Rihanna: Reinvented?

Over coffee yesterday, I was talking with a male friend about Rihanna, and her new song “S&M.” The song itself is incredibly explicit; it contains lines like “sticks and stones may break my bones/but chains and whips excite me,” which don’t really leave much to the imagination. My friend then declared that Rihanna’s scandal with abusive husband Chris Brown was “the best thing that ever happened to her career.” While this may be an incredibly offensive and disgusting thing to say, it does not go without explanation. Not necessarily a good one, but an understandable one.
Rihanna’s music was tamer before the Chris Brown fiasco. Two years ago, Rihanna’s then boyfriend Chris Brown physically assaulted her, leaving Rihanna looking victimized and weak. Now, Rihanna is back on the pop culture scene with a vengeance. Her songs now are explicit and about domination, like “S &M” and her song “Rude Boy,” when she requests a rude boy, and asks if he is “big enough,” which does not leave much to the imagination. Rihanna is more popular now, and has more spunk and a louder, more explicit image on the pop music scene.
While I think it is impossible to say abuse was helpful to anyone, I think it is incredible that Rihanna has risen above the scandal, which inherently shows her as weak, and transformed her into a strong, dominant sex symbol. Rihanna could have easily let her abuse scandal be the end of her career, leaving her victimized and weak. However, her knew sexualized image shows her as a courageous woman who is willing to put the past behind her, and be successful and sexy despite what Chris Brown may have done to sabotage that.