Rihanna’s newest single, “Love On The Brain,” sounds SO MUCH like “Maybe,” the 1957-58 doo-wop classic by the Chantels –five black teenage girls from the Bronx, whose 2 minutes and 50 second song became a building block of rock and rock history, and which sounds as powerful and forceful today as it did 60-years ago.
Which brings us to Rihanna. Talk about powerful and forceful! “Love on the Brain” is deeply effective: the words, the rhythm, the vocals, and the intensity of her desire, how far she’s willing to go. Rihanna grabs your heart and soul just as Arlene Smith’s arias did in “Maybe.”
Rihanna’s lyrics sizzle:
No matter what I do
I’m no good without you
And I can’t get enough
Must be love on the brain
Unless you live in a cave, you “know who Rihanna is” and what she looks like: 28-years old, from Barbados, a style icon etc., but you may not know her music.
Safe to say that no artist in 2016 has appeared on the Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40 and Adult Top 40 charts more than she, via her solo singles and collaborations with numerous artists including her new boyfriend Drake, who is the young singer that Madonna kissed at Coachella a few years ago, and caused all that stir.
At last month’s MTV’s Video Music Awards, Rihanna received the well-deserved Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award aka the VMA “Lifetime Achievement” award for the remarkable visuals that accompany her long list of hit songs.
The Chantels: More than just another girl group Unlike some black groups whose influences were based in gospel, the Chantels were influenced by classical music and Latin hymns. Lead singer Arlene Smith, who provided both lyrics and music, had classical training and had performed at Carnegie Hall at age 12.