BURNING BRIGHT
Choosing Light?: Rihanna’s Diamonds
By Elizabeth C.
FOR ALL HER POP CULTURAL PROWESS, I CAN’T HELP BUT SEE RIHANNA AS A LITTLE GIRL LOST. The Barbados singer’s unhealthy relationship with Chris Brown has come to defined her troubled girl persona, and she often seems to revel in it, going so far as to even promote the “thug life” with faux finger tattoos.Yet in her interview with Oprah in August, Rihanna came off as an innocent and injured child trying to figure out how to love herself well, even while admitting that she loves her abuser, Chris Brown.
“My stomach drops and I have to maintain this poker face and not let it get to the outer part of me,” she revealed. “I have to maintain it and suppress it. When you don’t understand those feelings you can make a lot of mistakes…I think he is the love of my life. He was my first love.”
The 24-year-old songstress also said, “I have forgiven him. It took me a long time. I was angry for a long time,” the Barbadian beauty said. “I truly love him, so the main thing for me is that he’s at peace…I care.”
On her new single, Diamonds, I can’t decide if Rihanna seems like she’s stumbling toward the light — peace for herself — or still yearning from some unattainable love:
“Find light in the beautiful sea
I chose to be happy
You and I; you and I
We’re like diamonds in the sky.You’re a shooting star I see
A vision of ecstasy
When you hold me, I’m alive
We’re like diamonds in the sky“
Is it poetry or pining? Is she telling us she’s choosing peace — or that she wants to fly too close to the sun? I guess it’s for us to wonder as the young artist’s story is still unfolding.
Diamonds is Rihanna’s first single off her seventh studio album, scheduled for release in November. PopBytes’ Michael Knudson calls the new single “a gorgeous song that’s bound to be a huge hit.” Take a listen and decide for yourself.
