“Russian Roulette,” is Rihanna’s official first single off her “comeback” album, Rating R. She debuted the song, which was written and produced by Ne-Yo, on Ryan Seacrest’s show Tuesday morning.

Where’s the dancefloor beat, girl? If this is really your “comeback” track shouldn’t it be a little more uptempo?! A little more like “Umbrella”?! The song has simple yet moody and noir-esque lyrics. It captures the fear and agony of a roulette game while paralleling the game with certain real life situations.

“And you can see my heart beating. You can see it through my chest. And I’m terrified but I’m not leaving. Know that I must, must pass this test so just pull the trigger.”

The music video for the track will appear on prime-time ABC and from paparazzi shots, it looks like it’s going to be fierce, dark and seducing, a lot like the art work for the single.

Rated R is scheduled for release November 23rd. There will be a collaborative track with Justin Timberlake on the album, among other collaborations. This new album may show the dark side of the artist that we will grow to love and appreciate. Either direction the album goes, this is Rihanna’s chance to make her mark. Listen to “Russian Roulette” after the jump. Continue reading →

Here’s the first piece of new Rihanna music to surface post-Chris Brown beat down, and I like it. The production marks a more modern Rihanna — not saying that this demo is for LP4, but it’s definitely getting warmer. It doesn’t hold a candle to Rihanna’s previous effort, Good Girl Gone Bad, but this change in direction is worth noting.

However, as far as demos go, “Whipping My Hair” is pretty darn impressive. It should lead to great things. Catch it below Continue reading →

This track comes from the same mixtape that dropped the new Justin Timberlake song. And even though the mixtape clearly insinuates that “Hatin’ On The Club” is a newly recorded demo, my inner-Rihanna gut feeling tells me differently. This track sounds something recorded sometime between A Girl Like Me and Good Girl Gone Bad.

Rihanna has said that her fourth LP is going to be less of this (R&B) and a bit more “techno rock,” or something like this. C’mon Rih Rih, don’t let me down, so us some true of your true LP4-colors. Continue reading →