Tag Archives: Rihanna

Is Rihanna Coming to Lebanon for a Concert?

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Friends of mine who attended Eddie Griffin’s comedy show over the weekend were tweeting about something the comedian said:

Rihanna might be coming to Lebanon for a concert this summer.

Such prospects would make this the event of the summer. Sorry The Script. Has Lebanon ever had someone as currently popular as Rihanna come for a concert in recent times?

However, for the same reasons it’s improbable for bands such as Coldplay or Muse to hold concerts in Lebanon, does it even make sense for her to come here?

Would an artist who’s used to international sell-out tours that fill stadiums and bring millions of dollars in revenue come to a country where venues such as “Stade de France” do not exist and where, despite potentially inflated ticket prices, profit wouldn’t be substantial and long-term fan base building basically irrelevant?

Either way, if there’s any truth to this, prepare for an onslaught of Rihanna songs on the radio – worse than what we currently have – and people gushing over how important Lebanon has become. I, for one, don’t think there’s much to it though.

We Found Love (Single Review) – Rihanna

Rihanna keeps churning these singles and albums, faster than any market can contain them. Wasn’t it less than a year ago that she released her most recent album, Loud!, and aren’t we being bombarded with her most recent single Cheers (Drink To That) on radio as I’m writing and you’re reading this?

Well, no matter… she’s ready to release yet another album, set for a November 21st release date and she has teamed up with Calvin Harris to deliver the lead single off the album, a club-banger titled: We Found Love.

“Yellow diamonds in the light And we’re standing side by side,” she sings to an electropop beat behind her. “As your shadow crosses mine, what it takes to come alive. It’s the way I’m feeling I just can’t deny… But I’ve gotta let it go.” And then she breaks into the chorus.

What’s the chorus, you might ask? It’s just one sentence. But unlike Lady Antebellum’s We Owned The Night, she doesn’t say it only once. She repeats the sentence four times. The sentence in question: “we found love in a hopeless place.”

The song’s second verse goes as follows: “Shine a light through an open door, love and life I will divide. Turn away cause I need you more. Feel the heartbeat in my mind. It’s the way I’m feeling I just can’t deny… But I’ve gotta let it go”

Insert repeat chorus.

So it’s needless to say that there’s not really much lyrical backbone for We Found Love to go on. What the song relies on is, however, some very tight production that gives you a result that is nothing short of incredibly catchy, with a great beat to go with it.And that’s pretty much it with We Found Love. It’s a dance song that is sure to become a radio hit. After all, almost anything radio friendly that Rihanna releases finds itself in the highest possible rotation on radio – no matter how frequent her releases come to be.

Will you be blasting this in your car on repeat? I don’t think so – well, unless this is your kind of music. Will it be blasted in night clubs across the world on repeat? Yes, it will. And at the end of the day, it’s not really a bad song. There’s just not much substance going for it. And in a time where pop radio is slowly changing, one wonders why Rihanna did not wait longer and release something with more power. After all, the fact that Adele’s Someone Like You is exploding on radio and Lady Gaga’s You and I is also doing well, as well as Lady Antebellum’s newly released (to pop radio that is) Just a Kiss, should be indicative enough that change is on the horizon – and it’s not just because of the names associated with those songs.

Maybe Rihanna’s label should stop making her their only viable source of income and give her some room to breathe. God knows it’d be good for her and us.

But I need to repeat this… We Found Love is not a bad song. It’s just same old, same old.

Listen to We Found Love here

The Rihanna “Man Down” Controversy

Prior to this weekend, I was about as knowledgeable about a song and video for Rihanna titled Man Down as I am about quantum physics.

Which basically means: I have no clue.

But soon enough, I get many of my followers on Twitter retweeting Rihanna’s charged tweets:

“I’m a 23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS! What’s up with everybody wantin me to be a parent? I’m just a girl, I can only be your/our voice! Cuz we all know how difficult/embarrassing it is to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone especially our parents! And this is why! Cuz we turn the other cheek! U can’t hide your kids from society, or they’ll never learn how to adapt! This is the REAL WORLD!”

Those leading the campaign against the Man Down video are the Parent’s Television Council for the video’s portrayal of murder and rape. And honestly, this is overly melodramatic.

1) There are many TV shows with full length episodes about murder and rape. Did they call out to get them banned?

2) The song is about shooting a man down. What would the video be about? Rihanna dancing in a field of corns?

3) As Rihanna said, she is only 23, and as a person who has already been the victim of domestic abuse, she is allowed to speak up more than anyone else, especially that she hasn’t tackled the issue, at least to my knowledge, in depth.

4) If parents are worried their children would act out on the video, then maybe they’re not doing a good enough job of raising them? If a child or teenager thinks they need to imitate every single pop music video out there, then we’re in serious trouble. Have you seen what goes on in some of those videos? Why haven’t that council spoken about the near orgies going on in pop music nowadays?

5) Again with controversies, the only thing they do is shed light on something that most people would be unaware of. I would have gladly resumed my life without “Man Down” and would have remained clueless about the song hadn’t it been for the Parent’s Television Council. And for that matter, blowing this way out of proportion is definitely not the way to handle it.

Check out the Man Down video here: