with my middle finger up...

I was browsing Billboard.com like I usually do [IDK why, but I love keeping up with album sales--just the pop culture junkie in me] and I noticed that for like the 4th week in a row Susan Boyle's album is STILL number one. The woman cannot be stopped. She outsold EVERY major album that has come out in November/December of this year. Susan Boyle's CD was released the same day as Rihanna's Rated R. I purchased RiRi's album. Left Susan Boyle's on the shelf.

A lot of people don't like post-beating Rihanna (or as I call her nuRihanna). While I'm still not too sure about the details of what happened between Chris Brown and Rihanna in that car, I, unlike millions of others, accept that its none of my damn business. All I know is that post-beating Rihanna is, as Sesh would say,  a "boss bitch" [FYI--Sesh, I've totally added that phrase into my vocab along with "Oh word?"] As Rihanna's song "Rockstar 101" proclaims she just doesn't GIVE A F*CK and I kinda love it.

Rated R reminds me of Christina Aguilera's Stripped or even Janet Jacksons Velvet Rope albums. Its completely different from anything Rihanna has EVER done before. Its bold. Its vulgar. Its nasty. Its angry. Its vulnerable. Its fun. Maybe this is who Rihanna really is/always has been. Maybe this is just a phase a 21-year-old woman has to go through after her boyfriend beats the sh*t out of her. Either way, there's something about nuRihanna that I admire. She says things I've always wanted to say. She does things I've always wanted to do...

When I'm upset I retreat. When nuRihanna is upset she comes out GUNS BLAZING. She doesn't share her rage only within the confines of a blog. She cuts her hair into a shiteous mohawk, dyes the shit blonde, and puts her middle finger in the air. She wears highly inappropriate outfits on morning television and sings lyrics like: "I lick the gun when I'm done, because I know that revenge tastes sweet." NuRihanna is that part of me deep down inside that just wants to cuss people out and blow this bitch up. She doesn't care. And there's power in that.

I'm spending the holidays with my parents and extended fam. They enjoy telling stories about what a well-behaved child I was--yeah, I'd whine/cry if someone hurt my feelings but for the most part I'd curl up with a book and be quiet. NuRihanna doesn't read books, she gets shitfaced and dances her ass off. I admire that about her. I know, in reality every woman must have a balance between nuRihanna and a responsible woman, but sometime I feel like I lack a little nuRihanna in my life. Every 23-year-old needs some reckless abandon in their lives. I'm going to find mine in 2010.

Here's a look at nuRihanna's latest video, "Hard" feat. Young Jeezy from Rated R: