Beyoncé - "Schoolin' Life"

J.R. Taylor Choreography

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Rihanna flew down to Kingston, Jamaica to shoot the video for her fifth Loud single, “Man Down”, though the video wasn’t the only thing that ended up getting shot. In the opening scene of the visually stunning Anthony Mandler-directed video, RiRi takes out a pistol and kills a man walking in the middle of a crowd. We are then given the back story of what caused the “Only Girl” to commit this act of violence — find out by watching the video below. And be forewarned, she might still have that bright red Loud hair, but this dark clip is much more Rated R.

Though it’s apparant Rihanna isn’t afraid to continue the discussion of domestic abuse (and we applaud her for that), we’re not convinced the song and the treatment for this video work well together. Being physically assaulted isn’t exactly “a sticky situation” as the lyrics indicate, and though RiRi sings “I didn’t mean to hurt him”, she very clearly was aiming to kill in the very first moments of the vid. In fact, “Man Down” is really about breaking a dude’s heart — not seeking revenge against your attacker.

And although Rihanna is clearly the victim in this scenario, what message does it send that killing your attacker is the way to go?

Tell us what you think of her new video in the comments, and check out the clip’s far less dismal behind-the-scenes footage:

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