TBT: Rihanna Used to Be Low Key Embarrassing

Rihanna can literally do no wrong now – even when she wears a Santa belt out in public we can’t help finding a way to praise her for it.

But before Riri was yes goals slay me mother, she was just a regular pop star. She had moments of brilliance and moments of let’s just forget this song ever happened, k.

So with all due deference to Rihanna, here are two songs that make us cringe even thinking about them.

READ ALSO: Rihanna Wore a Thotty Santa Belt to Dinner

Exhibit A: “Cheers (Drink To That)”

First off, any song that begins by sampling Avril Lavigne is off to a bad start on the embarrassment odometer.

But then Rihanna actually lets the words “Got my Ray-Bans on and I’m feeling hella cool tonight, yeah” drip out of her gorgeous mouth while she yells out, “cheers to the freaking weekend.”

If this song was a girl, it’d be a drunk girl.

And not just any drunk girl, but the girl who’s so drunk she falls down on the floor, and instead of immediately picking herself up, hams it up for her friends while they proceed to take one million pictures of her.

Sure, we’ve all been that girl, but are any of us proud of being that girl?

Exhibit B: “Live Your Life”

OK, to Rihanna’s credit, this is actually a T.I. song, but still.

This song is so deeply embarrassing that when it came on yesterday in the Galore office, the entire editorial staff couldn’t stop cringing.

The problem is, the same reason why “Live Your Life” might have seemed like a good idea back in 2008 is the same reason it seems so embarrassing now.

“Live Your Life” samples one of the first viral videos of all time, the “Numa Numa Song.”

Or, as you may or may not remember, the song where the guy sings “Myahee mayahaa mayhee mayahaha” while aggressively lip-synching and gesticulating in a chair.

Truly baffling how easily we all used to be amused, huh?

Anyway, “Live Your Life” was released two years later and the chorus samples the same song the Numa Numa guy was so obsessed with.

And to make things worse, T.I. starts the song with a corny monologue about how “life is an interesting journey” but “what don’t kill you will make you stronger.”

Although to be fair, a lot of the music in the late 2000s was hella corny.

Hell, people still thought The Black Eyed Peas were cool.

All things considered, this song could have been a lot worse.

Still, you have to admit, it’s pretty awful.

No shade to Rihanna though.

We all go through an awkward period in our lives.

At least she never made a song with LMFAO.

READ ALSO: 13 Songs That Make Us Miss 2006 


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