Shiny & New Turns 2: #8 "Fire Bomb" - Rihanna

"Watching it burning, it's beautiful and it's blue / and it's pitiful when it's through, it's the other half of me"

Human beings love to be pleasantly surprised, it gives them a story to tell or something to say. This is why people love the story of two Italian-American broads from the '80s called Cyndi & Madonna. At the time, if all sources are to be believed (we weren't alive yet) these two formidable talents 'battled it out' for chart supremacy and superstardom. Of course they didn't literally do so, but the patriarchal media loves to pit women against eachother and so they became 'rivals'. People loved to predict their chances of future success, and APPARENTLY, it was a commonly held belief that Madonna would fade into semi-obscurity and Cyndi would become a lasting star. What actually happened was the complete opposite. This is why people love, and are still interested in Rihanna, four albums on.

The 'Bajan beauty' (what is this? Reveal magazine?) started her career with throwaway dancehall-flavoured chartpop, and has steadily become darker and more adventurous (and wildly successful in the process) to the point where she's now considered a mostly-credible pop behemoth and one of the biggest and most bankable stars on the planet. When her critically acclaimed dubstep-inspired apocalypse pop ('apopalypse'? HAVE I JUST COINED A TERM?) album, Rated R, was released last year, a lot of the criticism/praise focussed on the horrific experience Rihanna had had the misfortune to endure prior to the album's release, and certainly her work seems to be tinged with that, but what is brilliant about the album, and "Fire Bomb" (a certified fan favourite) is that, as with all the best pop, it transcends Ms. Fenty's personal life. The heartstoppingly evocative lyrics, the steely, outcry of a chorus, those divisive, distinctive vocals, the pure melodrama - the first time I heard it I knew I would have it on loop. It's a brilliant song released by a woman who trumped expectations to become a defining star of her generation.