purplesweat said:

100% true.

TonyVanDam said:

I've never considered MJB a hip hop artist...I know she's considered a part of that whole hip hop soul thing but...


and so you're just making up stuff...hip pop huh....lawd.

ABeautifulOne said:

Beyoncé is R&B/Pop. When has she done anything remotely ROCK? lol Pop/Rock is Kelly Clarkson.
[Edited 11/20/07 8:17am]

lastdecember said:

Very true...
and, um...is that U in your avatar?

lastdecember said:

But what young buck does? They ALL use this formula.....with a handful of exceptions.

Graycap23 said:

Im just saying dont make it like "she" has the drive. Shes not Ryan Adams, doing 4 albums a year, writing,playing, mixing the things herself, thats drive.

lastdecember said:

Sure she has drive. Why can't she have drive? As a businesswoman, putting out 3 albums in 3 years, touring, releasing single after single, making merchandising deals....sounds like she has drive. Beyonce, too.

lastdecember said:

I'd say she has the drive 2 chart well, and that's about it.

Now... lastdecember... is that U in your avatar? What a gorgeous face.

; )
[Edited 11/20/07 8:49am]

lastdecember said:

I'm agreeing with u. More like taking ADVANTAGE of the system than drive.

Graycap23 said:

But you can have no talent at all and still be driven. You can be driven to find the right people to play, write, etc...
On the other hand you can do it all and not be driven. They're two different things. Rihanna strikes me as someone very driven and with big dreams.

dancerella said:

maybe she felt her songs were more pop.. and i think her songs are more pop... because they sound better then that typical hip-hop you hear...

her songs are some of the best in 2006 and 2007

anon said:

Big dreams maybe but not driven, more like someone is driving her. Someone is steering her every move, her label is giving her the people, the writers etc.. and she is showing up and singing on the tracks.My thing with Rihanna is that she doesnt seem to have anything to her, if you like at three of her biggest hits they were all based on someone elses music and hits.

lastdecember said:

I agree. Still, it's just a hunch thing. I'm guessing as soon as she can "breakout" and take control, she will.

Giovanni777 said:

Its a girl that im dating

lastdecember said:

This is always what happens with women in the industry. They're either labelled sluts or puppets.

BRITNEY is a good example of a lazy chick. Rihanna, no.
[Edited 11/20/07 9:17am]

Her attitude was mad stank.I noticed it right away. I bet you she swears that she hung the moon herself. DIVA in training..
[Edited 11/20/07 9:20am]

anon said:

True. We all see the NO talent but she is quite FINE.

VoicesCarry said:

But how can you tell? I must be missing something with Rihanna because im just not seeing anything outside of a cute girl with catchy songs that are mostly based on 80's hits. I dont think anyone in the industry is lazy, because getting there took something, for some it was luck, some had talent, and some had the drive of playing nite after nite and struggling to just get signed. So i dont think i would label Britney as lazy considering everything she did from 1998-2004, nor would i label Rihanna as lazy for her output the last 3 years, but i question this whole "drive" thing. And its not just women, take your pick of any pop/rb male and they are the same.

lastdecember said:

I'm talking about Britney now.

Rihanna's many things, but one of them isn't stupid, which is where I think she has an edge on a lot of the other girls that might otherwise be lumped together with her. And anyone who says they want to be the black Madonna certainly has some drive. Time will tell if, like any dance-pop artist that wants to last, she has the drive to adapt and modify her image and music, and to eventually set trends.

All I know is that, unlike Ciara, Mya etc., Rihanna's music is exhibiting an increasing sophistication and pop sensibility. She's clearly smart enough to not reject hits that were rejected by so many others on her level.

VoicesCarry said:

True but on the SOS song which Christina Milian turned down because the soft cell song had been done too death and she just didnt want to do it, Rihanna did it because she had to, it wasnt her choice to do it. Which is why i question her "smarts", i cant give her that credit till i see something from her that is her own and not based on someone elses hit. Rihanna is a Pop singer, nothing she does is even remotely RB, so i agree she shouldnt even be in that category, and she is only because she is black, Mariah is more RB than Rihanna, though she started as a POP singer. I dont see her being in a class yet of a Madonna, that will take a decade or so, and some Originality in her music, and i wouldnt even put her in the Britney class yet, only because Rihanna is more of a singles artist and her albums arent big sellers which is tough if you are going to be a POP star if you cant get people to buy your albums.

lastdecember said:

Unfair to make that comparison with Britney, since Britney debuted when album sales were still very strong ie. the teen pop boom. And In The Zone was barely able to clear 2 million in the US in 2003. Unlike the vast majority of pop stars, Britney has always struggled on the singles charts and at radio. It could easily be argued that Good Girl Gone Bad is a much stronger album artistically than any of Britney's have been, and that from 2005 to now, Rihanna has shown much more artistic progression than Britney has over her entire career (her latest is really no different stylistically than the stuff she was churning out around 2001).

No one is selling many albums these days, but Rihanna has managed to sell almost 3 million copies of Good Girl Gone Bad worldwide, which is pretty good in this day and age. She's one of the few who understands that it's a global market, not just the US.
[Edited 11/20/07 10:02am]

VoicesCarry said:

Well i think her struggles on the singles charts were mainly due to Singles not being available the way they are now, 99 cents. I think that works against Rihanna because why buy the album when you can get the 3 singles for a dollar each. I dont really think Britney had a strong album till "In the Zone" because the others were all about the Max Martin teen production of that period. My issue with Rihanna is she still is falling back on others for alot of her hits, meaning the sampling, so im looking for her to go to another level with her work. As for her knowing about a Global market, true, but there again not her choice, she was brought overseas to Open on for the Pussycat Dolls on their european tour, i think in general most POP artists now realize that the Global market is there, and that the US isnt what it was, shoot look at Girls Aloud, never had a release in the USA and are close to becoming the biggest girl group ever.

lastdecember said:

Britney has always struggled on the singles chart because outside of a few tracks, she doesn't get played at radio. Her albums have also experienced a consistent decline in sales since day 1.

How do you know that it is or isn't Rihanna's choice to work with certain producers, to make music that appeals to the global market, or to choose to record hits that so many others have turned down? Are you there in the studio with her? Most POP artists in 2007 are international artists to begin with, so it's really a moot point. So many of Rihanna's American peers have had flop albums in the past 2 years because they chose to appeal only to the US market, so clearly she knows something a lot of other people missed out on.

Regarding something like SOS, Christina Milian may have been a talented woman, but she wasn't smart enough to know that to get anywhere in the industry, ESPECIALLY if you're a woman, you have to play the game at first.

VoicesCarry said:

Mainly because Rihanna said in an interview that when they came to her to record the third album (note she didnt say she wanted record it) she said to the label and managers, get me the best thats out there now, that to me shows that she is dependant on them to make the right call, thats all im saying. Also Rihanna is following the trend that pop singers have now to take it over seas, because thats where you build the fan base not here. I see it more of her following than leading, this is just the way the industry here is going and EVERYONE is doing the overseas promoting and touring, rihanna was by far original in this idea. Rihanna didnt really decide to take it overseas till late in the second album when asked to support PCD on their tour, which ironically, the same people that are behind her are behind them, and PCD sold close to 8 million of that album and singles, with 2 million being US sales, so there again someone elses thinking not hers. Not putting her down, but she isnt this person with great vision that no one has.

lastdecember said:

What artist doesn't say that to the label/managers at the outset of a new album (ok, well, maybe Britney)? It's the *results* they get out of the best that differ. It tells me nothing about the song/producer selection process or the recording of the actual record.

I'm not saying Rihanna was original in any respect. Of course EVERYONE is doing overseas touring and promoting - everyone always has since the beginning of time. But few American POP stars not named Justin, Nelly or Rihanna are actually making a dent in the global market these days. If you want to compare an artist of similar manufactured origins, Ciara's last record went nowhere.

Whatever Rihanna's talent or lackthereof may be, she at least seems to have a keener business sense than many of her contemporaries, and that's what's going to give her longeivity.
[Edited 11/20/07 10:43am]

Cinnie said:

Cinnie, do not even get me started on that! yes i thought she had a lot of nerve to laugh at Britney. She will never even be on Britney's level as a pop star though i think she's trying to steal her thunder.

dancerella said:

Why shouldn't she laugh? The whole world was. Britney's pathetic and her career is over, and everyone in that room knew it. They were either shocked into silence or laughing their asses off.
[Edited 11/20/07 10:47am]

VoicesCarry said:

Mainly because CIARA is not a Pop Star, nor is a Chris Brown or a Omarion, these cats wont get attention in the UK even if they were on fire. American mainstream RB doesnt sell there, regardless of who they are, I think Mariah might be the only american RB artist currently that has had huge worldwide success, and thats mainly because she was a POP singer first off, Beyonce does obviously, but is she even RB at this point. You cant really be in one genre and have universal appeal pretty much. Rock Bands have to have Ballads to get them known worldwide, "Rb artists" really have to lean towards POP to be in all markets. And the funny thing is that the US is not accepting of the Worldwide success stories here, look at Robbie Williams, no one cared here, Girls Aloud,Sugababes etc..huge in the UK and other territories, not even issued here. This is mainly the reason Hilary Duff got producers on her record that werent, for the most part, American, she needed that worldwide appeal and she ended selling more there than here, and having two world tours, one this year and one starting next.

TotalAlisa said:

you know? i actually agree that she may be more pop than r&b however i didn't like the tone of her voice when she said it. she seenmed ungrateful and snotty to me. that alicia keys comment even sounded slightly sarcastic.