Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 4, Day 6.

Apparently Rihanna has now travelled from Melbourne, Australia to Sydney, Australia ahead of Thursday's (3/10/13) which is something I'll cover in more detail after the concert. However today Rihanna has taken a break from the grind of touring to release the video for her single "Pour it Up" which can be viewed here; http://www.rihannanow.com/pouritup/

This is of course the single that had everybody on edge when it was first scheduled for release over the summer. Featuring lyrics like "Strip Clubs and dollar bills" the song is obviously about strippers and money. In fact I seem to remember Rihanna saying something about the song being written specifically to give lap-dancers something to dance to. I don't want to moralise because the pole-dancers in the video are clearly very talented and techincally skilled but strip-clubs and the wider sex industry are very widely looked down on as seedy and exploitative of women. So by releasing a song like this Rihanna - as a woman - was opening herself up to a lot of criticism from feminists and parents outraged at the sexualisation of Rihanna's young fans. Also with a reprise of "Still got my money" releasing this song over the summer while Rihanna was expected to be p*ssing off her fans by turning up late for and delivering poor Diamonds World Tour concerts and causing chaos in Africa Rihanna was running the risk of making herself seem uncaring, out of touch and selfish.

The video itself and the fact it's taken until now to release has done a lot to alleviate these worries by really casting Rihanna in the stripper role. Apart from reminding us all how lucky we are to have Rihanna around this portrays Rihanna more as the exploited rather then the one doing the exploiting. In fact the parts where Rihanna is sitting on the golden throne wearing a fur coat and bad wig seems to be ever so gently mocking the macho culture in hip-hop and RnB music with all the men pretending they're pimps and gangsters.This gives the song a lot more intellectual depth and places Rihanna's role in the Diamonds World Tour and really the last year in very different and I would say more accurate light.

Rihanna's fans - the Navy - are apparently trying to get this video to break the record for the most views in 24hrs on Vevo. I can definitely support that because I'm certainly going to have to give the video a couple viewings.

(Originally Posted) 18:55 on 2/10/13 (UK date).