One of the first thoughts I had after hearing about Chris Brown beating up Rihanna (right after “let me get my hands on that motherfucker”) was that I couldn’t wait to hear what Rihanna would do with the whole situation on her next album. I’ve been dying for new music from her anyway, loving Good Girl Gone Bad as much as I do, but with meaty material like a public domestic violence incident to work with, she was bound to come up with something memorable.
I was right. The first single from Rihanna’s upcoming album, Rated R, has been released and it is powerful and disturbing and clearly inspired by those dark days earlier this year. Titled ‘Russian Roulette,’ the song uses that deadly game as a metaphor for an unhealthy (and, yes, violent) relationship.
I believe pulling the trigger is symbolic of returning again and again to a man who has shown he is willing to hit you. You do that enough and eventually you’ll wind up in the hospital, or dead.
This song has already generated a fair amount of controversy (including a weird rant by songwriter Tiffany Evans who claims that Rihanna is part of a devil-worshipping cult called the Illuminati that uses pop music figures to brainwash teenagers… I’d love to try whatever she’s smoking!). Some have said the song glorifies suicide and could lead to impressionable kids playing Russian Roulette.
While I suppose that’s always a concern for some people, I tend to think any kid who’d do that sort of thing is going to die of something soon anyway and you might as well get it over with now. I give the vast majority of kids a lot more credit than that.
And I don’t see this song glorifying suicide, or risking one’s life, at all. On the contrary, it’s a dark and emotional song performed by somebody who learned this lesson the hard way. I can’t wait to hear what else this album has in store.
Calm yourself, he says to me
If you play, you play for keeps
Take the gun, and count to three
I’m sweating now, moving slow
No time to think, my turn to go
And you can see my heart beating
You can see it through my chest
That I’m terrified but I’m not leaving
I know that I must must pass this test
So just pull the trigger
Say a prayer to yourself
He says close your eyes
Sometimes it helps
And then I get a scary thought
That he’s here means he’s never lost
As my life flashes before my eyes
I’m wondering will I ever see another sunrise?
So many won’t get the chance to say goodbye
But it’s too late too pick up the value of my life
Meet Me In Montauk 
I can’t say I agree with your cavalier approach. While I certainly don’t believe it’s a pop singer’s responsibility to try to censor her music in order to not send out potentially dangerous suggestions to impressionable youth (redundant, isn’t it?), I do believe that there are many young people who will see this cover, hear this title, be intrigued, go investigating, and get the urge to give it a try.
The scary thing about the adolescent brain is that it is truly wired differently than ours is, which is why it is easy from the perch of middle age to assume only some stupid kid who will die at some point from some thing would try something this dangerous. Anyway, I didn’t mean to go off on this tangent, but your casual dismissal of such a potential tragedy required SOME sort of response 😛
That said, she’s chosen an apt and powerful metaphor for her relationship with an unstable and violent man, who has, as she painfully realizes towards the end of the lyric, “never lost.” To take the metaphor to its natural end, the only way both parties can continue to never lose is to simply stop playing. Is that an option for Chris Brown? Does getting counseling mean you can continue to play (have relationships) but that now the gun is empty? Would the next woman likely to have a relationship with him find that to be enough comfort? Or is the simple act of holding a gun to your head too disturbing to care whether there is a single bullet in the chamber or if it’s empty or loaded to capacity?
Something tells me there will be far more compelling music to arrive from both Chris and Rihanna before either has retired from the business. And that makes me more sad than excited.
I suppose this is an interesting enough song, in light of her personal controversy, but not one i need to hear more than once.
As for influence of music like this on kids, that argument has been used for the better part of 40 years now, from Elvis to Eminem. When a tragedy happens and a song influence is involved, that song or artist may be the thing that pushes a young kid over the edge, but there are obviously many other factors involved as well. As Eminem said in response to similar criticism:
Get aware, wake up, get a sense of humor
Quit tryin to censor music, this is for your kid’s amusement
But don’t blame me when lil’ Eric jumps off of the terrace
You shoulda been watchin him – apparently you ain’t parents.
Now, that attitude may be too flippant in the other direction, but I think it is far too easy to criticize artists and not turn that spotlight inward to ask why a parent is not exercising more influence and control over what a kid hears, sees and how he or she behaves.
Eminem is exactly who I thought of when considering this issue… both because his lyrics are the sort you worry about kids emulating and because he writes about that fact (as in the song you quoted).
In case it wasn’t obvious, I was suggesting that educators and parents are the ones who need to step in to try to mitigate the potential danger such enticing suggestions might prompt. I simply don’t think it’s enough to say it’s stupid for some kid to go out and play Russian Roulette if he hears this song. I think we have to take responsibility for teaching those kids not to do so. Not that I think it’s Rihanna’s (or Eminem’s – heaven help us) responsibility to do so.
Yeah, I agree with that. Certainly any kid who would do such a thing didn’t have the right upbringing or guidance.