Rated 'We Found Love'

It seems Rihanna can't quite help but court controversy. First she drastically sexes up her image with Rated R, then she gets killed in her marvellous 'Russian Roulette' video and pisses parents off with her vibrant, cheeky, video for 'S&M'. Now the controversy isn't about what her music is saying or showing, it's about the speed at which she's popping out new material. It's been less than two years since we had Loud and less than a year before that we had Rated R. It seems Rihanna is a bajan musical snowball and the only question to ask is where will it melt?

Things are remaining pretty damn hot in the RiRi world for the time being with new single 'We Found Love'. The Calvin Harris produced number is a summery club exhilarator, with the expected Calvin Harris bouncy synths. "We found love in a hopeless place" sings our fox on a repetitive, but completely intoxicating, chorus. It doesn't have the thump of 'Only Girl', or the sumptuous kettle drum synthy charms of 'What's My Name?', or even the sassy bite of 'Rude Boy', but 'We Found Love' is a lovely taster from the 23 year old's upcoming 6th studio album. We're in Rihanna overload right now, so this album has a lot riding on it. If this song is anything to go by though, she isn't going anywhere.

4/5

Rated 'Freedom'

The Sugababes have had a pretty busy career. Sure they've got countless hit singles and millions of album sales, but their biggest achievement is still existing after numerous line-up changes to a point where now there are no original group members left. 

After their flop album Sweet 7, the girls are back and are desperate to prove their worth as the pseudobabes. They're doing this with a vamped up image and club ready new single 'Freedom'. The video harks back to the dark club setting of their epic single 'Freak Like Me' but the song is very different. Keeping with the times and going for gay anthem complete with dub-step breakdown, 'Freedom' proves that the ladies can still knock out a good tune. The song's crescendo, post-breakdown, is exhilarating but the song still lacks the bite and originality that their older efforts have become famous for. It's a great dance-floor track, but overall it still isn't hitting the mark you'd expect. On a plus note, the song is brilliant when compared to some of the disasters from Sweet 7 and as long as they manage to recapture their feistiness on their upcoming album, things could be on the up.

3/5