Jack Remington
Banned
Song: We Found Love
Album: Talk that Talk
Artist: Rihanna
On an album full of perfunctory melodic rambling and high school poetry class-tier lyrical work, this song stands out as a halfway-competent piece of songwriting. Whatever drugs Rihanna was on when she came up with the melody and lyrics to this one, we’d all be better off if she’d keep doing them. She should also stick with this producer, because he/she is seemingly the only person in her stable who can write a decent beat.
Song: Diamonds
Album: Unapologetic
Artist: Rihanna
On Unapologetic, Diamonds features the lone example of a motif that works both visually and thematically, as well as the only melody that succeeds in hooking the listener in 55 minutes of an otherwise barren and aimless soundscape. Perhaps the frequent allusions to MDMA usage indicate that Rihanna had focused on expanding her range of emotional experience prior to writing this song. The rest of the album is composed solely of would-be club hits that are as exciting as 11am Bingo at an off-strip Vegas shanty, or half-baked love songs that have as much emotional resonance as two snails locked together in foamy coitus. Yet Diamonds remains listenable, the sole diamond in this manure heap.
Song: Cheers (Drink to That)
Album: Loud
Artist: Rihanna
Strangely enough, this is the one song on the album that doesn’t make me want to drink heavily. The beat, featuring an underlying “yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah YEAH!” vocal line is genius, and whichever session singer they tapped to record that part is a much more engaging singer than Rihanna herself. One wishes that she were the featured artist on this song, or on this whole album, really. The rest of the album drifts aimlessly in circles, like a one-legged duck with dementia, yet this solitary flash in the pan seems to work.
Song: Photographs
Album: Rated R
Artist: Rihanna
Nine songs into a hapless, meandering valley of drivel, this song emerges suddenly with a thoughtfully-composed instrumental intro, and a melody that doesn’t make the listener immediately wish he were at ground zero of a major earthquake. Admittedly, the guest singer on the chorus steals the show, but the song as a whole is quite adequate, a far cry from the onslaught of sonic incompetence that characterizes the rest of the album.
Song: Don’t Stop the Music
Album: Good Girl Gone Bad
Artist: Rihanna
At first I was hesitant to write off the entire album, but around 1:19 into this song, a delightful beat emerges behind the chorus, some background singer repeating “mama se mama sa” with brilliant vocal delivery. This is a far more compelling beat than anything else on the album. Whoever Rihanna was working with here, she should work with him again, and he should probably get his own record deal.
Song: We Ride
Album A Girl Like Me
Artist: Rihanna
The only song on this album that didn’t compel me to hit the skip button within 30 seconds, We Ride’s get-up-and-go lyrics serve as a strangely compelling counter to the song’s relaxing melody and vocal delivery, evoking Zeppelin-esque imagery of riding a white mare through the footsteps of dawn. The rest of the album is an ode to a breakup that no one wants to hear about, the kind that makes your friends stop picking up their phones on weekend nights and leaves your facebook feed strangely empty.
Album: Talk that Talk
Artist: Rihanna
On an album full of perfunctory melodic rambling and high school poetry class-tier lyrical work, this song stands out as a halfway-competent piece of songwriting. Whatever drugs Rihanna was on when she came up with the melody and lyrics to this one, we’d all be better off if she’d keep doing them. She should also stick with this producer, because he/she is seemingly the only person in her stable who can write a decent beat.
Song: Diamonds
Album: Unapologetic
Artist: Rihanna
On Unapologetic, Diamonds features the lone example of a motif that works both visually and thematically, as well as the only melody that succeeds in hooking the listener in 55 minutes of an otherwise barren and aimless soundscape. Perhaps the frequent allusions to MDMA usage indicate that Rihanna had focused on expanding her range of emotional experience prior to writing this song. The rest of the album is composed solely of would-be club hits that are as exciting as 11am Bingo at an off-strip Vegas shanty, or half-baked love songs that have as much emotional resonance as two snails locked together in foamy coitus. Yet Diamonds remains listenable, the sole diamond in this manure heap.
Song: Cheers (Drink to That)
Album: Loud
Artist: Rihanna
Strangely enough, this is the one song on the album that doesn’t make me want to drink heavily. The beat, featuring an underlying “yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah YEAH!” vocal line is genius, and whichever session singer they tapped to record that part is a much more engaging singer than Rihanna herself. One wishes that she were the featured artist on this song, or on this whole album, really. The rest of the album drifts aimlessly in circles, like a one-legged duck with dementia, yet this solitary flash in the pan seems to work.
Song: Photographs
Album: Rated R
Artist: Rihanna
Nine songs into a hapless, meandering valley of drivel, this song emerges suddenly with a thoughtfully-composed instrumental intro, and a melody that doesn’t make the listener immediately wish he were at ground zero of a major earthquake. Admittedly, the guest singer on the chorus steals the show, but the song as a whole is quite adequate, a far cry from the onslaught of sonic incompetence that characterizes the rest of the album.
Song: Don’t Stop the Music
Album: Good Girl Gone Bad
Artist: Rihanna
At first I was hesitant to write off the entire album, but around 1:19 into this song, a delightful beat emerges behind the chorus, some background singer repeating “mama se mama sa” with brilliant vocal delivery. This is a far more compelling beat than anything else on the album. Whoever Rihanna was working with here, she should work with him again, and he should probably get his own record deal.
Song: We Ride
Album A Girl Like Me
Artist: Rihanna
The only song on this album that didn’t compel me to hit the skip button within 30 seconds, We Ride’s get-up-and-go lyrics serve as a strangely compelling counter to the song’s relaxing melody and vocal delivery, evoking Zeppelin-esque imagery of riding a white mare through the footsteps of dawn. The rest of the album is an ode to a breakup that no one wants to hear about, the kind that makes your friends stop picking up their phones on weekend nights and leaves your facebook feed strangely empty.
