Rihanna has been releasing new music ever since January of 2015, with her surprising collab with Kanye West and Paul Mccartney called "FourFiveSeconds". The song, upon its release, peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. This gave Rihanna her twenty sixth top-ten song on the chart. This song raised eyebrows due to its new sound and surprising collaboration. The single gave good expectations of her newest album. Rihanna's vocals on the track gave her unprecidented praise from critics and fans. Rihanna even performed the song at the 57th annual Grammy Awards with Kanye West and Paul McCartney to help promote the song. The song had a good debut, but lacked the ability to stick high on the charts. The song did, however, give us a all a reason to use the word "wildin'".
Bitch Better Have My Money
Rihanna then released "Bitch Better have My Money" on March 26th, 2015 to follow up "FourFiveSeconds". This song provided a completely different vibe than "FourFiveSeconds". This new single provided a "trap" and "hip hop" style that Rihanna could rock as well. It was good to see the two singles have such a variety in style, but this new one didn't stick high on the charts for long either. The inital feel of the song was very surprising and had everyone jamming out to it. The song was clearly a club hit, but lacked radio play and overall quality from "FourFiveSeconds". The song was also repeatitive too which had everyone only listening a few times to it. Rihanna did however perform the song at the iHeart Music Awards where she came out of a helicopter, and only Rihanna could do that. The song did manage to continue to do fairly well after the performance and was one that had people talking about. "Bitch Better Have My Money", as of May 2nd, 2015, peaked at 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Personally, I still jam to the song simply for the "bad-a**" vibe it gives me. It's a great song to play if you want to feel that way; and I often do.
American Oxygen
How many of you knew RiRi released another song? Yeah, you probably didn't because of how it was released. The song, "American Oxygen" was first featured in the NCAA March Madness commercial and later became avalible for full streaming exclusivley on Tidal on April 6th. On April 14th, it was finally released for digital download on iTunes. The song had very little promotion and not people even heard about it. The song was also released so close to her second single, "Bitch Better Have My Money", so people and fans didn't know if it was a third single, or just a release? It caused confusion to what it really was. Fans were still trying to digest the latest single, and then this song comes out. The song is a good one though! The song has plenty of patriotism and inspiriation within the sing itself and the music video. The song lacks radio play and it only ever peaked at 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. It's bummer to see the song not do so well, considering how good and powerful of a song it is.
Why isn't she blowing up the charts?
Rihanna is releasing these songs from her eighth studio album, that's right, her EIGHTH album. Artists like her often struggle over their third album slump. I think it is fair to grant RiRi some respect for continuing to make albums, regardless of how they do on the charts. We shouldn't critque her so hard on those chart stats, considering she has ruled them in the past. It is hard to outdo the best you have had so far. I also think that she has been struggling with this era is because there is currently not even an album title or release date. It gives the fans nothing to look forward too, but who knows, she might even pull a Beyonce and have a surprise release. I think that RiRi has the power to do that and create buzz that way. It would certainly raise eyebrows, give fans what they have been waiting for, and most likely rule the charts as well. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens. Also, I believe she has struggled because the singles don't have much radio play power within them, and it doesn't help when "American Oxygen" was released so close to her second single as well. Overall, I'm loving RiRi's variety on these three songs and excited to hear the rest of her eighth album, whenever that may be. We just need to be a little more patient, because we've waited this long so why not wait a little longer.
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