It certainly isn’t a great week for Rihanna — at least as far as her music career goes. Her much hyped-up single “American Oxygen” has fallen all the way to No. 97 on Billboard ‘s Hot 100 this week. Fans blamed the falling chart position and lack of airplay for the song on racism and even petitioned Barack Obama to get involved on Change.org .
“Rihanna has become another victim of racial discrimmination [sic] in the music industrie [sic] since radio stations have refused to play American Oxygen, Rihanna’s best song yet. We believe Radio stations hey are juging [sic] the song by Rihanna’s race and not the quality of song. Thave [sic] no problem playing the new song from Britney Spears because of her white privilege. They also play songs by that old white hag Sia.”
Unfortunately, the petition has only received 16 signatures so far. Mariah Carey fans put together a similar petition to get “Infinity” played on radio stations and that has garnered 220 signatures . Perhaps using a petition to insult other female singers hasn’t helped Rihanna or her “American Oxygen” single.
“American Oxygen” isn’t the only disappointment for Rihanna this week; her previous single “B***h Better Have My Money” has fallen to No. 23 on this week’s Hot 100 after failing to hit the top 10. Rihanna has teased a new song called “Only If for a Night” for her Christian Dior ads, which the Telegraph describes as edgy .
“Rihanna takes over from French actress Marion Cotillard for this instalment [sic] of the Secret Garden ads, and joins Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence in becoming a brand spokesmodel. The union also marks her as the first woman of colour to pose for the brand.”
The Telegraph notes that Rihanna believes that being the first woman of color for Dior is a big deal to her, her culture, and for a lot of young girls of any color. Rihanna thinks being acknowledged by Dior makes her feel beautiful, elegant, and timeless.
Rihanna still hasn’t announced a release date for her upcoming R8 album, which has likely been delayed due to the fact that there hasn’t been a huge hit single to kick off the album. However, the anticipation is still there and even if Rihanna can’t score a big hit, she can still make the news almost every single day. Let’s hope Rihanna can come up with a hit single and prove all the naysayers wrong.
[Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]