Music Review: Rihanna - American Oxygen

Now this song is a big moment in the career of Rihanna. When you look at what's currently going to be on that eighth album of hers you'll instantly realise she needs a big song to lift what are essentially two worthless leading tracks. So far on that album is 'Bitch Better Have My Money', which was apocalyptically poor, and then 'FourFiveSeconds', which is an anthem of overproduced mediocrity, and was inexcusable from such a talented cast. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed the odd Rihanna album in the past, and that explains why I'm so keen to give this new epic ballad a review. I would call this new song an anthem, and that's because it virtually is one, and if anything ends up feeling like a cheap rip off version of 'The Star Spangled Banner'. Whether this is a good move or not is currently unclear, but there's no doubt that pandering to the lowest common denominator is a good sales move, and being as the majority of her sales come from the American demographic she must feel quids in at the moment. Still, that cheap tactic isn't going to work with a cynical Brit like myself, and so the song might have to be quite good to listen to, regardless of any patriotism that Rihanna will shove down my throat.

My initial response was that this song seems a bit out of place in a Rihanna catalogue. She's purposely chosen a patriotic song to celebrate America when she herself is from Barbados, which I'm pretty sure isn't in America. It becomes even wiereder when you discoiver that the writer isn't from America either. Not only does Rihanna have fuck all to do with this song, but the writer is from bloody Bristol, which is famous for being in Britain, and not America. It gets worse; the writer's name is 'Alex da Kid'. How am I meant to take a song seriously when it was primarily written by a man who can't even write his own name, yet alone a song. Of all the names you could choose for a pseudonym that's the best he could come up with. Still, surely if he's working with Rihanna he must be a very talented producer right? Well, you would be wrong, as his previous work is far from desirable. In fact I couldn't find a single song I liked in his history, which doesn't give me very high hopes. However at least this song was born in Bristol, so with any luck it might turn out to be as good as anything 'The Wurzels' did, and as we know they are the pinnacle of music in the West Country.

Oh no I'm sorry, it could actually get much, much worse. Apparently the genre for this song is, and I quote, 'a dubstep inspired ballad'. The words 'dubstep' and 'ballad' should never be used in the same sentence, and may just be the world's worst and most unnecessary combination I can possibly think of. Putting those two genres together would be like making a ice cream inspired by the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Plainly these two polar opposites were never meant for each other, and should always be kept apart. We then run into even more problems when we discover that the song in question took inspiration from the Bruce Springsteen song 'Born in the USA', which if I'm not mistaken is actually a song that's critical of American society. When all things are considered I just don't understand the concept of this song on any level. Call me UKIP, but I honestly can't see how a song comprised by immigrants can portray those deep patriotic feelings of the American masses, when the artists themselves have just used the country as a parasite for stardom. Maybe a song that took over a year to write will be an ode to that American dream, but for an anthem that took so long to produce I'm hoping for something pretty epic, which having read the preface seems almost an impossibility.

Annoyingly, now that I've heard it, the song doesn't actually sound too bad, which is a shame as I was desperate to rip this to shreds. I have to admit that it slots in with some of Rihanna's better numbers, and although I can still sense the underlying commercial whore inside everything, the overall product is somewhat decent. You heard me earlier moaning about the dubstep infused ballad elements, but when they come together the effect doesn't sound monstrous at all. The piano based soundtrack actually sets the pace really nicely, and although there are dark elements of moronic sounds trying to creep in, they manage to fuck off long enough for them to be barely noticeable. As a piece of music this song is bordering on very good, and that is in no small part to the role of Rihanna. As per usual her vocals are on point, and portray a powerful message that still seems a bit scrambled to me, but then I usually like that sort of thing in music. I'm still not convinced Rihanna actually cares about the meaning of the song, but as the poster girl she carries the song to heights that shouldn't be obtainable on a relatively standard song. I guess you could say it was starting to grow on me, but let's not get too far; that would suggest that I like it, which still isn't the case. Controversy does equal publicity, and so I'm sure this song will get noticed, but I still can't see Rihanna maturing as an artist from what looks to be a single endeavor into some serious material. I don't honestly think it fits her style, and she certainly can't pull off the gimmick like Springsteen or Billy Joel, but it' a worthy and admirable attempt at a more mature topic.

There are some noticeable problems, namely the almost non existent pacing and underwhelming lyrics. The lyrics especially are just such a let down when you consider that they took over a fucking year to write, yet are not powerful in any way. The lyrics certainly succeed in making the song feel bog standard, and that's disappointing from a song that was always billed as a patriotic anthem. I get the idea that immigration is a huge theme tackled very well, but I just can't see past that generic songwriting that actually ends up makes the whole thing sound a bit pretentious. I just get the sense that this song didn't take so long because the producers wanted to perfect it, but actually it took so long because they simply couldn't be bothered. Does Rihanna honestly care about this immigration backstory? She looks like she only cares about the cash to me. That attitude has become quite common now in pop culture, and in fact this song suffers from many of these new found flaws with the system. I just couldn't help but mention the video, which like all music now has become bigger than the song itself. I just hate that feeling of the song coming second, and although they're both admirable efforts, it's still a bit frustrating to think that the song is purposely poorer in order to accommodate a huge music video. There wasn't really much else I could fault with the song. I did find a few issues with the lyrics, but they're only minor things really. The line in question is the following:

Every breath I breathe

Chasin' this American Dream

We sweat for a nickel and a dime

Turn it into an empire

"We sweat for a nickel and a dime." We? You just sing a few songs and get paid a fuck load of money for it. Under no circumstances do you sweat for every nickel and dime. You've had your hand held every step of the way, so don't start lecturing the common folk that they work is just hard as yours, because you have no fucking idea. Also, what empire is this you're referring to? Is it that fictional 'American Empire' that can't even win a war, yet alone maintain an empire? Or maybe it's a metaphorical depiction of freedom, which seems unlikely since there isn't any deeper meaning to this song at any other point. Even so, isn't that a bit cliche? I can't say I like this patriotic subtext that keeps being shoved down my throat, because in all honesty I'm sick of hearing how great America is, especially when the only argument you can come up with as to why it's so great is this perception of freedom, which let's face it is probably greater in many other countries. I'm sorry to say that this song is just far too condescending for my liking. I'm pretty sure I can blame all the corporate bullshit for that, and I think it was a little unfair to shovel it all onto what could have been a heartfelt ballad. 

It's claimed that the chorus took months to write, and if that's true then what a pathetic effort. Did it honestly take a month to write such a standard stanza like the one above? I'm sorry but I would expect those lyrics from a quickly written Taylor Swift song, not an anthem for America written over a period measured in years. I guess that's the main problem with this song; it just doesn't feel special at any stage. It's not a bad song by any means, but I think it tried to become a lot greater than it could ever possibly be, which leaves the immense work that went into it look pretty underwhelming. I do believe this is a song that will have a strong message for a number of people, but for me that is no reason to buy Rihanna's new album, especially considering all the other crap that's already been released for it. This song is an interesting take on being an American patriot, but I just can't look past the flaws that make it sound like a boring money grabbing tourist brochure about how brilliant the USA is.

Final Score: 6/10   ***