At first glance, there really isn't anything at all special about Rihanna's 3 years ago song "Umbrella. " It can catchy, obviously, but it can pretty run-of-the-mill. (Britney Spears even rejected it. ) Sure, Jay-Z's featured hip hop is fun-but the melody is still standard top forty fare through and through.
And yet "Umbrella" stopped the world in its songs. Rihanna had hits prior to it, of course , but something special in that song captivated very literally everyone. Maybe it had been the chorus. Maybe it absolutely was Jay-Z's seal of approval. Check Rihanna Love On The Brain piano sheet music page.
Or maybe ?t had been the fact Rihanna chopped away her hair for the songs video.
That's what made "Umbrella" stand out: Rihanna's actual physical transformation-or, rather, what which physical transformation meant. Once the Barbadian singer made the girl debut in 2005, the girl sported the typical pop-star even: bare midriff, short pants, and long, flowing hair. It's a pretty restrictive appear (especially for women of color), but Rihanna played through the rules. She probably experienced like she had to.
'Good Girl Gone Bad'
However she threw out the rulebook with "Umbrella"-and she put it out again two months later on when she released the woman album Good Girl Eliminated Bad, which turns ten today (June 5). When you've listened to GGGB, though, then you definitely know it's not really regarding "good" vs . "bad"-not within the literal sense, at least. The actual record marks Rihanna's changeover from cookie-cutter pop little princess to DGAF music Full (yes, with a capital Q). For her, being "good" intended doing what she believed the world wanted, and becoming "bad" meant doing the precise opposite. And, well, the lady was finally ready to become bad.
A quick scan associated with GGGB's track listing shells this up. The tracks are undeniably edgier compared to dancehall fluff from your ex first two efforts: "Shut Up and Drive" is actually exhilarating and urgent; "Disturbia" is breathy and darkish; "Breakin' Dishes" is completely angry. Even the record's smoother moments, like "Rehab, inch "Hate That I Love A person, " and "Take the Bow, " are implanted with more passion and autonomy than her earlier ballads. She's not worried about likability or image or charm in any of these songs. She actually is just being exactly who she actually is.
'Love On The Brain' Music Video
You see this more than ever inside the music video for "Disturbia, " which is essentially any four-minute orgy set to pulsing, techno sonics. Rihanna white wines out her eyes with regard to half of the clip to make it seem like the devil is actually overtaking your girlfriend. Androgynous characters writhe about on the floor. At one stage, Rihanna is covered within spiders; shortly after, she's burnt at the stake. Much like Madonna's "Like a Prayer, inches the imagery shocked (and enraged) many people-but "Disturbia" still catapulted to number 1 on the charts. In 7 countries.
That's a testament in order to Rihanna's fearlessness. Sure, "Disturbia" would've still been a success with a tamer, paint-by-numbers club video, but the fact that this thrived with such large imagery sent an important information to the music industry: Appear stars-specifically, female pop stars-don't have to look or take action or "behave" in a specific way to be successful. They can get risks. They don't have to adjust.
Because up until "Disturbia, very well that's what Rihanna experienced largely been doing. The girl appeared confident and in-control before this era, however it was a certain type of patriarchal, come-hither sexiness. The lengthy hair, the simple makeup, the actual barely-there clothes-it was almost all done to appeal to the community consuming her music that will expected women to look an extremely specific way. With "Disturbia, " though, Rihanna lastly started appealing to the most important individual: herself.
As a result, her profession shifted: She became the particular poster girl for performing music on your own terms-a overseas concept in the pop globe, where studio execs as well as hit-makers like Max Charlie reign supreme. Every document Rihanna's released since Great Girl Gone Bad continues to be more authentic (and trend-rebuking) than the last-from 2009's Ranked R, an eerie record with exactly zero popular hits, to Anti (2016), which was quite literally promoted as an anti-pop album. Rihanna's personas have shifted, as well. Her physical and style transformations-from the ethereal look within the Loud (2010) album include to her slicked-back 'do and also oversized denim in the "FourFiveSeconds" video-don't have the patriarchal undertones they used to. She's intimate and wild and expressive-but it's because she wants to end up being.
And it's why Rihanna continues to be squarely in the center of the appear universe. (She's on the bullseye when it comes to fashion, too. Trust only the 2017 Met Gala-where she was praised on her dedication to the evening's theme-for proof of that. ) Be it an outfit or a brand new song, Rihanna isn't scared to go there, which is excellent for someone as public along with mainstream as she is. She actually is honest, real, and forthcoming-and people really respond to in which. They respond to her unfiltered Instagram account (her manage, quite fittingly, is @badgirlriri. ) They respond to the center finger she perpetually offers up to critics, fat-shaming trolls, and men who attempt to control her image. To put it simply, they respond to her "badness"-"badness" that truthfully began throughout the Good Girl Gone Poor era.
You can absolutely observe that impact in music at this time. It's why so many regarding Rihanna's peers are revealing more of themselves in their function. (For them, this means ditching the makeup and outfits; Rihanna, on the other hand, is perhaps probably the most honest when she's exuberant-because that's exactly who she is. ) It's one reason why woman musicians of color convey more agency than ever before. (Though, naturally , there are many more artists and the work-including Beyoncé's Lemonade-that possess a lot to do with this, also. ) And, yes, take still has a long way to go-the white male gaze is still very much a thing, unfortunately-but Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Negative certainly helped move typically the dial along. Music might look drastically different without having it.
