Rihanna Electrifies AMA With ‘Wait Your Turn’ And ‘Hard’

It’s been more than 10 months since Rihanna missed her scheduled performance at February’s Grammy Awards due to her assault at the hands of then boyfriend Chris Brown. But on Sunday night (November 22) at the American Music Awards, the singer stormed back in style, working out two of the singles from her new album, Rated R, which hits stores on Monday.

In keeping with the dark vibe of the photos and videos she’s released from the album so far, Rihanna’s performance led off with a sci-fi themed clip featuring an ominous voiceover that intoned, “Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you who are easily frightened, we suggest you turn away now. To those of you who think they can take it, we say: Welcome to the madhouse,” a seeming homage to Vincent Price’s cackling narration of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video. The opening video sequence featured images of a woman strapped to a medical table with shiny instruments covering her privates, as a team of blue ghost figures implanted a series of computer chips into her body while she sprang to life, Frankenstein style.

With a silver mask removed, the figure was revealed to be Rihanna and the camera panned to the stage, where the singer was strapped into a X-shaped rigging, her arms and legs splayed as the thrum of her single “Wait Your Turn” filled the air. The lights came up and Rihanna sang the deadpan first line, “I pitch with a grenade,” with one hand freed from her S&M-like device. Also in keeping with the fetish-style outfits she’s been wearing lately, Rihanna was decked out in a neck-to-ankles, skintight white catsuit bisected by cut-out lines that revealed horizontal bits of flesh across her body, and topped off with spiked shoulder pads, white studded cuffs and a barbed-wire bracelet snaking up her right forearm.

As dancers with white shotguns swirled around and a nest of TV sets behind her displayed static, Rihanna stepped down from the cross and strutted amid towers of flames shooting up from the stage. Backed by an industrial rock group that resembled a Nine Inch Nails tribute band and holding a Freddie Mercury-style half-microphone stand, she burned into her Young Jeezy collabo, “Hard,” dropping the line “the hottest sh– in heels right here,” while putting her high-heeled white vinyl boots up on a vintage TV prop as proof.

With lasers searching the air, the lights dimmed and red tracer beams shot out of the studs on her shoulder pads and the song ended with a group of backup dancers wearing plexiglass boxes on their heads over gas masks and wielding the aforementioned firearms took aim while Rihanna raised her arms in triumph and a voice warned: “Rihanna’s reign ain’t gonna let up.”

Via MTV.com

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OoOshii

Epic!
http://riri rumored

AMAZING
BBQ

Electrifies???..idk

it was OK…she could have done alot better.

I'm a huge fan of hers, i love her, her music and every thing she stands for and I'm going to say what I do and don't like and i wasn't fond of last night's performance

I would was expecting 'Russian Roulette' (seeing's how that's the song she is currrently is promoting or so I thought…performing it would have been great promo for the song for those who may not have heard it (especially since it slipped on the charts last week)

the 'mad house' intro was great. i loved it. i love 'wait your turn' and 'hard' too but I would have loved to see her bring the house down with 'RR' but i guess not

i think it's clear to say that our girl had one of the most boring performances of the night along with Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Lambert and Timbaland. I pray that tomorrow will be better.

Going to get my copy of 'Rated R' after work. Can't wait. So excited.
Motherlizard

Loved it. I recorded it and I have rewatched numerous times.
1sctrojan

Well, i'm back from the AMA'a (and after parties), and here are a few comments. First of all, Jennifer Lopez fell on her booty as you all seen. She hurt herself real bad but gamely carried on. But man was she pissed. One of her dancers missed the cue, she is not in Circue Dol Soleil, she was supposed to be spotted but someone missed and she fall down and go boom. The gasp in the audience when Lady GaGa didn't win breakthrough artist was deafening. Contrary to what some people are saying, Whitney Houston had a lot of trouble vocally singing the song, but she's given a pass and rightfully so. Janet did well considering she's now 72 years old, still looks good and did a passable performance. Lady GaGa's performance was well received but it didn't reach VMA level. If i ever decide to date a cougar i want her to be Toni Braxton, man is she hot. Perez Hilton was even more annoying off camera. Adam Lambert, who i thought was robbed of AI because he's gay, chose the wrong song for this particular show. Taylor Swift was not well received in the house. Her "talent" is questionable but given the fact her fans are girls between the ages of 8-13 it didn't surprise anyone that she won. But many people were still shaking their heads afterwards when MJ didn't win. Mary J Blige once again showed why she's always electrifying the crowd with her vocals and emotion……which brings me to Rihanna.

My dearest Rihanna. I have stated previously that i'm a male just out of college who is a Rihanna fan primarily because she's freakin' hot but also like a lot of her songs. I don't pretend to be a diehard fan like you all because i don't buy her music, i listen to her on youtube, mtv, fuse, etc. But i have to say her performance didn't wow the crowd. First of all, the set and her outfit were awesome. Her hotness didn't disappoint me, and i'm starting to like her blonde hair. Watching Rihanna in person is a stunning experience. She's tall with long legs, with curves in all the right places. But Rihanna's performance was just OK. The problem with Rihanna, at least to the casual fan, is that she is devoid of emotion on stage, her new songs are hard to translate live on stage also. Rihanna doesn't have a strong enough voice live to make up for her lack of movement. I hate Lady GaGa, don't see what all the fuss is about, but the audience was talking about her performance. She sang and danced, had a purpose. It was a tough crowd, lots of celebs. But nobody really talked about Rihanna, don't know how it translated on TV but where i sat it was mostly polite, and ended while she was still on stage…then again, that happened to most of the performers. I really believe Rihanna needs to do a 360. The hell with the Disturbia type outfits and songs, just go back to her roots singing upbeat dance music with a few ballards tossed in. Rihanna needs to steal some of "Amerie" songs. She needs to go on stage wearing dance club clothes like in her early videos instead of the Dominatrix outfits. She's becoming too dark, she needs to loosen the hell up. But watching Rihanna on stage not too far from me made me wonder……..what the hell was Chris Brown thinking when he beat her? He's 20 years old, rich, driving a $200,000 car (i know, it was rented) and has freakin' Rihanna in the front seat on the way home presumably to have sex not too long after that. DUDE, you blew it, You will NEVER get anyone as fine as Rihanna ever again. My condolences to you.
http://www.rihannadaily.com chrisstiaan88

fuckin awesome …. love it
Dawn

Great comeback performance. Made my night.
Samurai Woman

I swear sometimes being a fan means being delusional … i bought Rihanna's cd should be arriving this week but she had the weakest performance of the night … got chica someone needs to tell her she needs to hire a choreographer and a vocal coach …. I was very disappointed … I was expecting some improvement from past performances. You have a great album but people won't show up if you keep performing in that manner. The veterans outdid her Janet, J.Lo, Whitney, Shakira, Alicia …. just to name a few event newbie Adam L's lackluster performance was so much better than hers …. come on Rihanna I hope you read this …. child Wake up. I definitely won't be seeing you live.

And anyone questioning the winners of AMA need to chk what the show is about … record sales not only votes … votes comes from record sales DUMMIES … got people comment without knowing the facts. Taylor won fair and square and she is not talentless like some of the indivduals' who performed who I refuse to name. She can sing her ass off and write her own songs and arrange them and produce them and guess what SHE IS A FIRST TIME ARTIST … so her Talent is not questionable. I am a M.J. fanatic and I know when to step back and realize that he did not deserve that award nor did anyone else for that matter in that category. Just b/c Taylor is a country singer people are disrespecting her talent.

Lastly, for those who are not knowledgeable about dance and choreography … let me explain Janet is 43yrs old and any dance or choreography will tell you than when you hit a certain age, you body runs down so why would you all expect Janet to perform like a stallion in her hay days. If you go back to the VMA's performance on Youtube with all the choreographers from different angles who performed WITH HER as she did scream … majority of them who are still training young performers they confessed that the choreography was too challenging for them and also if you look at the YT videos of different angles … they were not able to do some of the moves just like Janet so please b4 you comment …. make some sense. And no one should say crap about Whitney her voice is growing with each performance …. she hasn't done anything like Mariah and every other great vocals in years, not to mention her addiction as well as the fact that all the songs on her current album are nothing like those from the Bodyguard days or thereafter …..

Some of you need not to comment on any site at all.
UGH

Samurai Woman & 1sctrojan, PREACH. I completely agree.

Motherlizard, you're delusional & conditioned; fanatical, brainwashed.

Album, just heard it this morning. LOVE IT, only hated three songs (stupid in love, hard, rude boy)

but the rest is golden, esp. Last Song, Firebomb, Cold Case Love, Photographs…G4L is swagged out, Rockstar 101 is amazing. (Love you Slash).

Now, back to our scheduled programming…

Rihanna DEF. needs to up her stage game like she up'ed her vocals.

She looked bored, & her voice was rocky. I was dissapointed as well.

I just expect my favorite artists to DO THEIR JOB. I expect dancers to dance, singers to sing & haters to stan….unfortunately, I also expect stans to, well, STAN. HARD. & not take the truth like logical human beings.

She looked gorgeous…stage & outfits were on point AS USUAL, nothing new…I just wish the performance lived up to that…& most importantly, I wished THE MUSIC lived up to it.

Although I really, really like Wait Your Turn, Hard is a weak song & a cheap attempt at trying to get a number 1 hit. It doesn't translate well onstage AT ALL. She could've SLAYED with a Russian Roulette, Wait Your Turn medley.

The performance was BORING. Is that a problem?
goodgirlstaysgood

im not gonna lie that she did the worse that night..dont get me wrong im a huge fan of her but thats my opinion..she could have done better but im pissed to people saying she cant sing..she can sing and to me its just a wrong choice of song that night..i think she should replace hard with russian roulette coz hard is kinda hard to sing and be good coz the chorus juz repeating "im so hard, yeah yeah yeah"..i juz think she will rock the night if she have some more polishment in her vocal for live performance and choose the right song coz her nokia performance was amazing and seeing this makes me dissapoint a bit, but im still gonna get her album..hehe..love u riri..
ksm

As a die hard Rihanna Fan, we have to admit that the performance was very lackluster. My mom is a diehard fan too, we have DVD's CD's videos the whole shebang, but Rihanna did not bring it.. Those songs are good club songs but not good performance songs because they really do not show any vocal talent, and she really just walked around the stage, I was more enthralled in what was going on behind her than what she had to offer. I'm sorry she really didnt bring it this time around.. We really gotta be honest with ourselves if we want to help her and make her career thrive.
Dani

lmaooooo @ 1sctrojan. I agree with you about everything, except I like her album and songs better this time around, but they need a way to get that to translate better on stage. Thanks for the inside report!
http://shirleymabasa@gmail.com Avenging angel

Dat bad ppl? havent seen it…
sasha..jamaica

can't wait to see it>>I missed the performance!!!
Lu

….loved it….
Rihanna Bihanna

11. ksm commented on November 23, 2009 @ 9:15 am

As a die hard Rihanna Fan, we have to admit that the performance was very lackluster. My mom is a diehard fan too, we have DVDâ€™s CDâ€™s videos the whole shebang, but Rihanna did not bring it.. Those songs are good club songs but not good performance songs because they really do not show any vocal talent, and she really just walked around the stage, I was more enthralled in what was going on behind her than what she had to offer. Iâ€™m sorry she really didnt bring it this time around.. We really gotta be honest with ourselves if we want to help her and make her career thrive.

_______________________________________________________________

glad to see that her true fans are being honest instead ofr being in denial.

it's just like having a close friend and lying to them about for example their appearance but when they go outside, ppl stare and snicker at them.

I love Rhianna but hated the performance especially 'Hard'
goodgirlstaysgood

i agree..the performance was bad espicially hard..i love her thats y i want her to keep on polishing her ability to sing live..
Nnenna

Her performance was an EPIC FAIL!!! I was so disappointed!!! ALL PROPS and nothing else for her performance!!! She needs to get a vocal coach, choreographer and most important, work harder on her live performances!!! If she's gonna tour, she had better ge on it!!! I hope she reads the comments of her non-delusional DIE-HARD fans like myself and BRING IT!!! I LOVE YA GIRL!!!
RtA

I'M SO PISSED!!! I LOVE HER

but i'm dissapointed, why? well simply as this

everytime i see her performing she gets worse

i'm her fan but as fans we dont have to support or like everything but make her improve and she's not improving

plus what she and her label are doing? horrible promotion for an excellent album

even lady gaga's 8 song album is at number 1 adn she at 6 and a rating 0f 4 stars?

i love her album cause it's more emotional and at first i was glad she was taking risks for this but i think she's taking the dark & edge thing too far

so my conclusion: better promotion, IMPORVEMENT in her performances, learn to dance and to sing, GIVE SOMETHING TO YOUR FANS TO FEEL PROUD OF YOU BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE RIHANNA DON'T DISSAPOINT US
Swag4Me!

Rihanna was just OK last night. This is was Entertaintment Weekly had to say:

RIHANNAâ€¨

What's braver than wearing a horizontally bandaged jumpsuit in HD? A pop superstar taking on two of the rock-iest cuts from her new album Rated R â€” ''Wait Your Turn'' and ''Hard'' â€” for her first live televised performance since her assault in February. Is it a little messy? Sure, and we don't pretend to understand the Spinning Wheel of Death. But she looks like she's genuinely loving it â€” and in the end, that energy's infectious. Grade: B

I agree that she seemed to be enjoying herself more than usual. And if she had done this performance back in 2007, we would have said she improved!! But this is NOT 2007. And with other folks uppin' the "drama" onstage, Rihanna's performance did not stand out enough.

Overall she wasn't the most memorable but she didn't completely suck either.
Travis

Im glad there are some HONEST fans posting how they feel. We can be fans and still be honest and not be delusional and love everything she does or how she sounds……….

With that said:I believe that she didnt perform Russian Roulette because she knew she wouldnt be able to pull it off.

I enjoyed the performance visually but not vocally. She just didnt do it for me last night. It seems as though she was out of breath.

Maybe next time Rihanna.
aalyah_rip

WOW tht was BAD

i was expecting wait your turn and russian roulette JUST LIKE SHE DID ON NOKIA

where she goes back to the seat and shoots herself at the end…

THT WAS A BAD MOVE singng hard just a day before the album release

BTW THAT BLOND HAIR IS LOOKING SO SEXY..with that outfit.