Terrible things happen. Who wouldn’t want to forget? And you’d be surprised how long a scar lasts. The urge
to cover it up, to hide from the story it tells, must be overwhelming.
It was an awful episode involving two of the most
promising stars in pop, and it has continued to reverberate in the years since.
Rihanna has emerged as a tough-talking dominator, one of the most striking and
powerful figures in music, male or female. And Mr. Brown has made music that has
largely been puerile and has had quite a few flashes of bad temper that haven’t
done much for his image.
The release of the two songs, teased online for a
couple of days in advance, shows a desire by both to reshape the narrative, to
disperse the black cloud. For Rihanna, perhaps the goal is to avoid living
forever as a victim, to replace hostility with magnanimity. Mr. Brown, on the
other hand, is certainly grasping at whatever image rehabilitation is offered
him. For better or worse, they both generate a tremendous amount of good will —
even Mr. Brown, who remains an in-demand
and idolized star.
The most revealing piece of media criticism to emerge
from the drudgery that was this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony was the
aggregation by BuzzFeed of Twitter posts from several young women
proclaiming they would be happy to be beaten by Mr. Brown: they meant it as
praise. Us Weekly also printed an item in which it accused Mr. Brown of using
his notoriety as a pick-up line: “I promise I won’t beat you”
Thanks to the loyalty of their fans, these
collaborations matter. In real life there are questions and ambiguities to
grapple with. In music, though, Rihanna and Mr. Brown don’t have to be
articulate.
So maybe these collaborations were an inevitable
outcome, though they suggest two kids playing around without adult supervision
more than they suggest a calculated grab for public redemption or approval. It
displays an advanced understanding of marketing and an understanding of moral
obligations and ethics that’s not much more than rudimentary. It is a woman
publicly accepting her abuser — nothing more, nothing less.
The songs themselves don’t say much, at least not much
of interest. The remix of Mr. Brown’s
“Turn Up the Music” — rumored to be the first single from his forthcoming
album “Fortune” (RCA) — is consistent with the dance-floor-ready R&B of
today, and the sort that Mr. Brown, with his flexible limbs and airy voice, is
best suited to.
Rihanna adds some lyrics that are mildly troubling in
context — “Turn up the music ’cause I feel a little turned on” — and then the
two sing together, promising to “do whatever it takes to make it right,” which
in this case means turning the music loud, presumably to block out the
dissenters and the loud ringing bell of good sense.
Rihanna’s song “Birthday
Cake” is an extended version of the interlude of the same name from her
recent album, “Talk That Talk” (Island Def Jam). Mr. Brown opens his verse with
an aggressive, unpublishable come-on — one that Rihanna uses in the song’s
original version — adding, “Been a long time, I been missing your body” and,
later, “Give it to her in the worst way, can’t wait to blow her candles out.”
Near the end of the song Rihanna steps up the
gamesmanship: “Remember how you did it/If you still wanna kiss it/Then come and
get it.”
If the songs were dull or disposable, they’d still be
important, but they might matter less. But they’re both good, “Birthday Cake”
very much so. The quality matters because they’re likely to lodge themselves in
the public consciousness and seep onto radio playlists: this mess won’t just
melt into the air.
And the mess is likely to persist, if similar
situations with other stars are anything to go by. One of the most moving parts
of Whitney Houston’s funeral was the performance by R. Kelly, who in 2008 was
acquitted of charges relating to child
pornography but who remains a divisive figure. Even at this year’s Grammys,
Mr. Brown’s performance was the primary flashpoint, but others wondered about
the honoring of the revered country figure Glen Campbell, whose relationship
with Tanya Tucker decades ago has been the subject of rumors about violence,
charges Mr. Campbell has denied.
Those examples may not be instructive because they
remain ambiguous. In the case of Mr. Brown and Rihanna, there was photographic
evidence, a guilty plea, a restraining order. Photos that circulated online
after Grammy night show the two pressed up against each other warmly, as if
everything were safe.
You want to forget? Fine. But don’t forgive.
