This is the new video for Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney’s “FourFiveSeconds.” Full disclosure. I’m more of an Elvis girl than a Beatles girl. I like a few of Kanye’s songs, and I adore Rihanna’s music. A good chunk of yesterday was spent dancing to “Pon de Replay” on repeat, and I’ve been looking forward to some new material after Rih took a year off. This song is the debut single from her as-yet-unnamed 8th LP. Perhaps I’m uncultured, but this song disappoints. The video? It’s pretty stellar on mute. The cinematography is simple yet arresting, and ol’ Yeezus did the styling (per Rolling Stone): “Kanye came up with the idea of just doing some real street, denim, all-American-type look.” Some would call this video iconic. I’d still like some solo Rihanna magic.
What do you think of the song? It’s unlike anything we’ve heard from Rihanna. Kanye is rather experimental for a rapper, and his music is best considered when completely disregarding the Kardashian Klan. This single does the bare minimum to please casual listeners of any of these three artists. Tell me I’m wrong, please. My inner jury is still out. Kanye and his video flourishes are almost too much.
Rihanna is still a solid fashion girl, even when she wears the emperor’s Adam Selman. Balmain creative dicrector Olivier Rousteing has declared Rihanna to be his muse and the next Grace Kelly. This is hilarious because Rihanna is a fashionista who can wear almost anything (or nothing at all), but she’ll never have the class of Grace Kelly. You can see a photo of Olivier nuzzling Rihanna at the Mail. This pic is amusing because RiRi is wearing an uninspired Stella McCartney tuxedo jacket as a dress.
Here’s some photos of Rihanna wearing Balmain on previous occasions. Does she qualify as a muse?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, W magazine & WENN
LOVE IT!
Me too! The song is different from the usual Rihanna and Kanye songs. The video is so simple and I can’t keep my eyes off the beautiful Rih Rih!
Yes. I watched this video a few times in a row yesterday. Love it and the song.
HATE IT! I really dislike the song. Who decided Kanye could sing? Sorry, but I think this is the first RiRi album that I won’t get.
Agree. That song is trashy, and not in a good way.
video actually makes me like the song better…..smh.
damn your hotness riri!
So hot!
SO. HOT.
She looks sooooooo good. And I love the song.
I’m still on the fence as far as the song goes…I generally don’t like Rihanna’s ballads and the screechy voice thing at the beginning of this gets on my nerves. (But I love the chorus!) I do like the video, so maybe it’ll convince me.
Can’t get the damn song out of my head. So it definitely ‘works’. Video is fine.
She has a gift: she can make catchy the most shittiest songs.
Pout it up was really bad but I found myself singing it more than once in my desmay!
I think the song disappoints because everyone expected a banging dance song from Rih. She has done good slow songs before of course but this is completely different and it takes some getting use to.
Rih’s fashion is amazing and she is so so beautiful, she is a muse. Oh and I have such a crush on that Olivier Rousteing, he is so beautiful with those prune sucking cheeks.
I like both the song and the video. Mostly because this is the first time I’m seeing and hearing Rihanna without all the music glittery, with only her voice dominating. And I’m loving it. Plus she looks amazing in this Kanye styling.
Every 2 days it seems like there is another Adobe flash vulnerability, so the video is blocked. I heard a very teeny tiny snippet of the song yesterday, and my impression of the melody was ‘corny’. Although McCartney has some truly great songs, he also has a tendency to wade heavily into schmaltz. But perhaps I’d change my mind hearing more of it?
As to Rhianna being a muse; most definitely. She makes me LOVE that dress and I’m not sure anyone else could carry it off. Grace Kelly was from a time when public persona was more tightly controlled, and society was more buttoned-up in general, so I don’t know about ‘more class’. I guess it’s relative. I bet Rhianna could even wear the hell out of the iconic staid looks that Kelly made popular.
I think that you are right with your Grace Kelly assessment, I have heard that she wasn’t as “pristine” as history has made her out to be. Without the tattoos and open drug, i.e. marijuana use, it seems that Grace and Rhianna actually might have had more in common than most realize.
I liked it, but I’m hardly the acid test of contemporary music. I thought Rhianna was so beautiful – even in those baggy denims, she just shines through. I definitely see her as a fashion icon – she wears the clothes, not the other way around. Agree with what you said about Grace Kelly – her Hollywood image was “ladylike” but I’m not sure that was truly her personality. You know what surprised me? I thought Kanye had a really pretty voice. I’m not sure what Paul McCartney was doing in the video. He was “my” Beatle in the sixth grade. Still looking good, Paul. Lol
+1 Kiddo & Renee
Who’s the McCartney guy again?
The guy who fathered the ugly-clothes designer.
Sigh. Stop skimming. He was my sixth grade boyfriend. Try to keep up.
Sorry, geez. I thought he was just a paperback writer.
I like Balmain, except their association with the K Klan they manage to tackify everything.
I love this song but I think Kanye brings it down some. He’s not a singer. The video goes well with the song, very simple and well done.
That’s how I felt as well. Liking the song, but not so much the Kanye bit.
Kanyes singing and paul mccartneys hair are so distracting. The song itself is good.
I love both the video and the song. I actually like Rihanna’s raspy voice. All she needs is to have some vocal training and control.
As for classy, Grace Kelly’s actress image was classy. Grace Kelly the the woman wasnt so classy and if not classy Rihanna means sexually promiscous Rihanna, Grace Kelly in many books is describes as being very promiscuous indeed.
Love this song and I appreciate RiRi mixing it up a little bit
Sounds like something Tracy Chapman or Sheryl Crow would sing. I like the hoarsely voice of Ri. I’m not a fan of singing Kanye. Or maybe I’m just not used to his singing without auto tune. And Macca? If you’re gonna collab with a Beatle at least make him do something remarkable.
I like it. They kept it simple and it worked, musically and visually. The song’s got McCartney’s stamp all over it from where I sit – the other two definitely deferred to him musically, to their credit. The big test for something like this is to imagine it as a cover and whether it would work if someone else was doing it.
Exactly. I hear McCartney’s signature all through the melody line and of course the instrumentation. This is Rhianna’s “Beatles” song and I love it. She said that they’re wearing denim at Kanye’s suggestion and she loves it b/c denim is iconic and classic and never goes out of style, “just like the fu**ing Beatles.” Even down to the way that it’s three superstars in the same song/video, there is something Beatles-esque about it.
I am wondering what must teenagers think when they see Paul M with Kanye and Rihanna! “who is this old dude, he ain’t going to make it!”. LOL.
If kids make it to teenage years and don’t know the Beatles then their parents have failed to educate them properly. 😉
My girl is a legend in the making.
I didn’t think it was anything great enough to be iconic. To me an iconic song is like Imagine which will still be around in a hundred years and I doubt this will make it to next year. And really Kanye’s voice just grates and I find nothing to like there. It was simply okay but I wouldn’t pay a penny for it.
I’m with you. I never really thought much of her and Kanye can’t sing. Nice to see Paul though
Thank you, I was feeling crazy because I really don’t like it. I like all three of these artists, but the song is rather flat and uninspired and Paul should be embarrassed. And Kanye shouldn’t sing unless it’s 808s auto tuned to the moon style.
Paul “can’t sing” either…
I thought Kanye’s voice was pretty. No?
Rumor has it Grace Kelly was the original bad girl riri! A alleged man eater who had affairs with almost all of her married co-stars.
I was actually surprised by how much I liked this. I thought I was gonna hate it before listening to it, don’t know why. And the video matches it perfectly.
Rihanna, while beautiful, is so bland to me. I downloaded some of her music and I tired off it in less than a week. She’s nothing special as a performer but somehow she’s considered a great popstar. What is this world?
I agree with you on all points.
As a performer, she’s nothing special.
Her music was great at one point in time but….. her recent music like this song is boring.
Nothing about it is original and not even Sir Paul Mccartney can save it IMO.
The outfits she wears, what she posts on twitter and instagram & who she dates/sleeps with are the only things that keep her relevant nowadays.
And Katy Perry is also considered a great popstar, (I THINK) so yeah, something is really wrong with this world.
Love it.
A description of it:
“”FourFiveSeconds” is a pop song with country and folk music influences and an instrumentation consisting of an acoustic guitar, organ and cello.”
Sir Paul is everywhere these days.
The Beatles’ Abbey Road or Magical Mystery Tour listening with headphones or on vinyl (not on an iPhone – real sonics) – perfection.
I love Rihanna’s distinctive voice and have a lot of her music. I can’t wait for the new album.
Love the song and video. Ive been listening to it for days waiting for the video to drop. The only thing is Kanye….
….why? Why are you singing here? You bastids shouldve never bought 808s and heartbreaks. He actually thinks we want to hear him sing.
Yall talkin about Rihanna being a man-eater but Im the only one that doesn’t know sh*t about her love life? since Chris Brown and Drake and some pesky rumors about Leo who has RiRi been with?? Who has Rihanna slept with that you know? If you only are saying she’s promiscuous because she likes to wear revealing outfits and smoke pot the… all of you bashing Kaley Cuoco are hypocrites.
Lame. I can’t stand Rihanna’s voice. It’s so nasal and annoying.
You know what, I actually like it and I really wasn’t expecting to. I agree with the others in that Kanye brings it down a bit though in his defence, he’s competing with Rihanna.
God the songs awful 2 seconds into Rihanna screeching was giving me a headache and who bright idea was to make it worse by adding Kanye’s singing to it.
Those two are gonna make that Paul dude FAMOUS!!!
stop
LOL!!!!!!
Girl stop trolling
But if you’re actually serious about this, I feel sorry for you.
re: all that denim. this reminded me of a gap ad.
Whoa, I really, REALLY like this. Both the song and the video.
It’s not what you expect from these artists, so if you’re already a fan, I can see how you might not like it. But trust, for someone who likes this sort of thing? This is great stuff.
terrible…this is really bad, i love mccartney, but he is embarrassing himself…plus the video just looks like a Gap ad instead of a music video
and i can’t stand Kanye, even the mention of his name irritates me
Agreed. Terrible. What’s with the greasy faces? What’s with the hideous clothes? I understand minimalism, but that just sucks.
GREAT collaboration.
Classic Levi’s would have been more “chic” on Rhi, IMO.
But Kanye’s a trendsetter…in his world.