Rihanna's "Only Girl" Video

The wait is finally over, Rihanna has finally released the video for her top three smash hit single, Only Girl (In the World). The video, which was directed by her go-to-man Anthony Mandler, is a departure from the gothic/dark themes of the Rated R videos, and sees Rihanna in a much happier and colorful(no pun intended) stage of her life. The song itself: generic; Rihanna has had better songs as album "fillers" than this single. The video; while not her best, serves its purpose. The problem that artists like Rihanna and Lady Gaga (who put an extraordinary amount of effort into their image and videos) face sometimes is that the minute one of their images or videos isn't up to par (or for lack of a better term, generic), that piece of work isn't viewed as "interesting" or "brilliant," whereas if it were any other artist, the public would be a bit more embracing.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the song a lot and the video is cute but it is nowhere near her best effort(s), and coming from the excellent album that was Rated R, I'm a tad bit worried. But I understand what her and her record company were trying to do by releasing the most radio friendly song as the first single (and it worked). Rated R didn't have a smash hit till Rude Boy. They aren't trying to make that mistake again. And considering the number of videos Rihanna is planning to shoot for this new album (Loud), I am positive that Only Girl is to this album what Wait Your Turn was for Rated R. You remember what video I'm talking about, right?



Loud hits stores on November 16th.