Rihanna's subtle symbolism.

Rihanna‘s  raunchy new single S& M requires a hasty amendment to my post of a few days ago about the Lynn Miles song ‘Love Doesn’t Hurt’.

Miles’ song was indirectly linked the beating Rihanna received at the hands of Chris Brown.  This was unjustifiable violence but it now seems that Rihanna is not averse to the sado-masochistic affliction and receipt of  pain when the transaction is between consenting adults.

She sings “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me” – lyrics considered saucy enough for the BBC to deem it inappropriate for a daytime audience .  Rihanna’s fury at the clean edit smacks of a publicity stunt – her good girl gone bad image only works if she gets the suits hot under the collar so she’s probably be miffed if the controllers of our listening habits didn’t react.

It also conveniently covers up the fact that the song itself is very mediocre and only memorable for the spicy content . The video is pretty lame too  – featuring the trusty standby of a banana as phallic symbol!!

It’s all a case of different strokes for different folks (pun intended) and if you take the lyrics literally the message seems to be that love can hurt after all!   Pass the savlon!

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