity. While writing songs for her upcoming album, Rated R, Rihanna had to let down her guard and draw from a private place full of pain to express herself through music.
“I’m usually a very guarded person, so having to go in and reach your emotions and personal things to say, it was very vulnerable,” the Barbadian beauty, 21, told PEOPLE at Monday night’s Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York City.
She said the inspiration for her upcoming album, which will be released Nov. 23, come from “personal experiences mixed with rock and hip-hop.”
Since February, when she was beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown, Rihanna has had to deal with court proceedings and criticism for taking Brown back. Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault after pictures of her battered face were leaked. After leaving him, she revealed that he had shoved her into a car window, punched her several times in the face, and bit her.
Now, as a victim of domestic violence, Rihanna said it’s her responsibility to speak out for other women who’ve been through the same thing.
“I’m really a woman, a human being,” she said. “I go through real situations that women all over the world go through every day. It’s great to have the opportunity to be a voice for those women.”
While accepting the Women of the Year award on Monday, presented by the model Iman, Rihanna entered the stage and shed a tear, claiming it was PMS, and then happily continued to thank friends, mentor Jay-Z, her mother and grandmother.
And she actually made a joke, ribbing herself for her ivory Stephane Rolland dress. “As usual, I decided do the tightest dress I could find,” she said to appreciative laughter.
Rihanna actually picked up a “Woman of the Year” award at the Glamour ceremony, and RiRi got emotional when she accepted her award. According to Hollyscoop, “Rihanna walked on stage and wiped a tear, joking that it was PMS.” During Rihanna’s speech, she said: “I’m really a woman, a human being. I go through real situations that women all over the world go through every day. It’s great to have the opportunity to be a voice for those women.”
Here’s Rihanna on the red carpet for the Glamour Woman of the Year Awards in New York on November 9, 2009. Credit: Andres Otero/ WENN.com
Rihanna was all over the news last week because of her in-depth interview with Diane Sawyer. The clips shown on Good Morning America were fairly devastating. Rihanna came across as a young woman who had learned some valuable lessons about self-respect, violence and her position as a role model for young women. She also recalled her vivid memory of being beaten by Chris: “He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank. He was clearly blacked-out. There was no person when I looked at him.”
While Rihanna’s interview dominated the news, it seemed to many (me) that it would have been wise for Chris to simply give Rihanna the week. He should have disappeared, gone on vacation, or stayed home and played video games for a several days. Anything but appear before MTV for a series of disgustingly ridiculous interviews, the latest of which came on Friday, in which Chris said that Rihanna should have kept all of the beat down “private”. Seriously:
When MTV News correspondent Sway spoke with Chris Brown on Monday for “Chris Brown: The Interview” and addressed Rihanna’s upcoming “20/20″ sit-down — portions of which have already aired on “Good Morning America” — the “Forever” singer said he was confident that he had come clean about everything and there was nothing that could be said by his former girlfriend that would make him nervous.
“Honestly, because I have expressed my wrongs and there is nothing that could come out that’s like, ‘OK, this is something totally different than what we know,’ ” he told MTV News when asked. “I basically expressed how I feel, basically said what I’m wrong for.”
Brown contacted MTV News on Friday (November 6) to issue a statement about the portions of Rihanna’s interview that have emerged since that interview. He reiterated his stance on maintaining the pair’s privacy, but he also supported Rihanna’s decision to speak out about what occurred that February night. Brown wished Rihanna the best and once again admitted his mistake.
“While I respect Rihanna’s right to discuss the specific events of February 8, I maintain my position that all of the details should remain a private matter between us,” he said in the statement. “I do appreciate her support and wish her the best. I am extremely sorry for what I did, and I accept accountability for my actions. At this point, I am taking the proper steps to learn about me and grow from my mistakes. I only hope that others in similar situations can learn from our experience as well. Abuse of any kind is always wrong. The rest I leave it to God.”
It’s like this kid has absolutely no shame, no sense of hypocrisy, no sense of real remorse. This is the same Chris Brown who went on Larry King and talked about how he didn’t even remember beating the hell out Rihanna. This is the same Chris Brown who went out partying in the aftermath of the beating. Ugh.
Meanwhile, Chris Brown’s apologists are still in action. The website Tash (“Hip, Urban ‘n Chic”) pointed out that “Chris Brown’s friends are backing him 100% and calling her a liar, hannarihanna and more.” They pulled several commenters defense of Chris – much of it I have no desire to publish (you can see a select few here), but the gist of which is that Rihanna is spreading “bullcrap” and that Chris’s career “ain’t ova”. Seriously. So much for a teachable moment.
Chris Brown is photographed performing during Power 105.1′s “Powerhouse” at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 27, 2009. Credit: FAME.
Good Morning America has released more segments from Diane Sawyer’s exclusive interview with Rihanna (video here), and they are just as devastating as you would expect. I have to admit, I found myself tearing up watching this. Part of why Rihanna made me so emotional is because I genuinely feel sorry for the girl – she really seems to be struggling, she really seems devastated by what happened between her and Chris Brown. Another part of why this gets me emotional is that I feel so frustrated with her and with the situation, because I think she made some big mistakes after Chris Brown assaulted her, and because I think she was dumb, and she sent out a dumb message to young women everywhere. Frustration and pity gets me weepy.
Rihanna admits that it was “wrong” to go back with Chris after he beat the hell out of her, and she tries to explain it by saying that, in her mind, it was about love and forgiveness: “It’s pretty easy to go back. You start lying to yourself. The physical wounds go away. You want this thing to go away. This is a memory you don’t want to ever have again.” Rihanna says that it wasn’t until she realized the horrible message she was sending to her young fans that she realized she needed to leave him: “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn’t be responsible for that. Even if Chris never hit me again, who’s to say their boyfriend won’t? Who’s to say they won’t kill these girls? I didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.” Rihanna says she felt like “F love” and that it wasn’t about love. Finally.
In her first television interview since she was assaulted by Chris Brown, Rihanna says it was “humiliating” and “traumatizing” to admit the incident happened and that it was “wrong” of her to take Brown back.
“That’s embarrassing that that’s the type of person that I fell in love with,” the singer, 21, told Diane Sawyer on ABC’s Good Morning America Thursday (the entire interview airs Friday on 20/20). “So far in love. So unconditional that I went back. It’s humiliating to say this happened. To accept that? It’s a traumatizing experience.”
During the interview, she confirmed that Brown, 20, held her in a headlock twice and bit her on the ear and fingers the night before the Grammys.
“I stayed. I even went back after he beat me, which was wrong,” Rihanna said. “But again … I’m a human being and people put me on a very unrealistic pedestal. And all these expectations, I’m not perfect.”
Rihanna – who drops a new album, Rated R, Nov. 23 – said she wanted to speak out now to help others who may be in a similar situation.
“It’s completely normal to go back. It’s not right. I learned the hard way, but again, this is what I want people to know,” she said. “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn’t be held responsible for going back.
“Even if Chris never hit me again, who is to say that their boyfriend won’t? Who’s to say that they won’t kill these girls?” she went on. “These are young girls and I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.”
Rihanna said the past few months have been one of the “most lonely times” for her because “nobody understands what it’s like.”
Said the singer, “There are a lot of women who’ve experienced what I did, but not in the public. So it made it really difficult. I just felt like, ‘Oh my God, here it goes, my little bit of privacy.’”
Meanwhile, Brown — who was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling in August — tells MTV News in a new interview that he still doesn’t understand his actions.
“My thoughts [when I look back on it now] is like, ‘Why did it happen?’ Like, ‘What was I thinking? What is wrong with you?’ That’s what I’m thinking with myself. That’s what my thoughts are, basically, now,” says the R&B musician.
He said he is ready to move on.
Said Brown, “It’s like, ‘How do we get past it? How do you, Chris’ – talking to myself – ‘how do you go from point A to point B? How do you learn from your mistakes, turn it into a positive and help other people with the situation, and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?’”
That’s actually surprised me – that Chris Brown is doing interviews the same week as Rihanna’s publicity stuff is gearing up, the same week she gives her first big interview about the assault. Chris is so f-cking dumb, he didn’t even realize that this is the one week that he should just shut the hell up and take it quietly. Instead, he’s whining about how he doesn’t know “why” it happened. Here is the full Chris Brown interview at MTV. He makes me sick.
ABC will air an exclusive interview with Rihanna on Good Morning America and 20/20 in which she’ll speak publicly for the first time about the brutal beating she suffered at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February. Chris has since pled guilty to felony assault and is serving five years probation along with six months of community service.
Chris has spoken several times about the beating, albeit in a passive roundabout way, and has apologized to Rihanna and his fans. Rihanna has yet to say anything, but that will soon change with her interview in Glamour’s December issue and with this televised interview with Diane Sawyer.
From the kind of vague advanced details released by ABC, it’s hard to tell whether she’ll go into detail or if she’ll just speak in general terms about the abuse. ABC quotes her as saying Chris “was definitely my first big love,” and that “This happened to me…it can happen to anyone,” but those are the only quotes they’re providing.
Rihanna also talks about the incident in the December issue of Glamour, and the interview is available online. She primarily focuses on the press fallout and how she was embarassed by the release of the police photo showing the extent of her injuries. She also makes what will become a much-repeated remark comparing the massive press attention after her attack to what Britney deals with, “I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears.” Rihanna also gives a thoughtful comment about how she hopes that her situation will inspire women in abusive situations to break their silence and seek help.
Glamour: Let’s talk about this past year—you’ve obviously been through some difficult things. How did the people around you help you cope?
Rihanna: My friends and family have been extremely supportive, and everyone has been there for me. But at some point you are there alone. It’s a lonely place to be—no one can understand. That’s when you get close to God.
Glamour: Are you referring to the [Chris Brown] incident?
Rihanna: I am talking about starting with the night [before] the Grammys and then on. That was not the only thing that occurred this year. The picture leaking…it was one thing after another.
Glamour: You’re talking about the photo [reportedly of Rihanna’s injured face taken by police after Brown assaulted her] that was allegedly leaked by cops. You handled that so well; you kept silent in the press.
Rihanna: It was humiliating; that is not a photo you would show to anybody. I felt completely taken advantage of. I felt like people were making it into a fun topic on the Internet, and it’s my life. I was disappointed, especially when I found out the photo was [supposedly leaked by] two women.
Glamour: How has this event changed you as a person, as a woman?
Rihanna: I’m stronger, wiser and more aware. You don’t realize how much your decisions affect people you don’t even know, like fans.
Glamour: Do you think you’ve gotten your strength from your mom?
Rihanna: Definitely. My mom gave us the tools to survive…. My parents separated when I was eight or nine. I helped her raise my [youngest] brother, because my mom was working all the time. He’s my favorite.
Glamour: Do you feel that this experience has laid the groundwork for coping with anything so public again?
Rihanna: It has taught me so much. I felt like I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day. It was like, What, there are helicopters circling my house? There are 100 people in my cul-de-sac? What do you mean, I can’t go back home?
Glamour: If you could offer a message to the millions of young women who look up to you, what would you tell someone who found herself in a similar situation?
Rihanna: Domestic violence is a big secret. No kid goes around and lets people know their parents fight. Teenage girls can’t tell their parents that their boyfriend beat them up. You don’t dare let your neighbor know that you fight. It’s one of the things we [women] will hide, because it’s embarrassing. My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery. The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn’t heard. Now I can help speak for those women.
It sounds like Rihanna is acknowledging what happened to her without getting into the details and without directly condemning Brown. This is a smart media strategy, and one that makes her seem like she’s moved on, but is still very sensitive to the plight of women who suffer abuse. Maybe that’s why she waited to speak to the press – she wanted to process everything and reach a point where she could talk about it. I have a lot of respect for the way she did this and I’m looking forward to seeing her interview with Sawyer.
Rihanna is shown on 11/2/09. Credit: WENN.com. Other image courtesy ABC
Here’s the cover of Rihanna’s new single “Russian Roulette.” Uh… barbed wire and boobs. And a corset? And some kind of eye patch that really isn’t an eye patch. Rihanna seems to have a well-documented thing for using sadomasochistic and bondage imagery in her magazine and publicity photo shoots. I doubt RiRi’s boobs are truly swaddled in barbed wire, though. At least, I hope this is some kind of Hollywood magic effect where the “barb” is made of Styrofoam or something. Because this cover makes my nipples run and hide. And the corset just seems random, right? Like, I’ll buy the barbed wire and the faux eye patch, but a corset? Too much.
As for the actual song “Russian Roulette”, I’ve been listening to it as I write. I think it’s pretty good, but that’s just me. I like pop music, and I have a pretty high threshold for excessive sound mixing and all of the accoutrements that come with singers that care more about maintaining their image than their voice. The song is pretty low-key and chilled-out, I think. Although I’m cracking up with the way RiRi sing/speaks the word “trigger”. It’s like she’s delivering a punchline.
“Russian Roulette” is RiRi’s first single from her album Rated R, which will be out November 23. Rated R will be her first album since 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad. “Russian Roulette” is also RiRi’s first solo single since the Chris Brown incident on the eve of the Grammys. She debuted the single on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show earlier today. I think she’s got another hit!
Here’s Rihanna in New York City yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.com .
