Love her. I want her to work on her stage persona/performance though. If non-singers like Britney and my girl Janet can do it, so can she.

shorttrini said:

She just sounds uneducated and ignorant to the ways of conducting herself in an interview. It's obvious she isn't the brightest bulb.

she annoys me @ times, but she's ok.

Someone mentioned her downplaying her accent, and while I've heard it loud and strong in some interviews, I do wish she'd utilize that and her island culture more in her music now that she cross-over. It's one thing that gives her distinction. "Don't Stop the Music" is a nice dance track, but "Pon de Replay" is more unique, imo.

I agree that live performance is her weak area. She often looks like she's going through the motions. She'll have to step up her game.

I thought the video for "Disturbia" was too dark for her, but was surprised at how well she sold it. Love that shot of her in the chair swirling around looking evil. She may have a future in film if she gets some coaching.
[Edited 2/15/09 20:08pm]

SCNDLS said:

Like I said before, with a more coaching she will get better.

JasonWill1980 said:

Rihanna is a good studio artist. But she isn't a good vocalist on the live stage.

WaterInYourBath said:

That aside she's annoying to me. Sounds like her singing is too nasal like she's singing through her nose.

Nice hairstyles.

shorttrini said:

Yeah, I thought the same thing about Beyonce. Now 10 years laters. . .

TonyVanDam said:

You saw her live?? I wouldn't go by some second hand cell phone footage on Youtube for my opinions.

Cinnie said:

Well going by DVD, Blu-Ray, and "live" TV performances to form an opinion will do worse justice than cell phone footage. Remember, this is the Pro-Tools/Auto-Tune era of the music industry that we're in right now.

TonyVanDam said:

Fair enough then.

TonyVanDam said:

She sounds a lot like the record for the most part.

dragondayz said:

she should stick to videos...

SCNDLS said:

What...the food is cool now .....over the last 10 years it been world class..oh
the weather is shit and when her song came out it was raining for 12 weeks..

dragondayz said:

I caught a song off that concert on TV this week and every time she stopped singing and pointed the mic out to the crowd, you could clearly hear her voice still carry on on a backing tape.

She WAS singing live over the top of it, but using a tape to thicken up the vocals and cover up your weaknesses is pretty cheap and nasty if you ask me.

Dis-tur-bi-ya-la

she doesn't sound as bad as I thought she would, think it's worth buying the DVD? She does look really hot and her songs have been good

I went to Beyonce's tour and loved it, but when I bought the DVD, I hated it and sold it.

dragondayz said:

TRANSLATION: lip-syncing

Cinnie said:

sing it!

I think she's sexy... is a decent pop/r&b artist... and I like some of the songs she's made. I don't rank her anywhere near my favs... but she's.... OK.

I don't think it's a question of whether she can sing, but more the tone of her voice. For me the bottom line is on certain songs her voice works better than others. On "Umbrella" I thought her voice worked. But on "Unfaithful"? lol

bettybop said:

It's interesting what a big difference her vocals went through from Unfaithful to Umbrella.

I saw her live in 2006 (I was seeing Jay Z, she was support act), about 6 months or so before Umbrella and I hated her. Her voice was flat as a tack and her stage presence...well, she did have any!

Fast forward to 2007 and Umbrella becomes one of my favourite songs of the year and it's almost like a different girl singing!

I think she really found her type of song, it seems the secret to becoming a big star is finding your signature.

MJ has his amazing videos and incredible dance moves and the signature nuances like "ow!" "ahh!"
Prince is pretty much the only big pop star who's signature is/was his sheer talent
Madonna has her dance hits and reinvention
Britney has the pop fluff and controversy
Christina has the pop fluff with a voice
Beyonce has the girl power anthems

And now Rihanna has club bangers that are half pop half electro and usually with an 80s sample in there somewhere (Shut Up and Drive sampled Blue Monday, Don't Stop The Music sampled Wanna Be Startin' Something, SOS sampled Tainted Love, Sexuality sampled Controversy etc)

bettybop said:

Singing a ballad is little harder than singer an uptempo number, due to breathe control. On "Umbrella", her voice was "treated" so it would sound a little different.