Rihanna

The Fug Report: Highs and Lows from the Week in Fashion

Editor’s note: Welcome to The Fug Report! Each week our fashion blogger friends Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the sartorial geniuses behind Go Fug Yourself, will feature some of the most memorable looks of the week in this space. We hope you enjoy it!

This week on Go Fug Yourself, we eyeballed Rihanna’s… Read More

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

Today at Flavorpill, we read an open letter to Rihanna asking her to please use more words. We looked at pictures of Halloween-themed weddings. We appreciated this Lisa Frank-style Romney poster. We listened to a few dads sing songs from Little Mermaid. We dug this … Read More

Hear Bat for Lashes' Beautiful Cover of Rihanna's "We Found Love"

For a song whose giant beat gets so much more attention than its minimalist lyrics, Rihanna’s “We Found Love” has a weird emotional resonance. That chorus, “We found love in a hopeless place,” could have been cut from an uncharacteristically positive Joy Division song. So it’s been especially interesting to watch different artists reinterpret the… Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” the lead single off her untitled seventh album, has arrived online. Listen to the song — which was written by Sia, produced by Stargate and Benny Blanco, and includes 35 mentions of the word “diamond” — here.

2. Iconic singer Andy Williams — best known for songs like “Moon River”… Read More

25 Intimate and Revealing Backstage Photos of Famous Musicians

We all know what our favorite musicians are like on stage — whether they’re shy or flamboyant, whether they’re chatty or businesslike, whether they’re funny or taciturn. But we also know that what we’re seeing on stage is ultimately a performance. Off stage, however, it’s a completely different matter, and thus backstage photography has always provided an interesting insight into the music world, particularly when the photos in question aren’t posed or contrived. We’ve pulled together a collection of such photos, images that seem to capture sides to performers that we rarely get to see, giving a glimpse of the person behind the persona — whether it’s a tearful Kurt Cobain slumped in a corner, Bob Marley playing soccer, or Lemmy reading a book (with nary a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in sight!), these are like all great photos in that they capture a moment in time and in doing so also capture some part of the subject’s personality. We hope you enjoy… Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. Thanks to an accidental tweet from Def Jam France, we now know that Rihanna has a new record coming out in November, and the first single is due out this Monday. [via NME]

2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has announced that next spring’s big show will be “Punk: From… Read More

The Best and Worst Singles from Repackaged Pop Albums

There comes a time in a pop star’s life when she, her business manager, some barnacles from the major label footing the bill for her latest record, and some other freeloaders gather in a conference room and look at how much money she’s been able to scare up a few singles into an album release. They might decide, “We’ve sold quite a lot of records and people want more!” They may note that people are still buzzing about the artist and suggest, “Say, auspicious pop star, how would you like to record another album quickly so we can make another boatload of bucks?” At this point, the pop star might say, “You know what? I’m tired.” But, plucky as they are, major label types will persist: “Okay, well, we have all these live tracks. We have some b-sides and demos, too. We can master them in Garage Band and have you pose for a new album cover and call it a ‘deluxe edition.’” At this point, the pop star might say, “Sure, fine, is there more Cîroc?” Of course, there is always more Cîroc. … Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich debuted several new Atoms for Peace songs over the weekend during a DJ set at MoMA PS1’s Warm Up party. Give them a listen here.

2. In case you’ve been worried, we now have official confirmation that Liza Minnelli will reprise her role as the vertigo-plagued… Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. “It was a weird, confusing space to be in, because as angry as I was, as angry and hurt and betrayed, I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help and who’s going to help him? Nobody’s going to say he needs help. Everybody’s going to say he’s a monster without… Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. “You do know the song is about my Vagina right? ‘Throw down your umbilical noose so i can climb right back,’ umm… On top of which some of the lyrics about my vagina I contributed. So umm next time you sing it, think about my vagina will you?” — Courtney Love tweeted… Read More