Rihanna - Disturbia

The music video to Rihanna’s single Distubia was produced by Brian Kennedy and

released by Def Jam in June 2008. It has an intertextual reference that relates to the

Michael Jackson Thriller video in that Rihanna’s dancers perform as if they are zombies

and they are possessed by evil, this is mirrored in the Thriller Video.

The visuals of the video have a direct relationship to the lyrics. For example she sings “A

disease of the mind it can control you, I feel like a monster” in the video at this point there is

a distorted image of the artist with white possessed looking eyes and a fearsome

expression on her face relating to the monster lyric. Again she

sings “Release me from this curse I'm in, trying to maintain but I’m

struggling” in time with these lyrics Rihanna is chained and tied to

a chair trying to break free, she is trying to break free of the curse

that is controlling her and from the chains.

The visuals of Rihanna dancing in some parts have been speeded

up which emphasises the possessiveness going on within her. At

the beginning of the video before the lyrics start there is an eerie

out of tune sound, it fits the mise-en-scene really well, enforcing

the dark evil setting of the video. The costumes of the dancers and

Rihanna herself also

enforce this in that they are mostly all wearing black.

The relationship between the music and the visuals

is that it is mostly cut to the beat. The beat of the

music is reasonably fast and upbeat, this fits in

with the choreography for the song and the video in that the dancers are portraying zombies and seem to also be possessed like Rihanna. The particular genre for this song is classed as R’n’B but the video does not consist of a stereotypical choreographed dance routine like most others, it is out of context dancing. The dancers are acting as if they are zombies, they are picking Rihanna up high above their heads as if they infatuated by her and they worship her, making erratic dance moves again comparable to Thriller. In this video there a numerous close-ups of Rihanna mainly focusing on her facial expressions and her outfit, accessories, hair and make-up. Everything about Rihanna in the way that she looks, acts, dances and sings all enforce the theme of evil and people being possessed in the video. The video alsohas some visual references to voyeurism, Rihanna is dressed in a very sexy and provocative way, she is wearing very tight black leather clothing, a vivid scarletlipstick and false metal claws on both hands all these features emphasise her dark character. Wearing this outfit emphasises how she is feeling, this feeling couldbe jealousy, frustration or even the desire for intimacy.