Brit Nominations: Rihanna Scoops Another Nod For Best International Female Artist - Can Her Credibility Be Restored?
Rihanna's attitude may have been called into question this year due to her increasingly salacious lyrics, but that hasn't stopped her being nominated for another Brit Award.
Last year the Bajan singer took home the Brit for Best International Female Artist and this year, once again, she has been nominated for the coveted prize.
However, she faces tough competition from mega-hit-maker Beyonce, whose latest album 4 showcased her powerhouse balladry, and award-hoarder Lady Gaga who recently scooped Best Female at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Bjork and Canadian singer Feist are also in the running.
Rihanna's latest album Talk That Talk received harsh reviews from critics, who lamented her overuse of sexual lyrics.
BBC Music said it had "drearily sexual lyricism" and "over showy but shallow production". They claimed: "She's trapped between playing the characters of a ruthless dominatrix and a docile sort willing to be putty in a boy's hands."
The Guardian said it "lacks the progression" of her previous album Rated R, "or the bombast of Loud" and Pitchfork complained: "For a record so preoccupied with passion and pleasure, most of Talk That Talk feels unsuitably robotic."
It's not just her music that's been criticised in the past year. Her performances and actions have been branded "lewd" and "offensive" on a weekly basis. She's upset critics by posing with cigarettes, by wearing as little as she can on tour and her video for We Found Love, a souped-up dysfunctional love-fest, has been ruled unsuitable for France's daytime television.
The truly defining moment of a headline-making year in Rihanna's raunchiness has to be the time the 23-year-old switched from a flannel-checked shirt into a stars-and-stripes bikini, a red bra, a mesh black top, and finally went topless in an Irish farmer's field, causing him to climb off his tractor to protest.
Despite all this, she has pipped other international artists including the poptastic Katy Perry to a Brit Award nomination. Is her musical credibility about to be restored?
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The Huffington Post UK Sarah Dean First Posted: 12/01/2012 18:01 Updated: 12/01/2012 23:25