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POPGAF |OT3| Geo Da Silva > nails on chalkboard > Taylor Swift
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Rise ARTPOP, rise. This is the beginning.It ART. She is such a GENIUS! Pretending she's NORMAL for the MASSES to GATHER.
UM.
What a slate of compelling evidence.
It ART. She is such a GENIUS! Pretending she's NORMAL for the MASSES to GATHER.
Please tell me you are kidding because I really hate when monsters think there is always something meaningful behind everything she does
Will it be posted in the LOTUS OT and titled Phoenix Down.
Soulscribe
Member
PART 1: ARTIST NOTES
It's typically hard to gauge the legacy of an artist that's only been in the business under 10 years; even more so for an admittedly YOUNG one. However in contrast to the young and unbalanced discographies of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga (our subject's most contemporary and relevant competitors), Rihanna's discography has reached such a place that it's easy to evaluate her artistic merit from the overwhelming number of hits, singles, collaborations and albums under her belt. Whereas evaluating a Katy Perry or Lady Gaga generally concludes itself as a "wait and see" preface, with Rihanna I finally have a handle on where she sees herself, where she stands currently as a big piece of pop capital, and what her unique brand of music is.
Rihanna seems to gravitate evenly between urban R&B/hip-hop that's defined her record label, with more risky avante-garde pop songs that may or may not invoke some of her Island vocal delivery. On the one hand, her overly saturated discography muddled with (cheap) collaborations with prominent rappers shows that she and her team are hell bent on keeping her SOUND present in the listeners' ears. It's a side of Rihanna that I was never a fan of, and it always showed me that she was more willing to slap a verse onto a famous person's song as often as she could rather than focus mostly on defining her own sound. She's a savvy business woman for sure, and understands the superficiality of radio pop and the fickleness of standards its listeners share. Whether that makes her a genius or a PART of the problem is simply a matter of opinion.
PART 2: WHERE UNAPOLOGETIC STANDS
With her last four albums, Rihanna's showed a balance of R&B/hip-hop and pop that's helped sustain her credentials in the hip hop community while also smashing records and overtaking radio in an almost surreal fashion. It's hard to tell whether people gravitate to Rihanna songs because of her name, or because she's managed to have a genius song selection. Whatever the case may be, Rihanna has had an issue with keeping the balance of pop and R&B cohesive and natural in her albums, which sound more like LPs than single, unified projects (the exception, of course, being LOUD). Perhaps this makes her the most contemporary and realistic definition of a pop star; someone who puts a collection of good songs into one album for an easy sale, and slaps on half a dozen more crappy ones to reach the magic "12 songs in an album" goal.
However, given her albums' severe imbalance of quality, it's become apparent to me that it's her unique POP songs that stand out as her best, and it's the R&B/HIP-HOP songs and collabos that stand out as her worst. This has seemed to be a consistent dichotomy since Rated R.
Unapologetic demonstrates this even more severely than her last muddled effort, Talk That Talk. There are literally two songs on this album that stand as some of her all-time best, and beyond about two or three others that come off as unequivocally average, the essential R&B/Hip-hop inclusions on Unapologetic stand to me as some of Rihanna's all-time career lows.
The difference between the imbalances of Unapologetic and the imbalances of Talk That Talk was that the latter's highs were especially high. Unapologetic never quite reaches a euphoric place like We Found Love did, and with the exception of Diamonds, the other quality songs on Unapologetic are fantastic but don't quite save the rest of the album like We Found Love did. Furthermore, the lows on Talk That Talk were the same hip-hop urban flavors that are prevalent on the first half of Unapologetic, except those songs on TTT were far more approachable, catchy, and even likable.
Back to the dichotomy of unique pop vs generic hip-hop that's defined Rihanna's discography though. This duality wasn't so prevalent in Good Girl Gone Bad because her not-so-pop songs were more R&B than hip-hop, and even the songs on there that seemed to gravitate more toward hip-hop (like Lemme Get That, for example) were more riddled with caribbean flavor that made them stand out more than they could have otherwise. With Rated R, we saw those moments of pop brilliance in Russian Roulette and Te Amo, while songs like Rude Boy showed her insistence on pumping out crass, uninspired hip-hop that contributed nothing to the universe in any way, shape or form (Rude Boy being the least offensive and most popular example of this). Loud was her least unbalanced album in that most songs on that album shared a collective sound that was made even more appropriate by her era-defined red hair. Songs like S&M and Only Girl were moments of pop brilliance, while only a single song (Raining Men) showed off Rihanna's unfavorable side.
Talk That Talk and Unapologetic are the moments where her unfavorable side takes most of the spotlight, and with this review I hope to make the case that Rihanna's favorable moments are some of the most brilliant pop gems in a decade. Really. I also hope to get across why her unfavorable moments are a perpetual stain on her reputation as a musician, and her legacy as a pop star.
TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEW COMING SOON
Will it be posted in the LOTUS OT and titled Phoenix Down.
Phoenix Downs only work on KNOCKED OUT people not dead ones gurl.
Y2kev's shade will never develop if you guys keep pretending the things he says is clever.
i'm still waiting for yall to get on PSABR
Soulscribe
Member
Does he know that the arabic tattoo on his chest says "Walter" or was that a mistake? lol
I have it. My Drake would snatch all their wigs tbh. #Shamballa
Thats his grandfather's name
Nathan is fucking SOMEONE in 1D.
You have to add us on PSN. I don't know your PSN name.
Speaking of which, Kyon do you want to play?
What's your PSN, I'll add you too.
although the photoshopped skin conditioned was unnecessary
the original is horrifying enough...particularly the uneven eyes
Broken Spearit taught her
Yasss, raid® the Caribbean Swamp Rat.
I slightly disagree with the assessment that her hip-hop influenced tracks tend to be the nadir of decency, as I've liked some of those offerings when they're infused with pop melodies (such as Rude Boy). That being said, when she pretends to be a stone-cold urban artist without a hint of pop, the end-result does tend to be hollow and disposable - as evidenced repeatedly throughout Unapologetic.
.@Mari sis I was doing a parody of those baboons lmao.
Why yes
You have to add us on PSN. I don't know your PSN name.
Speaking of which, Kyon do you want to play?
What's your PSN, I'll add you too.
Why yes
The truth is in the signs. I'm ok with a 3 some tbh.
With Niall in the middle?
Crumpet Trumpet
Banned
Soulscribe's musings on the pop industry are always so compelling.
<+)O Robido O(+>
Member
So what you're saying is... you don't like hip-hop/R&B?
I'm percheD for the review.
I loved the overview, and though I disagree, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on her discography. I do agree that Loud was flawless tho.
Spread the gospel sis.
TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEW COMING SOON
looking forward to it
talk of video games was outlawed back in popgaf 2.0
Modmei, ban ha
Wafflecakes
Member
I go to a movie and come back to this glorious page. Brava.
Only 1Dsus tbh.
Wafflecakes
Member
Delicious...he is so underrated.
The Twitter drama is so great. The Wanted have been starting shit since day one. One Direction is on a higher level popularity wise though....TW are just pressed.
But does anyone remember the albums?
Maybe not
I do seem to RIHmember you leaving POP GAF
Guess we're somewhat similar to each other
Negative or not the interest is clearly there
Also its on track to be her biggest selling opening week and is predicted to be #1 (although I still have my doubts)
Diamonds will be #1 next week as well
The #UNAPOLOGETIC era continues to ACTUALLY thrive under the harshest conditions. Cant say the same for the other dandelions of an eras.
Also its on track to be her biggest selling opening week and is predicted to be #1 (although I still have my doubts)
Diamonds will be #1 next week as well
The #UNAPOLOGETIC era continues to ACTUALLY thrive under the harshest conditions. Cant say the same for the other dandelions of an eras.
now this Chlamydia cunt not even think about touching the King
I aint here for his face been damaged
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