Glove Slap
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Post by Glove Slap on Apr 5, 2015 19:49:21 GMT -5
It's not that big of a jump though. FFS is a natural move from something like Stay, which was already sparse. BBHMM is further down the Pour It Up/Birthday Cake path. And AO goes with stuff like Drunk In Love/Love Without Tragedy. Saying Rihanna is the complete opposite of Beyonce isn't right, especially not after the past 5-6 years where she's continuously tried to court an Urban audience to some success. Her last two albums were mostly Urban-based. She has footing that she's trying to expand.
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lancey
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Post by lancey on Apr 5, 2015 22:27:02 GMT -5
American Oxygen is on TIDAL (or u can just listen to it here - martyluv.tumblr.com/post/115584845636 - ) The production has some interesting elements, its a little bit chaotic (in a good way) but the lyrics and the structure of the song as a whole is a bit of a mess.... I actually. Kinda like this...
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brucelover
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Post by brucelover on Apr 6, 2015 0:08:07 GMT -5
The song is pretty terrible, and definitely not the global smash hit she needs right now.
Considering a pop album has never (ever) had a single beyond the third be the biggest of the era, I think it's pretty apparent that "FourFiveSeconds" wasn't a "taste maker" or whatever the Navy were trying to call it, but in fact that most single-ready, radio-friendly, prone-to-smash track they managed to scrounge up for this album. Disappointing. I guess Rihanna does work best under pressure delivering quick lil bursts of pop pleasure.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2015 0:39:14 GMT -5
Could've been mixed a little better, but 'American Oxygen' is pretty good.
That said, it's kind of hard to take Rihanna seriously when she's spouting what I'm assuming is meant to be policical speech. Artistic credibility isn't something she ever really needed, but if she wanted it she's going about it the wrong way. Definitely makes for an interesting marketing platform though, even if it makes the whole point that much worse when you realize that's all this latest noise likely is.
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HEADOFTHEPACK
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Post by HEADOFTHEPACK on Apr 6, 2015 5:53:57 GMT -5
Hmm... this is sounding like her 'American Life', just with hits. But BBHMM is fun. American Life was the opposite of that. The reactions to the new material is hilarious to watch from some. Like, if you're that bothered with Rihanna doing more Urban material, you don't have to pay that much attention to it. Carly Rae Jepsen has a song that's nothing but frothy Becky 's aunt pop, go listen to that. I'm sure she and Scooter Braun would appreciate it. I like AO overall, you can definitely feel Kanye all over it. She's 3/3 for me so far. I guess so - I suppose I was talking more about fan reaction/what people expected her to release rather than what's actually going on. Observation rather than opinion! I personally have NO issue with more urban material and I agree this isn't that much of a jump for her. The most pop-friendly material from her last album was very generic (I'm thinking Right Now, What Now - yawn). In fact, I just had a look through the singles she has released over the past few years and I'm struggling to find straight up pop. You da One, maybe?
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Marooned@Midnight
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Post by Marooned@Midnight on Apr 6, 2015 8:16:54 GMT -5
I'm really disappointed with American Oxygen and this era overall so far. BBHMM is the only song that she really shines on so far for me and even that one is far from instant. I will be interested to see how this sound transitions to sales and hits for her this era.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Apr 6, 2015 8:30:56 GMT -5
I think the sales will be fine. The reception doesn't have to be "Number 1", but it's doing something.
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Carlitoz
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Post by Carlitoz on Apr 6, 2015 9:33:17 GMT -5
FourFiveSeconds - it took me a little bit to get into it, but liked it in the end. I didn't become obsessed with it. It did have a very short term effect on me though. I don't play the song anymore. I did buy the single.
Bitch Better Have My Money - not very impressed at first. This weekend I had the "bitch better have my money" thing stuck in my head (on repeat!), ha ha. The song still have more potential with me. Since I haven't bought the single yet, I really haven't listened to it that well.
American Oxygen - I listened to it this morning. I was bored half way through and stopped it. Let's see what happens with the 2nd or 3rd listen. Maybe I end up liking it.
Home tracks - I can say I've listened only to snippets so far, but none caught my attention yet. I will still try to listen to all of them in full.
I buy all Rihanna albums so chances are that I'll buy this new one too even though I'm not crazy yet for any of the songs from this era. I'm a bit worried though. Six songs out this year already and none has stolen my heart yet.
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allow that
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Post by allow that on Apr 6, 2015 10:03:19 GMT -5
I will be interested to see how this sound transitions to sales and hits for her this era. I've now seen a few posts collectively referring to the three #R8 songs we've heard so far as "this sound" or "this direction." Love them, hate them, or a bit of both.... but "this sound" makes no sense to me. The three songs couldn't sound more totally different from one another even if they came from three different artists...
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Apr 6, 2015 10:23:14 GMT -5
American Oxygen is my least favorite of the three by far and deserves to be nothing more than an album track but it's decent.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2015 12:10:29 GMT -5
Is the American Oxygen that is on Tumblr essentially the same as the one on Tidal? It sounds like whoever was recording it was getting Facebook alerts while doing so so I have a feeling I'm listening to a very LQ version, but I refuse to give in to Tidal right now. I saw a few people say the song felt 'chaotic' at points and to me I have the opposite issue - to me, the song is lacking a real punch or anything really distinctive in the way of production. I get the feeling Kanye (or whoever produced it) was trying to create a sort of haunting atmosphere with it but it falls a bit flat of that, and without that the song doesn't go anywhere. I still think it's nice, though, and could be anthemic with the right video; I like that the lyrics draw on what the US represented to so many immigrants over the past few centuries and ties that into the 'new America' immigrants of today.
I'm not sure how I feel yet about R8. On the one hand I haven't totally loved any of the three songs she has released so far, but I've been intrigued by each one of them enough to still find merits in each song. They're all so different from each other that I don't think we're any closer to knowing what this album is going to be like than we were this time last year.
FFS did pretty well for her and I think BBHMM will lock in her more urban fans. Really the only issue is that there is not yet anything for her pop fans - maybe AO was supposed to be it but I don't think so - however, if you're on the Navy ship by now you don't really care about the genre she gives. So I would predict her opening numbers will be roughly the same as before; it's the longevity of the project that is still up in the air.
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hitseeker.
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Post by hitseeker. on Apr 6, 2015 13:09:49 GMT -5
American Oxygen's video is now on Tidal as a streaming exclusive.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Apr 6, 2015 13:12:52 GMT -5
Tidal is pulling all of the stops. A title hasn't even been announced, I think everyone is waiting on that rn.
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brucelover
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Post by brucelover on Apr 6, 2015 15:33:53 GMT -5
Are the TIDAL people unaware that we're not in 1997? YouTube exists, tumblr exists. Nothing is "exclusive" anymore. The whole thing is such an ego bath and an embarassment for all involved.
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NeRD
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Post by NeRD on Apr 6, 2015 19:22:56 GMT -5
American Oxygen (video) is instantly one of her best for me. It captures the message of the song perfectly. They need to upload to Youtube. Fuck the streams. People need to SEE the video. The message is powerful.
And btw...American Oxygen is an EXCLUSIVE and nothing more. I absolutely love it for what it is.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2015 21:03:44 GMT -5
American Oxygen (video) is instantly one of her best for me. It captures the message of the song perfectly. They need to upload to Youtube. f**k the streams. People need to SEE the video. The message is powerful. And btw...American Oxygen is an EXCLUSIVE and nothing more. I absolutely love it for what it is. This comment intrigued me so I found it elsewhere and I must say, I STRONGLY agree. So much so that I'm actually kind of upset that it is only a Tidal exclusive, because this is the definition of a statement. I'm afraid to provide a link because then it will get snatched by the copyright overlords, but I will say just do a Google search, and you will find it soon enough. Seeing the video now, I think the muted production (which I said was not distinctive before) was actually the correct choice. It makes you focus on the real meaning - not just of the video, but of the song itself. Anything more would have been a distraction. (For those not fond of blind teasers, the video juxtaposes old civil rights footage with footage from current events.)
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Mic Technique
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Post by Mic Technique on Apr 7, 2015 1:31:49 GMT -5
So I'm expected to believe she's criticizing the myth of the American dream while fully backing a service like Tidal. Okay, sure. And then we have an especially long take of the WTC burning. That it's the only image in the entire music video to depict an international event, one in which the US was attacked on its own soul by a foreign terrorist organization is both odd and unsettling. What's the message there? If you're going use powerful iconography of people dying at the hands of foreign actors for your pop music video, I would like to know the rationale guiding your vision. Please, Rihanna. Provide me the context I need in order to be okay with this.
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kmbgs
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Post by kmbgs on Apr 7, 2015 8:14:19 GMT -5
TIDAL is everything that is wrong about Jay-Z and Beyonce wrapped up into an overpriced mess.
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allow that
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Post by allow that on Apr 7, 2015 9:04:51 GMT -5
Powerful video? More like a crock of shit. The "American dream" surely played out nicely for Rihanna. The video actually turned me off from the song a bit. So I'm expected to believe she's criticizing the myth of the American dream while fully backing a service like Tidal. Okay, sure. And then we have an especially long take of the WTC burning. That it's the only image in the entire music video to depict an international event, one in which the US was attacked on its own soul by a foreign terrorist organization is both odd and unsettling. What's the message there? If you're going use powerful iconography of people dying at the hands of foreign actors for your pop music video, I would like to know the rationale guiding your vision. Please, Rihanna. Provide me the context I need in order to be okay with this. Thank you. Someone needed to say it!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2015 9:36:07 GMT -5
So I'm expected to believe she's criticizing the myth of the American dream while fully backing a service like Tidal. Okay, sure. And then we have an especially long take of the WTC burning. That it's the only image in the entire music video to depict an international event, one in which the US was attacked on its own soul by a foreign terrorist organization is both odd and unsettling. What's the message there? If you're going use powerful iconography of people dying at the hands of foreign actors for your pop music video, I would like to know the rationale guiding your vision. Please, Rihanna. Provide me the context I need in order to be okay with this. I still stand by my original opinion - I didn't take it to be an absolute criticism of the American Dream, so much as a criticism of some of our actions today in not always including everyone in that dream. There's a lot of juxtaposing going on with the imagery, a lot of opposites and yet at the same time a lot of parallels - in particular what caught my eye the most was the 'I Am a Man' sign from the 60s immediately followed by 'I Can't Breathe.' For some reason that message coming from Rihanna, the proverbial girl on the other side of the ocean, seemed even stronger to me than it would be from someone who has always been here and therefore might be rather jaded about it all. I don't know if she ever became a US citizen (I'm thinking no?) but she, like any immigrant, likely came here with a very idealized notion of what America represents. That idealized notion isn't what we are at all, actually, but at the same time it still is, and that's a dichotomy that this video attempted to show; we do a lot of dumb shit to piss on the American Dream, but the dream will always be alive as long as we have the desire to fight for it. I will say that the video was very ambitious in trying to take on literally every angle possible in under six minutes and maybe didn't fully meet its goal; I think there was also an attempt to speak on illegal immigration as well but whatever message the video was trying to give there got lost amid everything else. I will also say that credit is probably mostly to solely owed to the video director and not Rihanna herself, though I am sure she was well apprised of the theme. But I don't disagree with the part about Tidal (that I spent a fair amount of my time finding somewhere else to watch it sums up how I feel about that). That's the part that ticks me off about the video, more than the video itself. Why would you take such a loaded message, something that you KNOW will lead to many a debate, and then tack it on to your commercial interests? I don't really expect everyone to see the video the way I did - and that is part of what makes it good, actually, because it could be a conversation starter in its own way - but anybody can make a big statement in a dark and empty room. By only putting it on Tidal it makes Rihanna seem as if she's not really here for the message. (eta: i'm a 9/11 conspiracy theorist but realize many are not, so for reasons, I am not going to touch that.) TIDAL is everything that is wrong about Jay-Z and Beyonce wrapped up into an overpriced mess. Also not at all a lie, but this is a Rihanna thread?
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Mic Technique
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Post by Mic Technique on Apr 7, 2015 17:26:03 GMT -5
(eta: i'm a 9/11 conspiracy theorist but realize many are not, so for reasons, I am not going to touch that.)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2015 22:13:38 GMT -5
Yeah, the idea isn't a (total) mess... if you can remove everyone involved with the project. That's incredibly hard to do though, and given those circumstances the statement she's trying to make here feels far more hollow than it actually is.
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Post by Live Your Life on Apr 8, 2015 11:54:56 GMT -5
She was spotted on the set of something yesterday. It's rumored to be for the "Bitch Better Have My Money" video:
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Linnethia Monique
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Post by Linnethia Monique on Apr 8, 2015 12:00:48 GMT -5
She looks like a Bajan Grace Adler.
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Wavey✨️
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Post by Wavey✨️ on Apr 8, 2015 12:26:14 GMT -5
She better rock that Maritza(from "Taina") weave.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Apr 8, 2015 13:18:31 GMT -5
Who are these random people? They aren't worldwide superstar Rihanna.
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$uperb@tDuDe
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Post by $uperb@tDuDe on Apr 11, 2015 15:42:26 GMT -5
She looks like a Bajan Grace Adler.
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Post by Live Your Life on Apr 12, 2015 12:29:13 GMT -5
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The Upper Hand
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Post by The Upper Hand on Apr 12, 2015 15:16:54 GMT -5
So I'm expected to believe she's criticizing the myth of the American dream while fully backing a service like Tidal. Okay, sure. And then we have an especially long take of the WTC burning. That it's the only image in the entire music video to depict an international event, one in which the US was attacked on its own soul by a foreign terrorist organization is both odd and unsettling. What's the message there? If you're going use powerful iconography of people dying at the hands of foreign actors for your pop music video, I would like to know the rationale guiding your vision. Please, Rihanna. Provide me the context I need in order to be okay with this. I still stand by my original opinion - I didn't take it to be an absolute criticism of the American Dream, so much as a criticism of some of our actions today in not always including everyone in that dream. (eta: i'm a 9/11 conspiracy theorist but realize many are not, so for reasons, I am not going to touch that.) There is no conspiracy theory if you are criticizing the US government for its actions in the Middle East during the decade prior to 9/11.
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Duca
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Post by Duca on Apr 14, 2015 9:09:52 GMT -5
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