Rihanna singles 2009-2012

lol i left off my beloved "Princess of China"

Russian Roulette
Hard f/ Young Jeezy
Wait Your Turn
Rude Boy
Rockstar 101 f/ Slash
Te Amo

What a great run.

Rude Boy, durr.

Hard is probably the second best here, most of the ones after that point I've either not heard, or only really like in remixed form (Birthday Cake, We Found Love, Where Have You Been).

Rude Boy, durr.

― Matt DC, Friday, November 23, 2012 10:31 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also I had no idea there were this many singles in such a short period of time. That's a ridiculous production line they've got her on.

Russian Roulette
Hard f/ Young Jeezy
Wait Your Turn
Rude Boy

^^THIS FUCKING RUN! i was gonna say my pick is either "russian roulette" or "rude boy" but i just checked last.fm and apparently i've listened to "hard" the most by some way

Also I had no idea there were this many singles in such a short period of time. That's a ridiculous production line they've got her on.

seven albums in eight years

as explained elsewhere i do love "only girl (in the world)" a lot now but like...not compared to the rated r run

should be a weighted write-in poll really, all the interest is in what ranks where after the inevitable 'rude boy' #1

at this point i'm just hoping "Rude Boy" will squeak out a victory over "Only Girl" and "We Found Love" or whatever

i am for real terminally bored of 'rude boy' though, do you guys honestly still derive enjoyment from it? not trying to be an asshole just asking

i still jam it when it comes on the radio but i'd be lying if i said it hadn't lost any luster in the last 2 years

"Talk That Talk" working its formula really dismally helped reinforce its virtues, though

I don't think I've actually heard it that much over the last couple of years, but my ears still prick up when it's on in a way they don't with her more recent singles.

like not bored just in the "this is a few years old now" way but in the bey 'crazy in love' overdone and emptied out way

Haha it's nowhere near that overdone, especially given that Umbrella exists.

nahhh hasn't gotten that far yet for me, partly because a few of her subsequent #1s feel far more overplayed by comparison xp

Going for "Man Down" which I'm sure I spin more than any of the others. Would love to hear her do a whole album in that mode, even though it'd probably flop horribly. "Rude Boy" actually never did anything for me, just seemed kind of annoying.

"Worst" would also be an interesting poll but I suspect it would just be "Love the Way You Lie" versus "Birthday Cake."

the vast majority of these i am pretty evenly happy with these days, even the ones that are basically rubbish

'california king bed' felt very real to me once and only once when it came on the asda supermarket radio in the middle of a tedious shopping trip

'cheers' is never not hilarious fo the enunciations, secret favourite for pure entertainment value

's&m' never stopped eliciting a grimace though i must admit

'who's that chick' is great and will remain underrated fun (slowly coming to find guetta's track the best on the new album too tbh)

'where have you been' also an underrated banger

i think i shall vote for 'you da one' which feels uniquely untarnished and i will always be a cutesy sucker for. best secret xmas carrolling jam too

a vote for rude boy would be boring right? so maybe birthday cake

Haha it's nowhere near that overdone, especially given that Umbrella exists.

― Matt DC, Friday, 23 November 2012 15:55 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

umbrella avoided this fate! i dont know how but it did

this list is kind of stealth mediocre imo

"rude boy" or "what's my name"

"You Da One" is so great, really doesn't deserve its status along w/ "Shut Up And Drive" as one of her few singles that got a pop radio push early in an album cycle but wasn't a big hit

that's prob my #3 behind "Birthday Cake"

why didn't you include the new one with CB?

xxp functional mediocrity is the true test of a critical man, every hack can bleat good or bad and stick to it forevermore

why didn't you include the new one with CB?

it's not a single yet (or...ever? dare we hope?)

rihanna is very good at functional mediocrity these days, though i think "s&m" is to me what "cheers" is to rtc

"Where Have You Been" and "What's My Name" and "We Found Love" and "S&M" are examples of songs that i think have good points but there are vast expanses within each that make me hate the world if i'm trapped somewhere where changing the station isn't an option

isn't official that "Nobody's Business" is the next single yet, is it? in any case they prob won't be pushing it until 2013 so it's outside the artificial boundary of the poll. xpost

i only just really listened to "Te Amo" for the first time the other day and damn that's really good, wish it was a hit

"Where Have You Been" and "What's My Name" and "We Found Love" and "S&M" are examples of songs that i think have good points but there are vast expanses within each that make me hate the world if i'm trapped somewhere where changing the station isn't an option

i get this with the first three - seems indicative of so much of rihanna's latter-day material being severely underwritten, it's like the songwriters light on a really catchy hook and then just stop bothering

that rihanna rain just wont let up

sometimes the catchy hook part is what has me despairing though

have said this before but "S&M" became much better to me when the Britney remix showed me how much worse that chorus could sound with anyone else's voice

I like the dave aude remix of S&M

oh yeah the catchy hook parts just get repeated ad nauseam in lieu of anyone bothering to write a second melody

Take Care
We Found Love
Russian Roulette

top 5

rude bwoi
only girl
man down
what's my name
take care

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQX6JIOVUow

This is probably my favorite "single" of hers. But as is, I'll probably go for Russian Roulette.

Had Fire Bomb been a single, though, I'd've renounced everything else here.

stan vote for 'who's that chick' cause it's great

i haven't heard a single opinion on 'cockiness' but i really like it too

it doesn't lick my persuasion, you might say, because it's a nonsensical ball of awkward crap

I was really enthusiastic about Cockiness at the listening session and then I heard it again and rolled my eyes

lol i don't know how anyone doesn't roll their eyes, i still like it tho

I wish the Funkystepz version of Birthday Cake was the actual version.

I wish the Funkystepz version of Birthday Cake was the actual version.

― boxedjoy

cakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecake

Looking at that list of singles from top to bottom the best I can say about most of'em is that they're ephemeral.

That one vote "S&M" is going to get is mine.

it's just the smell line, i can't deal

All Of The Lights

there's always one isnt there

but that song is good.

would much rather hear "te amo" now than "rude boy" tho i'm not sure it's exactly better... too similar sounding to be a hit on its own tho

Russian Roulette
Hard f/ Young Jeezy
Wait Your Turn
Rude Boy
Rockstar 101 f/ Slash
Te Amo

What a great run.

― abcfsk, Friday, November 23, 2012 10:29 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

still can't tell if this is a joke or not plz advise

anywho

1. we found love (prob my fav single of hers after umbrella)
2. rude boy
3. take care
4. where have you been
5. what's my name

not sure i really care for anything else. her hit rate since 09 has been so low but you could still make a fantastic mix if you were allowed to plumb the albums.

wait i'd have "te amo" up after "take care" or "rude boy" but w/e

the air is thick with rated r stans around here so i didn't even question it (xp)

i mean i definitely like 'rated r' but basically all the singles (with the exception of "wait is over") are the worst tracks on the album

was there ever a great remix of "te amo"... that's a song that's really ripe for a 9 min edit

"photographs" is my one track from this era of rihanna that i absolutely love that i've never heard anyone else rep for

guess i'm gonna be the dude voting for "you da one"

i wanted to like that song but i can't stand rihanna's voice when she sings like that

seem to recall ppl reping for "photographs"? or maybe just loling at the will.i.am verse?

it was prob just a bunch of posts by me

rihanna just sounds so empty lately like she's a piece of fruit roll up that's being stretched too thin

i don't really mind her being a walking album cycle... sometimes good shit will sneak up on you (i.e. "where have you been")

1. we found love (prob my fav single of hers after umbrella)

*sets down gavel, burns robe, walks off bench and out of the courtroom, flies to mexico*

I agree w/ j0rd in that that song always sounds pretty good on the radio

lol rev

"Rude Boy" by far.

Followed by "Hard."

Wow I'd never heard "Te Amo" before so I wanted to watch the video, but couldn't get through the whole thing. Anybody else think it's ridiculous and embarrassing? I mean, she's sooo damn SENSUAL you wanna throw a bucket of ice cold water on her. We get it Rihanna, you're horny, but it's not shocking and it looks really fake.

"photographs" is my one track from this era of rihanna that i absolutely love that i've never heard anyone else rep for

― J0rdan S., Friday, November 23, 2012 4:57 PM (2 hours ago)

can't figure out why

Wow I'd never heard "Te Amo" before so I wanted to watch the video, but couldn't get through the whole thing. Anybody else think it's ridiculous and embarrassing? I mean, she's sooo damn SENSUAL you wanna throw a bucket of ice cold water on her. We get it Rihanna, you're horny, but it's not shocking and it looks really fake.

― LeRooLeRoo, Friday, November 23, 2012 7:07 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah see i'm in the target audience for rihanna/laetitia casta straight-to-DVD erotic thriller lesbian innuendo so no complaints here

Watching for the first time - - wonder how much of this is her performance and how much is the jumpy editing to the beat - - nothing really gets to build up any heat.

yeah see i'm in the target audience for rihanna/laetitia casta straight-to-DVD erotic thriller lesbian innuendo so no complaints here

Hahaha well it looks cheesy like soft porn (and I hadn't recognized Laetitia Casta), but I'm sure I'd feel the same way if it was with two guys.

wonder how much of this is her performance and how much is the jumpy editing to the beat

To me it's a lot about the performance. I mean who licks their lips and grabs their breast and writhes around like that? I would start laughing if someone did that in front of me.

'who's that chick' is great and will remain underrated fun (slowly coming to find guetta's track the best on the new album too tbh)

yeah, this tune works fantastically IMO.

"Take Care," both Ri and Drake's best single.

eh, in the low end of his top 10, and her top 25

so you think she's got 24 better singles

"Take Care," both Ri and Drake's best single.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, November 23, 2012 8:27 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

*hacks up mucus*

nah, only 22 (xp)

hack it at Drake and Ri.

looks like I'll be the only "Hard" voter

"California King Bed", durr

durr indeed

we didn't start the durr

"California King Bed" always sounded to me like it'd make more sense as a country ballad that I didn't like than it did as a pop ballad that I didn't like.

it sounded to me like an alanis song

they should make that song w Future a single its the only one i like trollol

we found love is alright in certain contexts but too on the nose house anthem otherwise

i do actually like u da one & even the annoying drake song

this was def an artist where it's become readily apparent that im legit disconnected from teh pop zeitgeist with

first major star that's true of, i wd think

Russian Roulette
Hard f/ Young Jeezy
Wait Your Turn
Rude Boy
Rockstar 101 f/ Slash
Te Amo

What a great run.

― abcfsk, Friday, November 23, 2012 10:29 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

still can't tell if this is a joke or not plz advise

― J0rdan S., Friday, November 23, 2012 9:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

before proceeding to rep for "take care", "where have you been" and "we found love" smh

so you think she's got 24 better singles

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, November 24, 2012 1:29 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i haven't even counted but i'm fairly sure rihanna has 24 better singles

even drake has like...two better

this was def an artist where it's become readily apparent that im legit disconnected from teh pop zeitgeist with

― D-40, Saturday, November 24, 2012 12:34 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

first major star that's true of, i wd think

― D-40, Saturday, November 24, 2012 12:35 AM

otm

idk i was v pro-rihanna til 2010 or so, even if rarely to the point of stanning for her like i do for ciara, but even now she does just enough okay that i don't feel disengaged from her popularity - katy perry and ke$ha are far worse in that regard for me

nah i mean i like some songs & i def remember hearing a couple of her biggest singles ('we found love' 'only girl') everywhere but then theres tracks that were legit hits that i dont remember even hearing once

that's a function of pop music in 2010 rather than rihanna per se imo

the thing about having a dozen #1s is that they blur together after a while and you end up with some chart-toppers far more forgettable than any one hit wonder

idk i was v pro-rihanna til 2010 or so, even if rarely to the point of stanning for her like i do for ciara, but even now she does just enough okay that i don't feel disengaged from her popularity - katy perry and ke$ha are far worse in that regard for me

― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Saturday, November 24, 2012 7:06 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ditto

^^^

also

"California King Bed" always sounded to me like it'd make more sense as a country ballad that I didn't like than it did as a pop ballad that I didn't like.

― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Saturday, 24 November 2012 04:37 (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it sounded to me like an alanis song

― J0rdan S., Saturday, 24 November 2012 04:40 (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think those 2 posts articulate a lot of what i like about "CKB"

it's clearly rude boy for me, but we found love, what's my name and only girl would all be worthy winners were that song not to exist

gotta say, almost every Rihanna song w/ Stargate >>>> almost every Rihanna song w/o Stargate

calvin harris >>>> stargate

i don't know what's more wrong, that statement out of context or that statement IN context

hahahaha ;) ;) ;)

lol princess of china

what's my name ftw but it's amazing how many quality singles on this list

when you release five a month there's bound to be a handful

true but there's also bound to be a handful of shit and this list could be a lot worse

Is there an ILM consensus on what her best album is? Or top three?

rated r, good girl gone bad, unapologetic

1. Rated R
2. Music Of The Sun
3. Good Girl Gone Bad
4. A Girl Like Me
=5. Loud
=5. Unapologetic
7. Talk That Talk

Rated R << everything else

Loud was the one whose singles I got tired of the fastest.

Rated R, GGGB, Loud and UnaPLOgetic are all strong albums.

Loud had three good songs.

it is kind of a weak set considering it's her most successful run of singles

Competing with A Girl Like Me for her worst album.

Where Have You Been; it's Only Girl (in the World) if the chorus didn't go to shit.

kendrick outsold her

not sure if that says more about kendrick or rihanna

it says something about albums vs. singles

def

would have voted What's My Name were it not for that Drake feature up front :(

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Actually what I really like is the mashup of 2ne1's "I Love You" with Rihanna's "Where Have You Been".

Also Who's That Chick, Rude Boy, Only Girl, and yeah We Found Love.

link to a good versh of the mashup???

bump

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

justice

feeling happy about that huh

honestly i wasn't ready to rule out 'Only Girl' getting 20 votes or some shit

Surprised by the win. Bummed that ppl seem to prefer the inferior Rihanna/Drake single to their good one. Proud of us all for the zero votes Love The Way You Lie got.

all of the lights is p overrated i guess

just like every song on that albumn

if we expanded this to 2013, i'd put "pour it up" pretty high up there

well that's a backhanded compliment, in this company

it's pretty effective though not amazing or anything. when will "phresh out the runway" be a single

ha well whatever

it's definitely effective... maybe bordering on amazing. it's pretty dope to hear a woman singing a mike will made it strip club anthem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpCa29FpRtI

^better

i do like "pour it up" when i hear it and her delivery REALLY works, that extra-blank, numbed intonation, but it hasn't really passed the must-hear-that-on-loop pop test since the album dropped

the "pour it up" -> "numb" -> "loveeeeee song" portion of that album is really effective

http://thehairpin.com/2013/10/rihanna-on-my-mind

^^great discussion

a lot of twitter pushback over their disinclusion of black/west indian perspectives, but yeah, good piece

the nicki/rih comparisons were interesting but felt so speculative, wonder how they hold up to scrutiny. my mind kept racing for counterexamples, for an an instance of rihanna not "singing it in a way that validates all women rather than casting them as losers in the market for male attention," or for a nicki for-the-ladies joint. def great piece

it is great discussion. like the comments almost as much (first time for everything). favorited the site, so thanks, lex.

Yeah, there's some truth in what they say about nicki but I think they underestimate what she does. I was just reading something the other day about how she herself subverts the male gaze.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdO_LcMLSu8

i find the discussion 'problematic'.

i dunno maybe five years ago i was much more into ideas of 'reclaiming' this and that and empowerment done different etc.

now...

& yeah the race and island perspective being lacking means its a very strange discussion

esp if yr gonna compare riri to nicki

I enjoyed it a lot but it definitely seems as if they're underestimating Nicki, yeah. Her emphasis on cartoony flows and cartoony sexuality always makes me think that she's really doing this for the girls WHILE beating the lads at their own game.

yeah i certainly don't agree with what they're saying about nicki, which i feel falls into the unfortunate category that non-music-specific commentators often fall into where in trying to say why artist x is special, they dismiss artists y and z without really engaging them - but the most interesting aspect of that was the "solidarity with the strippers" thing - rihanna as both stripper and customer

Definitely.

I endorse this solidarity with the strippers

i guess coming from an r&b angle its sorta new? but really can we talk about like gangster boo or trina or something here this is not novel

if anything coming from a hip-hop perspective this sorta thing feels hella played

RT @kristengwynne Performing in Tel Aviv, @rihanna changes Pour It Up lyrics to "All I see is Palestine." http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4149661?utm_hp_ref=entertainment … …

this is rather unexpected!

!

UPDATE: Israeli newspaper Haaretz has retracted its reporting on this concert and published the following note. It appears Rihanna did not reference Palestine:

The original headline for this article has been changed (from “All Rihanna sees 'is Palestine,' but Israelis didn’t seem to care”) and part of a sentence was removed from the story (“in “Pour it Up” instead of “All I see is signs / All I see is dollar signs,” she subbed in “All I see is Palestine.”) Upon reviewing video footage of the show posted after publication, it is clear that the change in lyrics attributed to Rihanna was mistaken.

“Rude Boy” feels like an unworthy winner.

Or maybe not...

Anyhoo we need a 2013-2020 poll.

ridiculous result for "Diamonds". it was her current hit when the poll was held and I know a lot people thought it was tacky or something, but it's a majestic song imo, a melody that sucks you in from the very first note. wonder if people's opinions on it have changed.

i love these things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTITc7D2pPI

the surprising result to me is "russian roulette" being that high up. it's good i guess but...

"diamonds" is fine, not really a standout single for her imo

I like “Diamonds” but Sia’s touch is very noticeable, can’t really hear it as a Rihanna song.

Worthy top 3, I'd swap 1 with 2 and put "Diamonds" at 4, "Only Girl (In The World)" at 5

Had no idea "Te Amo" was a single, but that deserved some votes. Wow, Rated R was great (looking at the tracklist again), haven't played it in far too long.

You Da One 3

i bet i was one of these votes