Rihanna

If the jackass who beat her can get a 6-page-and-counting thread, she deserves her own.

Because she is fierce and incredible. No, she's not the greatest live singer, but she has excellent stage presence and picks some interesting songs (especially considering how formulaic pop can be). She's had a ridiculously long run of awesome, kickass singles--all from the same album. Her videos tend to be pretty fun and creative as well ("Umbrella" was probably going to become the song of the year on its own terms, but that video pushed it to its iconic status). She's got a very original sense of style--and though it doesn't always work (as the Fug Girls can attest)--her outfits are never boring. She keeps rocking amazing haircuts (and I know quite a number of people who deliberately copied her hair). And it's a minor thing, but her nails usually seem to be some awesome color, like neon green. I remember one magazine shoot where she was rocking yellow nail polish, which I hadn't realized existed before.

Manufactured? So are all pop stars, to an extent. At the very least, you have to admit she picked the right people to work with. For mainstream pop music, she's making some pretty dynamic choices. And sure, she seems willing to do plenty of commercial endorsements--but it's not exactly selling out to promote tourism for your home country, is it? (And CoverGirl Wetslicks are some truly great drugstore lipglosses. Delicious, too, especially the watermelon.)

No matter how you want to slice it, this woman is a month younger than I am (she's still got a few weeks til she can legally drink in the US) and more successful than I probably will ever be.

I hope she can take a page from Tina Turner's book and walk away from this to become better than ever.

In conclusion: Rihanna rocks. Discuss.

Why I like her:

1) Her songs ARE crackalicious. To this day Shut up and Drive makes me want to get my groove on.
2)Shes beautiful. Its shallow but she just is.
3)This is so lame but remember when she and Shia LeBeouf were supposed to be dating? I was sad that didn't work out. Because I thought they'd be weirdly awesome together. She could keep Louis Stevens in line.
4) Shes a just okay live singer, but her stage shows are awesome.
5) Like you said she always look unusual and interesting.
6) Her videos can be awesomely dramatic. Remember Unfaithful? Or Rehab?
7) When she came here to play, she stayed at the Fairmount where my friend's little sister cleans. Little sister has Down's Syndrome as does her coworker. They asked to meet Rihanna and not only did she agree but she was incredibly kind and gracious to them. Gave them gifts, took pictures and just spent time with them. Shes good people.
8) The amount of work she puts into trying to get bone marrow transplants for little kids is commendable.
9) She stood up and named the asshole who beat her. She continues to fight him, and thats very hard to do.

I confess that I've never been at all intrigued by her as a person--she always looks a little too glammed-up to me, and kinda always seems to look annoyed at every awards show and whatnot--but I basically love each and every one of her singles, and she's wildly successful for any age, but especially for 20 (that's my age, for chrissake!) and I have to give her major snaps for that.

Everything Kiran and Poubelle said. She makes cracktastic music and seems to be a very sweet girl. I hope she continues to cooperate with the investigation and stand up to Brown. I can't imagine the hell of being abused, let alone having to go through it in the public eye, with horrible people saying horrible things about you and trying to paint it as your fault. I hope she has a very strong support system to help her through this.

I think she's absolutely adorable.

(And I am now officially old, if "adorable" comes to mind before "drop-dead gorgeous" or "fierce and sexy.")

Not much of a live singer, I went to Kanye's Glow in the Dark tour, and the full house for Lupe Fiasco decided that her set was the chance to get snacks before Kanye came on... But she's definitely a charismatic performer.

I'm fascinated by her style. Love that the hair has gone from generic "good hair" to out-and-out look-at-me. She said in an interview that after she got the first cut -- more of a bob -- the label wanted her to grow it out again, so she cut it even shorter. And then shorter still. Love it.

She has a very unique way of pulling things together, and I've gotta say a lot of it wouldn't work on anyone else. I told my husband once that I'm convinced she actually chooses her outfits herself, because I can't see a hip-hop stylist (or a stylist that was going for a hip-hop "look") picking out the things she wears. A lot of her outfits have a more metal/punk thing going on than anything else. So that tells me that this is a person with the confidence to not feel enslaved to her scene's idea of what a real hip-hop look is, and I like that.

And, her tour merch is really cute. I may not be into her music, but I wear the "Good Girl Gone Bad" tee all the time.

I love her music and I think she's so gorgeous. I love her hairstyle so much I got it cut like hers though I'm positive I won't look half as awesome as she does. Plus I love all of her tattoos. They're original and I like how they're not very conspicuous. You have to consciously look for them.

Lastly, I hope she is able to pull through this horrible situation okay.

I absolutely love the star tattoo's on her neck, and the Gucci bag based on it.

It was pretty surreal the other day when they played Umbrella in my gym after the Chis Brown incident, and Jay Z said "Rhianna where you at?" It just had a whole new level of meaning for me in that split second. I seriously hope she levels some cold hard justice on Brown's ass.

They played Disturbia on the radio today, and during the "buh duh dee dom" I was singing "F. U. Chris Brown, F. U. Brown, Brown". I hope he has the worst Valentine's Day evah! Like, struck by lightning on the golf course, bad.

I love "Disturbia" (to the point where I ripped a bootleg of the VMAs performance). A little piece of me dies every time they let (make?) someone on American Idol audition with it, though.

For real. Although it gives me a lot of respect for her. Because limited vocals or not, she rocked that song, which apparently is difficult to do (NATHANIEL).

Diana Ross had "limited vocal" talent, and it can work. Sometimes I perfer it to the "I will Shave Your Head Using the Power of My Voice" approach. Xtina-Celine Mariah Huston.

I really like Rihanna and think she is crazy gorgeous, plus her music is incredibly addictive. "Umbrella" finally broke me, and I've enjoyed all of her subsequent singles. All of her hairstyles have been incredibly flattering, but I'm a huge fan of the asymmetrical bob that she had when Good Girl Gone Bad first came out.

I hope she rebounds from this crappy situation all right.

She is so hot it makes me want to stop trying, and the song that got me to check her out more was Please Don't Stop the Music, because that MJ sample was hyphy. And then when I heard Shut Up and Drive with all of its car double entendres (I agree with someone else--her song choices are unusual and I like that sensibility), I had to get the album.

And I felt very conflicted when Breakin' Dishes came on my iPod this week--I love that song like kittens, but it is a little weird now to rock out to Rihanna singing about how she's gonna "fight a man tonight." It is still the bomb jam, though.

I hope she realizes her worth and gets away from Brown and doesn't make it a habit to be with abusive men.

I don't love Rihanna as much as everyone here but I do think she is impressive for being so young and so successful. I do like her asymmetrical bob way more than this super short cut she has right now though. Oh, and the girl has a gorgeous set of eyes.

She does. I noticed that in the Cover Girl (?...I think that's the makeup company she does ads for) commercials.

Hee, I love that. She really pulls off the cut too. I can't see it looking great on too many other people.

Yeah, Heather and I were talking about this a while ago, when the Teen Choice Awards came out, and we were stunned she wasn't nominated for Most Stylish (or whatever their lame moniker for it is). Sometimes she looks cracked out, but sometimes she looks awesome and I love her for mixing shit up, even if I don't always like it. Like, I feel like no matter what you think of her music (or her outfits), she has always seemed to me to be the ideal celebrity Cover Girl, because she's very pretty but not cookie-cutter, and she seems sassy.

I hope this whole thing leads to an insanely successful artistic outpouring for her in which she basically tells Chris Brown to drop dead twelve different ways.

I had no idea she's so young. I love Please Don't Stop the Music, Disturbia and Rehab, they're really great pop songs and I can't imagine anyone (with less limited vocals) making a better job of them. She's so beautiful too, especially her eyes which are very compelling.

I didn't care for her voice at first, but then one day "Umbrella" came on the radio and I realized I really liked that song. Rihanna kind of snuck up on me, and now I really like her.

I really hope she sticks it to Chris and doesn't let this go. He deserves punishment. And I hope she finds a decent, kind man to be with.

Add me to those who think she is absolutely beautiful and that her songs are cracktastic! When I hear it on the radio I am forced to sing as loud as I can and dance as well.

I hope she weathers this storm with strength and comes back with an album about girrrrrl power and solving your relationship problems on the dance floor, baby! DANCE OFF!!

With all the fallout surrounding "Domestic Disturbia" (I don't know who came up with that originally), I decided to actually give the rest of her work a listen. So, I acquired Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded through completely legal means, I swear. And damn, if that isn't some of the catchiest stuff ever. I was always kinda "meh, whatever" about her, but then "Disturbia" happened. And the video for "Disturbia" is one of the best videos I've seen in a loooooong time.

Yes, I would listen to an entire album, or series of albums, on this subject alone.

I liked her when she first came out with 'Pon DE Replay' which is a cracktastic song. Her 'Good Girl Gone Bad' album is a perfect album, IMO. Perfect workout music or just pump you up music. I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'Breaking Dishes'.

And PDSTM will get me on the dance floor every time.

1. She pretty.

2. She has that same problem as Shakira -- catchy songs, but sounds kind of like a goat is singing them.

3. I don't get the "potential to be the greatest artist ever" thing. She pretty, her songs are catchy.

4. My sister still cracks up whenever she's mentioned because of one conversation we had where I said, 'Oh, it's like that Rihanna song about tennis."

(blank look) What Rihanna song about tennis?

"Oh, you know," (singsong) "It's thirty-love . . ."

(fishhooks eyebrow)

"Release me from this tournament . . . " (singing)

(dies laughing) That song is called Disturbia, not, 'Thirty-Love!"

It does amaze me that all of these amazing singles have come from one album. Is she approaching a record with that or what?

Man, it's a good thing that Rihanna didn't listen to her label, because during her first album, I wouldn't be able to distinguish between her or Ashanti or someone like that. With each subsequent haircut, I keep thinking she won't be able to top herself, but she does.

She is FIERCE. Cool as hell.