By Gerrick D. Kennedy, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — “YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!” That’s how Chris Brown, 22, tagged his remix of “Turn Up the Music,” one of two collaborations with ex-girlfriend Rihanna, 24, that the pair intentionally leaked via Twitter on Monday.
The blogosphere has been on fire since late last week when the two dropped cryptic tweets alluding to a duet. After producers of Rihanna’s lusty track “Birthday Cake” tweeted the remix would shock the world, rumors immediately circulated that Rihanna would celebrate her birthday by releasing an extended take of the track featuring Brown’s vocals.
It was an unlikely collaboration to say the least, considering Brown is currently serving five years’ probation for brutally assaulting her three years ago on the eve of the Grammy Awards. But they are back together again, at least on the two songs.
Hip-hop blogger/tastemaker Karen Civil, who unveiled details of the collaboration on her popular, self-titled blog last week, said that given Rihanna’s knack for being provocative, the track shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
“I think that it can only help them both at this time,” Civil said. “We can’t go back and change what’s already been done, or recorded and released in this case. Will it hurt Rihanna’s career? Perhaps, in the aspect of standing up against domestic violence. However a listener or fan cannot dictate someone’s life, and she is entitled to her own decisions.”
The controversial songs, which weren’t officially released by either artist’s label, come on the heels of Brown’s performance and win at the 54th Grammy Awards last week.
He became a trending topic on Twitter that evening, as did the phrase “wife beater.” There was furor that the Recording Academy they invited the singer to perform twice and rewarded him with the trophy for R&B album. His awkward shuffling onstage demonstrated he hadn’t expected the win, and the relative hush of the audience seemed to say, “You should not be here.”
“Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl … Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen,” tweeted country music star Miranda Lambert.
The producers were also criticized for giving the singer two performance slots as the academy struggled with how to pay tribute to pop titan Whitney Houston, who passed away on the eve of the telecast. “Congrats to Chris Brown!,” wrote a reader in response to the Los Angeles Times coverage of his win. “Proving that even if you’re a worthless human being who savagely beats women you can still be granted fame, fortune and professional accolades! Well done sir!”
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow defended the decision of booking Brown, remarking that evaluating artists on their personal lives is a “slippery slope that we wouldn’t want to get into.” “What he did was a personal thing — it had nothing to do with his career,” he said.
Grammy Awards executive producer Ken Ehrlich went on to say, “We’re glad to have him back. I think people deserve a second chance, you know. If you’ll note, he has not been on the Grammys for the past few years and it may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened.”
As the blowback intensifies this week with the release of the singles (Brown can now be heard serenading her with, “Girl, I wanna … you right now, Been a long time I been missin’ your body” on “Birthday Cake”), the big question becomes whether people can forgive Brown if Rihanna has.
If the Grammys were any indication of the general consensus about Brown, the answer is a resounding no. But other artists such as James Brown, Ozzy Osbourne, Creed frontman Scott Stapp and Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee have been arrested on domestic abuse charges and the general public seems to have forgotten or at least forgiven.
