Read excerpt below from 'Rolling Stones Magazine'. Numbers speak for themselves: Rihanna rules while Beyonce explores laidback '4' career
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By Matthew Perpetua
December 13, 2011 11:55 AM ET
The Image Gate/Steve
Granitz/WireImage
Beyoncé and
Rihanna have both
been recording relentlessly since they were teenagers – and have both become
major worldwide pop stars on the strength of a steady flow of hits rooted in
R&B and funk. Based simply on their seeming omnipresence, it would seem that
both singers have had a very good 2011, but upon closer inspection, it’s clear
that the two stars are at very different places in their career: While relative
newcomer Rihanna, 23, is still in the process of establishing herself as a
superstar with an onslaught of singles in a bid for total radio domination,
record industry veteran Beyoncé, 30, is using the clout she has accumulated over
the past decade to pursue a more personal vision with her most recent
material.
The result? Rihanna has appeared on eight hit singles in
2011 alone, and her most recent smash, "We Found Love," has been at the top of
Billboard's Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, Beyoncé's
4
has been considered a commerical flop despite having sold just shy of one
million copies in the United States since late June.
4 , Beyoncé's first record since dropping her
father Mathew Knowles as her manager, has connected with the R&B star’s
hardcore audience, but has not spawned a monster hit on the scale of, say,
"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On
It)," "Halo," "Irreplaceable"
or
"Crazy in
Love." Her last major release,
I Am...Sasha Fierce, is nearly
triple platinum three years after its release in 2008; the album before that,
2006's
B'Day, is certified triple platinum. To some extent, the
commercial performance of
4 was diminished by the early, lukewarm
response to the disc’s first single,
"Run
the World (Girls)," an aggressive tune that sampled Major Lazer’s club hit
"Pon de Floor" and leaked in an unfinished form prior to its official
release.
"Sometimes when songs aren't obvious hits it takes a video, a
live performance, or something extra to help it connect to the audience," says
Julie Pilat, Assistant Program Director and Music Director for KIIS FM and
Program Director of 98.7FM. "Radio immediately supported Beyoncé, but there were
really polarizing opinions from the listeners on the single. Her video,
appearances and performances didn't kick in until it was too late and the song
was over.
'The
Best Thing I Never Had' was probably the most obvious single on the album,
but it was a ballad and got released in the middle of summer."
The modest success of
4’s singles at radio may be a
sign of the times, as the sound of pop has shifted drastically in favor of
techno-oriented dance music over sounds rooted in hip-hop and R&B in recent
years, a development that has dovetailed with Rihanna's gradual immersion in
full-on club music. Though she began her career with roots in dancehall and
R&B on songs like
"Pon
de Replay" and
"Unfaithful,"
she has moved towards full-on house music with hits like
"Don't Stop the Music" and
"Only Girl (in the
World)." Her biggest hits over the past year –
"S&M,"
"Who’s That Chick" with
techno producer David Guetta,
"We
Found Love" with Scottish dance producer Calvin Harris – have wholeheartedly
embraced radio's current craze for dance music, which has been helped along by
chart-toppers such as Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry. (The mainstream
embrace of dance music also has contributed to the genre's thriving on the
touring circuit, with festival-packing artists such as Deadmau5, Skrillex and
Swedish House Mafia.) Much to her credit as an artist, Beyoncé has stayed true
to her roots in classic R&B and is playing to her strengths, but at least in
this moment, she’s out of step with prevailing trends in pop.
Rihanna’s incredible success at pop radio, outstanding
digital track sales and overwhelming popularity on YouTube isn’t simply a matter
of having her finger on the pulse of popular culture. It's partly the result of
unflagging momentum – there has been hardly any time since Rihanna broke big
with
"Umbrella" in
2007 when she has not had a hit on the radio, either as a solo act or featured
artist. "Kids want new material all the time," Jay Brown, Rihanna's manager
since she was a teenager,
recently told the
BBC. "I think you become disposable when you put out an album every three
years." This philosophy goes against the grain of years of conventional wisdom
cautioning artists against flooding the market with singles, but the results are
undeniable: Even when Rihanna drops a single that doesn't quite connect with a
larger audience, such as
"Russian
Roulette" or "Man Down," there has always been a monster hit like "We Found
Love" just around the corner, so she always seems like a hot
commodity.
Pic: Google
