Rihanna - Loud

Thanks to Rihanna’s new offering, I now know what a substance-less album sounds like. Titled ‘Loud’, THAT is all the album has going for it – volume. Listen to it at the right decibel and the noise will distract you from the lack of substance, meaning, and any real reason for existence other than as a filler for a dj’s set list. You know, that section where they need anything inane and brainless, but with a good enough beat, to keep the half-drunken twenty-somethings jiving non-rhythmically until closing time.

Where do I start with this mess? While the beats can be generously considered catchy and appealing, after five albums Rihanna’s singing, which at one time could have been considered fresh and exotic, now grates the tortured eardrums like the pained yelps of a cat under a fat man. Such quasi-singing would be excusable if the lyrics were anything but anodyne, unsophisticated and superficial. I wonder what the thinking process was to get to rhyming ‘realise’ with ‘eyes’. Or to declare, like so many who have come before Rihanna, that her money is on her mind. Good songs should read like poetry – with its nuances, subtlety, hidden messages and layered meanings. ‘Why are you standing there with your clothes on?/ Go on baby strip down and take them off’ leaves nothing to the imagination and seriously undermines the intelligence of semi-literate music listeners. (Admittedly, such basic lyrics do cater to a certain type of unrefined audience.) The only good lyrics in the entire album were Eminem’s, in a cameo appearance of Part II of ‘Love the Way You Lie’. Of course, he wrote that part.

On top of that, the actual contents of the songs do nothing more than shamelessly perpetuate the much love-to-hate misconception of hip hop and rnb as little more than hedonistic, overly-sexualised music. There’s nothing wrong with singing about sex and depravity; hey, they’re what make the world go round. But at least put some effort and creative energy into it, instead of resorting to the lowest common denominator with a song titled ‘S&M’ and lyrics like ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me.’

That said, the album could be interpreted as some kind of emancipation. Two records ago, with ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’, and the skilled and seasoned producing hand of Jay Z, this was appropriate, innovative and executed with sass and style. Now, two albums and a whole lot of courted controversy later, the concept is dated and laughable. What else does she need emancipating from? The result, then, is something that sounds like Rihanna has simply taken the woes of her disastrous personal life out on this album, which is a mess, much like her divisive public profile.

Big words, and punchy sartorial jibes aside, this album simply sucks! After two bad records, whatever appeal or talent Rihanna once had is now officially gone; replaced by the superficial facade of fiery-haired, sultry vixen. But keep in mind that, much like her music, that red weave is also fake. [Image from http://www.muumuse.com/]

Through Young Eyes - Jacquelyn Ngo

 ‘Through Young Eyes’ is an exhibition of over 30 paintings now showing at the Casula Powerhouse Museum. Their painter is Jacquelyn Ngo, a six-year-old Australian-Vietnamese girl who goes to school in Cabramatta West.

Once you get over the initial shock of Jacquelyn’s age, and that intimidating feeling of deep inadequacy makes its way back into the dark crevices of your mind, you can then begin to immerse yourself in the energy and vibrancy of these magnificent canvases. Hung in succession along the two walls of a narrow hallway on the old Powerhouse’s second floor, the van Gogh-esque works reveal the unhindered imaginative world of a carefree and vivacious child who, beyond painting what she sees, paints the way in which she sees her surroundings. By the end of my journey down the short corridor I was almost in tears by the honesty and unabashed sincerity of the paintings. The innocence, pure creativity and lack of agenda of this body of work is not only refreshing, but also allows one to experience the genuine joy of looking and being immersed in Jacquelyn’s enchanting world.

Her subjects are the everyday people and places which inhabit her life; friends, school, her apartment block, the beach, her family, herself. Yet they are bathed in a delightful pallet of intense colour and bold brushstrokes; never in any ‘realistically-painted’ setting, but rather in an imagined swirl of colours, and light, and koalas sitting on a Christmas-trees-filled beach. In a nostalgically familiar self-portrait, Jacquelyn lies daydreaming on a grassy hill, against a sky of pink and purple hues, while her Maths homework lies, neglected, by her side.

But more than being an indulgent and overblown colouring book, Jacquelyn’s body of work also express how the young artist is proud of her hybrid heritage. Many of the paintings reveal a beautifully innocent and organic fusion of Vietnamese and Australian culture. In ‘Flowering’, Jacquelyn and her mother are wearing the traditional Vietnamese ao dai as they stand in a garden which contains an Australian flag on a pole, the iconic Australian sun, and a koala in a tree.

This exhibition is heart-warming and promising in so many ways, and the Casula Powerhouse must be commended for giving such credibility and regard to the work of a young artist from the area. Jacquelyn’s paintings are not solely the product of a young girl with skills and perceptions exceeding her years. Beyond that, they represent the wealth of unfounded talent that exists in all sections of society, and which can be discovered when the surfaces of the unlikeliest of places are scratched. [Images from http://www.smh.com.au/]

Black Swan

Who would have thought that a movie about ballet could be so scary? Forget about the fact that I’m naturally a jittery person, ‘Black Swan’ had me squirming in my seat and watching through the slits of the fingers that covered my eyes. The story is about meek and mild-mannered Nina, a back-up dancer in a large ballet company who suffers from a dangerous combination of shyness, ambition and psychotic delusions. Nina’s big break comes when she is cast as the Queen Swan in the company’s production of ‘Swan Lake’; and while she is well-suited to the role of the white swan, she must overcome her timidity to play the sensuous and aggressive black swan.

The production’s rehearsals, and the small cast of characters who surround the heroine are the backdrops for Nina’s escalating psychosis. Thomas Leroy is the stereotypically misogynist company director, who seduces Nina and takes advantage of her apprehension in order to get her to ‘loosen up’; Erica Sayers is the overbearing, controlling, jealous mother whose attitude oscillates between joy for her daughter’s success and resentment that it came at such a price to her own burgeoning dance career; Lily is the free-spirited new recruit whose confidence and precarious nature both entice and threaten Nina; and finally there is Beth, the veteran dancer whose position Nina has unwittingly usurped, and who the young dancer desperately wishes to become. These characters, and the protagonist’s increasingly unstable mindset, push Nina further into an abyss of fatigue-inducing training, paranoia, and finally self-destructive psychosis as she struggles to become the ‘perfect’ ballerina.

Nina’s snowballing descent into insanity is underscored by a bleak, yet crisp, palette of grey and monochrome tutus and dance studios, a beautifully dramatic orchestral soundtrack, some very creepy and spine-tingling special effects, and camera work which spins with the dizzying swiftness and grace of the passionate dancer and her confused, ambitious psyche. The film reaches its crescendo at the opening night of the production, where Nina’s shyness, ambition, fatigue and hallucinations all dramatically collide in a tragic conclusion.

In this film, director Darren Aronofsky captures, with chilling realism, Nina’s psychotic unravelling. As does Natalie Portman, whose performance just this week earned her the Golden Globe for best actress. Separately, the individual elements of this film – music, special effects, acting, cinematography – were excellent, and really added to the texture, tension and thrill of watching it. But together, they did not quite mesh completely. While it was visually and musically stunning, there was something slightly off about the story that I can’t quite articulate. Perhaps it was Nina’s unexplained delusions, the two-dimensionality of characters like the company director, or the haphazardly-developed (non)relationship between Nina and Lily. Either way, I’m not entirely sure that I like the movie. I certainly don’t hate it, but it was missing a crucial something that would have made me like it. But still it is worth a viewing, not for its realistic insight into the cut-throat world of ballerinas, but for its disturbing depiction of the deterioration of an already-weak mind. [Image from http://www.washingtontimes.com/]

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990 - 2005

The MCA’s exhibition of works by world-renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz is spectacular! Covering 15 years of the photographer’s career and personal life, the exhibition offers fleeting glimpses into the convoluted world of celebrities and intimate snapshots of Leibovitz’s life and that of her family and friends.

The list of celebrities photographed reads like the guest list for Oscars night. Johnny Depp and Kate Moss in a lazy embrace on a hotel bed; Brad Pitt engulfed by a backdrop and questionable wardrobe of warm hues; Nicole Kidman, polished and regal, amongst the spotlights of a concert hall; THAT photograph of Demi Moore, and next to it, a lesser known one of the bare-breasted actress with then-husband Bruce Willis’ lovingly-protective hands secured around her pregnant belly. The rapport and comfort between the photographer and her celebrity subjects is apparent, with many of the photographs capturing that essence of humanness that is often lost in the two-dimensionality of the celebrity world and the multitudes of images that capture this world. Leibovitz’s photographs show us that these are merely people, with their own complexities and intricacies, which only her lens can capture. Most haunting, but beautiful, is a monochromatic photograph of a lone Mic Jagger, sitting on a simple white bed, looking forlorn yet stoic. Here, the legendary rock star is just a man, no different to the men of Leibovitz’s family, whose photographs line the same walls as that of the celebrities.

Indeed, amongst the famous faces are those of Leibovitz’s family, in black and white photographs that chronicle the everyday-ness of their lives; at the beach, in the kitchen, in bed, the backyard. Author and literary theorist Susan Sontag is also heavily represented, as the exhibition includes photographs of Leibovitz’s ailing friend. Sontag’s fatal experience with cancer is recorded in detail; from her promising, yet frail, recovery, to her unfortunate relapse and deterioration, and finally to her final moments on an ambulance stretcher, Leibovitz shows her dedication to her friend as she is there every step of the way, capturing the moments that are dear to them both.

My favourite photograph in the exhibition is of dancer Bill T. Jones at Sun Studios in 1993. Here, Leibovitz shows why she is the master of the monochrome in a beautifully double-framed image of the back of the naked dancer in a delicate mid-jump. His dark skin is a crisp contrast to the backdrop of the white studio wall, which in turn is backgrounded by the grounds and buildings of a dilapidated industrial site. So many elements of dance, grace, texture, colour and contradictions are at work in this stunning, liberating, almost cathartic image.

The exhibition ends with two walls of chronologically-ordered prints, one personal, the other professional, which have been transplanted from Leibovitz’s home studio. Containing everyone from the Obamas and the Clintons (who appear on the ‘personal’ wall), to the photographer’s three young daughters, these walls are a fitting conclusion to the immensity and overwhelming density of the body of work one has just journeyed through (I didn’t even get to mention the large-scale landscape photographs which dwarf the very room they hang in). They capture the spirit, professionalism, longevity, and innovativeness of Leibovitz’s still-strong career. And with the birth of the photographer’s first child in 2001, the death of her dear friend Susan Sontag in 2004, and the arrival of her twins in 2005, this exhibition perhaps marks the end of one stellar phase of her life and the beginning of a new, but no less epic, journey. I am anticipating the photographic results of that in another 15 years. [Image from http://www.dailygloss.com/]

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West’s much anticipated and now celebrated new album actually lives up to the hype. ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is an extremely well-written and well-produced body of work. Each song has its own individual ‘oomph’ and uniqueness, with distinctly original beats, clever and beautifully-composed lyrics and most importantly, each song tells a powerful story about Kanye’s life, career, controversies, dreams, nightmares, fantasies, and views on the world. Whereas other artists’ albums contain a handful of good songs and a whole bunch of fillers, making it easy to pick out the good ones, Kanye’s entire record is exceptional, making it almost impossible to ‘choose’ a favourite. This is due in part to the very meticulous production, care, and obvious, and no doubt obsessive, detail that is apparent in each individual song. This album really is a purely creative product of Kanye’s rich and ‘beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy’ world.

Of course the artist’s trademark, and notorious, narcissism pervades the entire record. After a one-year hiatus, the lead track from the album ‘Power’ explains that “I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts/Got treasures in my mind but couldn’t open up my own vault”, and then confidently and aggressively announces that “I was the obamanation of Obama’s nation.”

The record’s zenith is ‘Runaway’, a nine-minute peice which begins with a few simple notes on the piano. Here, Kanye delves into his complex and contradictory relationships and attitudes towards women, and then raises a toast to the ‘douchebags, scumbags, assholes, and jerkoffs’, all labels which he has been given at one time or another. The song ends in an epic guitar riff and then abruptly cuts to ‘Hell of a Life’ which begins with, ‘I think I just fell in love with a porn star.’

Indeed, nothing in this record is subtle or half-hearted. From its controversial original cover (pictured here), to the belligerently poetic honesty of the lyrics, to the tribal undertones of the drums, and finally to the intensely vibrant short film which accompanies the album. All these elements combine to declare to the world that Kanye West is back and better than ever. The film, which Kanye directed, features ex-Victoria’s Secret model Selita E. Banks as an otherworldly phoenix who must die in order to rise and return to her planet, a shallow metaphor for the artist’s fleetingly-stalled career. Nevertheless, and despite Kanye’s terrible acting (he should stick to his day job), it is a visual masterpiece. The most memorable scene contains a group of black-tutued ballerinas performing a beautifully-choreographed dance to the climactic riff of the ‘Runaway’ song against the backdrop of vibrantly green wooden doors. Artistically directed by Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft, the whole film, with its beautiful natural scenery, is shot in ultra colour to accentuate every hue to an artificial and epically-photoshopped palette, thus creating that ‘dark, twisted fantasy’ aura.

Having given an extremely positive review, I am now going to take the unpopular stance and declare that this album is not as good as ‘Heartbreak and 808s’, Kanye West’s previous album. To me, this album lacked the emotional intensity of the last, which was so fraught with pain, passion, angst and outright grittiness. However, both records are, without a doubt, great in their own right, with this latest one further cementing Kanye West’s position as one of the great musicians of this era. [Image from http://kanyewest.com/]