Rihanna’s “Diamonds” Video: Review Revue

Carl Williott | November 9, 2012 1:48 pm

Now that everyone has had about a day to absorb Rihanna‘s artful and scattershot “Diamonds” video, it’s time to see what the interwebs had to say about the long-awaited clip. While the song is one of her most understated singles, the Anthony Mandler-helmed video still matched the grandeur of her recent efforts. We were completely lost on the plot — Pretty horsies? Sure! People on fire? Sure! — but read on to see what the rest of the web had to say.

:: Consequence of Sound called it a “mini-movie [that] jumbles together several interrelated scenes.” But ultimately they were left with more questions than answers: “Is she trying to escape from the ruins of the past, or is she looking for redemption with her own diamond?”

:: The L.A. Times felt the song  aimed “for profundity…through a series of beautiful, elemental non-sequiturs” but it also had them scratching their heads. “What just happened? What do the horses have to do with open water, and where do the diamonds fit in? Why is there a shot of Rihanna smoking something? Who’s the burning man? Did Rihanna go to Burning Man? Is this all a hallucination? A fantasy? Is she lost in the desert, or floating in the ocean? Maybe we’ll never know.”

:: Prefix tallied another review for the “confused” camp, arguing, “It all seems heavy on the metaphors—and there’s no prizes for guessing what these may be.”

:: But Billboard had a simple and convincing interpretation, saying that “the video showcases the singer standing strong as the world collapses around her.”

:: Vibe left all the symbolism and heady stuff to everyone else, and focused instead on the aesthetics. “It’s visually stunning, it’s sexy, it’s stark and sleek.”

:: Likewise, Stereogum called it “all swoony slo-mo, and it has a whole lot of Rihanna looking pretty along with some disconnected imagery.”

:: Rap-Up agreed, noting that “The Bajan superstar looks gorgeous as she braves fire and water in the epic visuals.”

:: VH1 Tuner, meanwhile, was only focused on whether that tattooed arm Rihanna was grasping belonged to Chris Brown. The results of their investigation conclude with a resounding “No”: “When you compare the arm from ‘Diamonds’…with Chris Brown’s arm…it appears we have two different arms at play.”

What did you think of the video? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter.