Rihanna's Melancholic Damage

Rihanna’s Melancholic Damage

Here is my looong, unedited, still-in-process post on Rihanna, “Look, I Overcame!” Gaga Feminism, goth damage, and multi-racial white supremacy. Unlike most people who talk about Rihanna, Breezy, feminism, & race, I will actually discuss her MUSIC–chords, compositional and performance…

Rihanna’s Unapologetic Shadow Feminism, part 2

As always, this is pretty raw, first-draft stage material. I welcome your feedback 🙂 Thanks to everyone who has read and given feedback on part 1 of this series! The continued outcry and worry about Rihanna and her album clearly…

Rihanna’s Unapologetic “Shadow” Feminism, pt. 1

“…mistaking anti-social surrealism for social realism” (Kodwo Eshun, More Brilliant Than The Sun). People keep accusing Rihanna of this, that, and the other, when really she’s doing us such a favor that the least we could do is maybe buy…

My Life Would Suck Without You/Where Have You Been All My Life: Tension-and-Release Structures In Tonal Rock and Non-Tonal EDM-Pop

In this post, I contrast the formal elements in the song and video for Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” with the formal elements in the song and video for Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been All My Life.”…

Not A Piece of Cake: Ethics, Aesthetics, & “Chris Brown & Rihanna” Problem

“It’s too close for comfort…So If you must falter be wise” (Disturbia; written by Brown, performed by Rihanna) The recent ink (or, more often, binary code) spilled over Chris Brown (sometimes in relation to Rihanna) raises a lot of interesting…