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Category: Rihanna (1-10 of 34)

Feb 16 2010 12:19 PM ET

Olympic Songs of the Day from the US Women's Hockey Team

During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, EW.com wanted to find out what music is inspiring US athletes. So we asked a variety of Olympic competitors what song (or playlist of songs) they’ll be grooving to before they compete. We’ll run these throughout the Games. Good luck, Team USA!

Today we have a special list of songs from many members of the US Women’s Hockey Team, which got off to a great start with a 12-1 defeat of China on Tuesday. The team plays Russia today (live on MSNBC at 5:30 p.m. ET).

Natalie Darwitz, Team Captain of the Women’s US Hockey Team

“Hard” by Rihanna
“It’s a don’t-mess-with-me kind of song, gets me going!”

(keep reading for song selections from more members of the team after the jump)

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Feb 11 2010 11:33 AM ET

Rihanna throws a crazy, colorful party in her 'Rude Boy' video: Watch it here

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Music Videos, Rihanna

Rihanna’s first two videos from Rated R have been fairly somber, severe affairs. Well, she’s breaking that trend pretty definitively with the video she just released for her new single, “Rude Boy.” It’s a wild explosion of clashing colors, bold block lettering, and shaky camerawork. As many observers instantly pointed out, it all owes more than a little to the aesthetic of M.I.A. — which, if you ask me, is not a bad thing at all.

On another note, the “zoo animals” section of this video’s budget must have been off the chain. Click play below to see Rihanna partying with a lion and a zebra (along with several human beings), then let us know what you think of Ri-Ri’s latest production.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Jan 20 2010 04:57 PM ET

Rihanna covers 'Redemption Song' for Haiti on 'Oprah'

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Charity, Covers, Oprah Watch, Rihanna

Rihanna stopped by this afternoon’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was devoted to the disaster in Haiti, to perform a cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” You can download her live cover now from the iTunes Music Store for $1.29, with proceeds going to the Hope for Haiti Now telethon that she and others will participate in this Friday. So how was it?

Not bad. Rihanna stayed true to the feel of Marley’s original at first, taking the song as an acoustic dirge with a mournful organ part. By the time she got to the second verse (“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery”), though, she had shifted the tempo and arrangement in a more upbeat direction, where they stayed through the song’s conclusion — making “Redemption Song” into a Rihanna tune, in other words. As for Rihanna’s singing, she’s never had the strongest live voice, and her limitations showed here at times. But given the somber context, it felt appropriate for her voice to crack slightly.

Did you watch Rihanna on Oprah? What did you think of her “Redemption Song”? Download it from iTunes, then let us know.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Dec 17 2009 07:15 PM ET

Rihanna's new 'Hard' video: In the army now

by Leah Greenblatt

Categories: Let's Argue!, Music Videos, New Stuff, News, Rihanna

Well, look who signed up for the service! Private Boob-Tape McSexypants, reporting for duty. And in regulation combat gear, no less: Mickey Mouse helmet, Spiky Shoulders of Death mini-dress, black mesh thong… Hmmm.

Did the Department of Defense just unleash Operation Diva on an unsuspecting public, or is this an unsanctioned coup? Watch the new clip for “Hard,” below:

Dec 15 2009 12:04 PM ET

Rihanna's nearly nude GQ cover: Yowza!

by Tanner Stransky

Categories: Let's Argue!, News, Rihanna, Things That Are Sexy, What the...?

Rihanna’s recent and continuing press tour—which has served to promote her latest album Rated R and give her a chance to talk about the situation with Chris Brown—undoubtedly had a “bare it all” vibe to it.

She’s been brutally honest about the abuse and what happened that fateful February night before the Grammys. But she’s taken that “exposure” idea rather literally with the January issue of GQ, which features her topless on both the cover (see: yowza image at left) and in an accompanying pictorial for the magazine’s January issue (where there’s even more yowza). Rated R? Indeedy.

Honestly, there’s not much left to the imagination here. While topless photo shoots are no revelation for GQ, it just adds another layer to the whole Rihanna makeover initiative. And now, we’re being beaten over the head with it, in case you didn’t know/realize: Rihanna is edgy! And sexy! And grown up! She’s going topless! She’s a hard-ened woman, dammit!

I’m totally fine with Rihanna’s decision to take it off. She’s a grown lady, she can do what she wants, and there’s a certain “I am woman, hear me roar!” vibe to this. But I do think it’s interesting because of what Rihanna means to young girls, and the role model image she’s been cultivating. Through all of her press tour, she’s emerged as an advocate for women who may be going through what she did.

And now, the top comes off on the cover of a men’s magazine? I mean, I guess the two things—her speaking out against domestic abuse and taking off her clothes—are not mutually exclusive. But it’s a sort of odd dichotomy, if you ask me.

But what do you think? Are you startled by Rihanna’s decision to bare it all on GQ? Do you think it jives with the rebrand Ri-Ri has been working on since her personal troubles earlier this year? Are you intrigued enough to pick up a copy of the magazine?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Dec 2 2009 11:37 AM ET

Rihanna talks naked photos leak: 'Humiliating and embarrassing'

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: News, Rihanna

When several nude photos of Rihanna leaked to the Web earlier this year, her representatives walked a careful line: They demanded that the images be removed from any site that had posted them, but avoided confirming that the singer was, in fact, the woman in the photos. Now Rihanna has acknowledged for the first time that the images were hers.

In an interview with NYC radio station Hot 97, flagged by People, Rihanna said that she took the snapshots for a then-boyfriend whom she did not name. She said she was understandably upset when the private pics became public knowledge: “It was the worst thing that could possibly ever happen to me.” The timing was especially bad, since a graphic photo showing the injuries inflicted on her by abusive ex Chris Brown had only recently been leaked. “I just felt like my whole privacy was taken before that [by the injury photo] and then, when that came out, I thought, ‘Oh great, so now there’s nothing they don’t know about me and my private life.’ It was humiliating and it was embarrassing.“

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Dec 2 2009 11:12 AM ET

Susan Boyle scores year's biggest sales week by far; Andrea Bocelli, Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna sell well

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Adam Lambert, Charts, Lady Gaga, News, Rihanna

That sound you hear? Susan Boyle-mania, roaring back like it never left. The Britain’s Got Talent phenom sold a stunning 701,000 copies of I Dreamed a Dream in the week of Thanksgiving, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Not only does that give her the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart in one of the year’s busiest retail periods — it’s the biggest one-week sales number anyone has managed in 2009 by far, nearly a full hundred thousand higher than what Eminem’s Relapse did back in May. Wow.

Andrea Bocelli hung on to his No. 2 spot from last week, selling 218,000 copies of My Christmas, just in case Boyle’s blockbuster didn’t do enough to demonstrate the enduring popularity of adult-contemporary popera. Note that this is My Christmas‘ fourth week on the chart. An album’s sales actually increasing over time? Imagine that!

No. 3 went to Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment, with 198,000 copies sold. That’s a decent number for an American Idol alum in 2009 — but it’s positively grand compared to the 80,000 season 8 winner Kris Allen put up the previous week.

Rihanna took No. 4 with 181,000 copies sold of Rated R. Not a fantastic payoff for all the publicity she’s been doing lately, but it’s a slight improvement on the 162,000 her previous album bowed with in 2007. Rihanna has always been more of a singles artist than a first-week album sales powerhouse, anyway, so any expectation that she’d do better than this might have been unwarranted.

Lady Gaga made it to No. 5 with her new The Fame Monster EP, selling 174,000. She also sold 151,000 copies of her 2008 debut The Fame (No. 6), which was re-issued with the Fame Monster tracks as a bonus. Taken together, that’s 325,000 units moved, considerably more than either Bocelli, Rihanna, or Lambert — not bad at all.

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Nov 22 2009 09:32 PM ET

Rihanna's AMAs comeback performance: How did she do?

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: American Music Awards, Awards Shows, News, Rihanna

The latest stop on Rihanna’s publicity tour just took her to the American Music Awards stage. She began her performance strapped to an uncomfortable-looking gurney in front of a pile of staticky TVs, going on to perform a medley of “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard,” both from her new album, Rated R (out tomorrow).

Was it the kind of outstanding performance that will have viewers buzzing at the water cooler tomorrow morning? Not quite, I’d say. Rihanna was in decent vocal shape, but those two songs just aren’t necessarily the strongest selections from Rated R, for one thing. Still, awards show performances are all about spectacle, and she had the eye-catching factor nailed — from the aforementioned gurney set, to the “RATED R” tattoo-like writing on her chest, to the fake-gun-toting backup dancers. Overall it felt like another well-played step in her promotional plan, if not a resounding triumph.

Or do you disagree? What did you think of Rihanna’s performance? The comments section awaits below.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Nov 14 2009 10:41 AM ET

Rihanna's violent, disturbing 'Russian Roulette' video: How dark is too dark?

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Music Videos, News, Rihanna

What, you thought Rihanna was going to give “Russian Roulette” a video full of sunshine and rainbows and peppy choreography? Her first single from Rated R is a song about violence. The video, which 20/20 premiered last night, is about the darkest piece of promotional material I’ve ever seen from a pop star.

The requisite shots of Rihanna and a man playing with a pistol aren’t the half of it. The video also features Rihanna writhing on the floor of a prison cell while menacing guards look on; staring down a speeding car on a dark highway; and twisting and turning underwater as bullets fly past. Director Anthony Mandler gives the clip an arty feel with creative camera angles and speed-up/slow-down effects. It’s the logical extension of previous Mandler-Rihanna collabs like “Disturbia” — which, like this clip, owed a heavy debt to the work of “Closer”/“99 Problems” auteur Mark Romanek. Perhaps needless to say, “Russian Roulette” is also an infinitely more worthwhile production than the pandering schlock that Rihanna’s abusive ex is putting out these days.

Of course, good art isn’t always good business. This is an extremely creepy video. I’m not sure how much MTV play it’ll get (during the few hours they still play videos), and more importantly, I wonder how many potential Rated R buyers will find this imagery to be a turn-off. Watch the video below, then you tell me: Do you think this is too dark for a pop video? And do you like this clip as much as I do?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Nov 6 2009 08:36 AM ET

Rihanna's Diane Sawyer interview, part 2: The night she was assaulted

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: News, Rihanna

rihanna-interview_l The second teaser clip from Rihanna’s interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer just aired on Good Morning America. While yesterday’s segment dealt mostly with what followed her assault at the hands of ex Chris Brown, the 5-minute excerpt shown today focused squarely on the events of that awful February night.

Rihanna went into detail at Sawyer’s prompting, recounting a disturbing timeline that will be familiar to anyone who’s read the official police report on the incident. First she and Brown argued over a text message he received from a woman; then he violently attacked her. “It was ugly,” Rihanna told Sawyer, becoming choked up with emotion. “That’s all I kept thinking the whole time: When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?…I was bleeding. I was swollen in my face. There was no way of me getting home.”

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