The Friday Canon: RIHANNA

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

You know what? We never did a Rihanna canon! Well if we did I can't find it. If you weren't about when we last did the canon polls then have a look here to see what I'm banging on about and which Celine Dion single we decided was the best. Basically you get SIX ticks over the entire poll to choose your favourite Ri-Ri singles that made the UK top 40. The top songs will make it into the poptimists hall of fame!

[Poll #1605281]

Tick away!

Comments

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

I think I might be being overly cruel

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I wonder if her perceived dullness personality-wise is to do with her standing next to Lady Gaga for the last 18 months?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I think her being linguistically limited made her seem dull at first; a lot of people said she didn't speak English (which she does, its just Bajan but anyway) and I think she may have found it hard to communicate with interviewers at first, making her seem less awesome than she is.

She may also have got more interesting/less scared of Beyonce since she was eighteen.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Q: Have Rihanna and Beyonce ever done a collaboration? If not, how likely is this?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

A: No and 'not at all.' AFAIK, anyway, although suspect Frank will probably correct me with actual factual information.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Surely Jay-Z can act as some sort of mediator?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Noes, dude, 'Hard' has slipped through the net! :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hasn't had an official release over here yet! Hard would totally take my Dont Stop The Music tick.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

WOT?!?!!!1one?!

UTTER MENTALNESS. Not in the good 'mickey mouse ears shell helmet' mental way, either.

I think that picture deserves posting again

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Re: I think that picture deserves posting again

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

What is this from!?

Re: I think that picture deserves posting again

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The Hard video (http://thevidsarealright.tumblr.com/post/337743864)!

If It's Being Remembered That You Want

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I totally don't remember this at all:



It's good! Quite sparse on the beats but a ton of echo & overdub on her voice which makes for a v weird sound, like she's rehearsing the track with her mates in a big warehouse.

Re: If It's Being Remembered That You Want

[koganbot]

Excellent remix too (have no idea if it's authorized); highlights the hardness and darkness in the voice, even though the original hadn't come off hard or dark at all.

We Ride

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Blimey I never thought that the 2006 tick-a-tick-a noise would sound so DATED:



But then the Spanish guitar bits sound like 2000-era Craig David so I guess it was already pretty dated? ARGH I don't know. This song is better than I remember, though.

Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Obv expecting Umbrella to win this by a country mile BUT I would be interested to know how many of you lot have listened to it in the last 6 months? Hmmm? I certainly haven't.

Re: Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

I have! I still think it's lovely!

Re: Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps we need to reaffirm our love for it at the next karaoke! (Which shall definitely be scheduled later in the evening innit) I'll be Jay-Z.

Re: Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I did too but mostly as a comparison to the Paraguay PWC version!

Re: Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Actually one of my least favourite Rihanna tracks. So not at all except by accident. Still, a bad Rihanna is almost certainly better than most people's good days.

Re: Forgot to put this question in the poll itself

[koganbot]

I have! I still think it's lovely! And I still think it's a sex metaphor, though there are those who disagree! (Taking Sides: Come into me vs. Come in, to me.)

[richaod.livejournal.com]

Fire Bomb needs to be a single, if only so I can have the self-satisfaction of voting for it :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Surprised that Te Amo isn't getting any ticks - that would have been my 7th I think.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

LONG OVERDUE.

One thing this poll made me click to (har!) was how I almost always prefer her album tracks to her singles - some of the singles are great, but it's the album tracks which I listen to over and over again.

Go Ri-Ri, I think she's sweet and likeable; even when she does something I don't like as much, I enjoy her enthusiasm, IYKWIM?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I REALLY liked 'Lemme Get That' and 'Breakin Dishes' off GGGB but again, I can't say I've listened to them in the last 2 years. This situation may have to change...

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I have listened to them both in the last 2 months, I reckon. In fact, I like pretty much all of GGGB, including the title track (pace "Umbrella" as mentioned already). "Sell Me Candy" and "Push Up On Me" are probably my favourite tracks, though.

Go on, have a little RiRiFest over the weekend! You won't regret it :-)

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

How on earth is Don't Stop The Music not getting more ticks? It's one of the songs of the decade (and certainly one of the best uses of a sample (or rather multiple samples))

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

IKR?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha I can see you alexmacpherson - don't be shy!

[koganbot]

A hard voice of pain, but emotionally flexible (my initial thought was that she was too one-note, but as it turned out, "Pon De Replay" and "Unfaithful" and "Disturbia" and "Russian Roulette" and "Te Amo" convey drastically different things).

There are a couple of fine tracks this year that could squeak into my Top 100 where my reaction was "Good song, but would totally KILL if Rihanna were singing": Shontelle's "Impossible" and Kelly Rowland's "Commander."

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

OTM re: Commander. RiRi would NAIL that.

[koganbot]

My Rihanna ten here. "Lemme Get That" is number 3, "Photographs" 5, "Cold Case Love" 6, "Unfaithful (Black Chiney Remix)" 10.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ahaaa so we did do a sort-of canon for her (well-remembered, Frank!) but not just for UK top 40 singles. I still stand by my top, er, 8:

1. Pon De Replay
2. Lemme Get That
3. Umbrella
4. Russian Roulette
5. Breakin' Dishes
6. SOS
7. Hard
8. Cold Case Love
9. ummmmm
999. Shut Up And Drive

[askbask.livejournal.com]

It does amaze me that people vote for Shut up and Drive... and clearly Te Amo will be the great underrated tune among these.

Also, in hindsight Rated R is clearly a better album than GGGB.

[koganbot]

It's a more consistent album, but understandably dogged and grim, while GGGB has more moments that lift me, though there's a long dead plain in the middle.

I voted for "Shut Up And Drive," though nearly ticked "Unfaithful" or "Russian Roulette" instead. "Shut Up" is dogged itself, but not grim. Oddly enough, I'm ho-hum about "Blue Monday," or whatever it was they sampled.