Rihanna

"Unapologetic," Rihanna's seventh album in seven years — and her last before a long break, if she's smart — is a meditation on love in the age of restraining orders. It's a messy, blank-eyed, occasionally appealing train wreck on which a lot of time is spent bemoaning the attention paid to the difficulties in Rihanna's personal life while simultaneously exploiting them. (Most notably this concerns her relationship with her abuser, Chris Brown, with whom she appears to be reunited.)

HIGHLIGHTS Did you hear about the time Rihanna filled a plane with fans and journalists so they could join in the fun as she traveled to seven countries in seven days with seven shows to promote her seventh album? Reports indicated the ad­ven­ture was pure chaos, and new one-hour special "Rihanna 777" (Fox at 8) shows what happened, calling it an "ambitious and often turbulent" tour. Marshall and Lily get ready for their big move to Italy on "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS at 8)

If Lady Gaga is an android sent from the future and Beyonce is a Sherman tank of bottomless ambition and great teeth and Britney Spears is a human vacancy sign, what is Rihanna? She could be anyone. She's a shapeshifter to be sure, a blur of hit singles and brightly colored weaves. But what else? There isn't another entertainer in the public eye who seems so remote, so indifferent to its gaze. "Take a peek at the girl I hide," she sings on "Roc Me Out," one of the lesser tracks on her formidable new album, " Talk That Talk . " "I'll let...

Rihanna seems to be constantly surrounded by controversy and chaos — why should a Rihanna concert be any different? The superstar's world tour stopped at Verizon Center on Monday night, and a sea of young people smelling of Reb'L Fleur and wearing impossibly high heels, spiked jackets and bikinis as pantsuits showed up ready to not only party with Rihanna, but party like Rihanna. Depending on where you were in the crowd, you might've seen a brawl, a hint of nudity or a young woman puking — all of that action unfolding...

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Pop singer Rihanna on Tuesday released her first new single, "Russian Roulette," since being assaulted by former boyfriend and singer Chris Brown in February on the eve of the music industry's Grammy awards. The single, written and produced by rapper Ne-Yo, premiered on Rihanna's web site, rihannannow.com, and it will be on the singer's fourth studio, called "Rated R", that is set to hit stores on November 23, her record company Def Jam Records said. A "Russian Roulette" music video, which was...

A numb fury resides at the heart of Rihanna 's new album "Rated R" -- and it comes swelling to the surface almost instantly. During the opening verse of "Wait Your Turn," the embattled singer bellows her opening salvo: "I pitch with a grenade, swing away if you're feeling brave. " Then she drops the first of this album's numerous bombs. Many start with the letter F. Two minutes into the proceedings and we're already dealing with a Rihanna who seems worlds away from the " Umbrella "-cooing sweetie-pie...

HIGHLIGHTS Did you hear about the time Rihanna filled a plane with fans and journalists so they could join in the fun as she traveled to seven countries in seven days with seven shows to promote her seventh album? Reports indicated the ad­ven­ture was pure chaos, and new one-hour special "Rihanna 777" (Fox at 8) shows what happened, calling it an "ambitious and often turbulent" tour. Marshall and Lily get ready for their big move to Italy on "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS at 8)

Chris Brown has ‘F.A.M.E.' and ‘Fortune,' but what about forgiveness? November 2005 Brown's self-titled debut album drops. It debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard charts. November 2007 Brown's second album, " Exclusive ," arrives and debuts at No. 4. June 2008 After months of being spotted together, Brown announces he and Rihanna are dating. Feb. 8, 2009 Brown assaults Rihanna on the eve of the Grammy Awards and turns himself in to the police.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Owen Riley III. This version has been corrected. Owen Riley III woke up before dawn Friday at his home on Benning Road SE, bathed and clothed and fed his 1-year-old daughter, and decided this was the day that he would become Wendell the Water Drop, the smiley mascot for the Water and Sewer Authority of the capital of the United States. So Riley put on a crisp white polo shirt, got his hair trimmed at the barbershop and...

LOS ANGELES, June 22 -- R&B singer Chris Brown has pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault on pop star and former girlfriend Rihanna. Brown entered his plea before a preliminary hearing was scheduled to start Monday in Los Angeles. Rihanna had been on standby to testify. Brown will be sentenced Aug. 5, but the terms of the plea deal call for him to serve five years of formal probation and six months -- roughly 1,400 hours -- of community labor. Brown might be able to complete his probation in his home state of Virginia;...

"She got what she deserved," declared the 16-year-old from Montgomery County. The girl was fierce, with long, gold nails painted to match her pants, colored rubber bands on her braces and lots of attitude. She has had a few boyfriends and didn't lament her messy breakup with a guy who had bullied her into giving up her online passwords. "He's ugly now anyways," she snapped. I had asked her what she thought of the singer Rihanna , who is back together with Chris Brown, the man who infamously bashed up her...

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Owen Riley III. This version has been corrected. Owen Riley III woke up before dawn Friday at his home on Benning Road SE, bathed and clothed and fed his 1-year-old daughter, and decided this was the day that he would become Wendell the Water Drop, the smiley mascot for the Water and Sewer Authority of the capital of the United States. So Riley put on a crisp white polo shirt, got his hair trimmed at the barbershop and...

You may not know Emeli Sandéby name, but if you've been listening to Rihanna or Alicia Keys lately, there's a good chance you know her work. Sandé wrote the bonus track " Half of Me " on Rihanna's 2012 album, " Unapologetic ," and co-wrote three songs on Keys's latest, " Girl on Fire . " In addition to those big-name collaborations, the 25-year-old Scottish singer has a best-selling debut album, " Our Version of Events ," in...

Rihanna, who's turning into a sort of Charo of singing-competition series, is finally getting a competition show of her own. Only it's about fashion instead of singing. Because Rihanna is a "fashion icon," the "epitome of style" and a "trendsetter" who has a "powerful and unique point of view that transcends every aspect of pop culture including fashion," Style network said in Wednesday's announcement. And because, the singer added, "Fashion has always played an integral part in my life and career.

"Unapologetic," Rihanna's seventh album in seven years — and her last before a long break, if she's smart — is a meditation on love in the age of restraining orders. It's a messy, blank-eyed, occasionally appealing train wreck on which a lot of time is spent bemoaning the attention paid to the difficulties in Rihanna's personal life while simultaneously exploiting them. (Most notably this concerns her relationship with her abuser, Chris Brown, with whom she appears to be reunited.)

President Obama killed the VMAs. Thursday night's Video Music Awards averaged 6.1 million viewers — less than half of last year's crowd of 12.4 million. The show was supposed to be MTV's biggest annual ratings-grabber: It promised performances by Kennedy-in-training Taylor Swift, likely-soon-to-be-"American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj and girl-squeal-inducing One Direction, not to mention Rihanna performing her "Cockiness" remix single. Instead, the VMAs broadcast...

The mood was electric at Union Temple Baptist Church last night as more than 150 people gathered to discuss the arrest of R&B singer Chris Brown for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, fellow pop star Rihanna. "No matter who you are, you shouldn't put your hands on a female," said John Tucker, 15, who attends Thurgood Marshall Academy in Anacostia. Last night's gathering followed a week of frenzied discussions about domestic violence that forced local radio stations to consider whether to stop playing Brown's music.

EXPOSED Kristinia DeBarge The powers that be have been working overtime to make 19-year-old Kristinia DeBarge into the second coming of Rihanna; luckily for DeBarge, it doesn't seem to be working. Her debut disc, "Exposed," is intended as a fluffier, round-edged take on Rihanna's behemoth " Good Girl Gone Bad, " but DeBarge, daughter of James DeBarge of the '80s singing DeBarges, couldn't be more different from the frosty, forbidding Rihanna. DeBarge is a nice girl singing nice songs,...

The 40th anniversary season of the Fort Dupont Park Summer Theatre Concert Series came to a close Saturday night, and the final show was a historic one. The Southeast Washington park hosted go-go band Be'La Dona and Klymaxx, the '80s diva R&B outfit behind "Meeting in the Ladies Room," for the first exclusively female bill in the series' history. Not a single male musician touched the stage the entire night. The women of Be'La Dona killed it, which should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with them.

There are a few moments on Chris Brown's new album, "Fortune," that the harshest critics of the 23-year-old singer might describe as unfortunate. On the pulsating dance monster "Bassline," Brown's innocuous brag that "I got bottles" is tainted by the June nightclub incident in which Brown and rapper Drake allegedly hurled champagne bottles at each other in a fight over superstar Rihanna. Both "Don't Judge Me" and "Stuck on Stupid" are sweet love songs that hark back to the singer's seemingly...