Rihanna’s “American Oxygen” is Four Minutes of American History

Rihanna’s Bruce Springsteen-Inspired style in her new “American Oxygen” video. 

Rihanna premiered her new song “American Oxygen” this weekend during the March Madness Festival; she released the video today on—you guessed it—Jay Z’s new music streaming site, Tidal.

In the video, Rihanna sports grandma-gray hair, red lipstick, a white tee, loose jeans, and a black leather jacket, her All-American look tied up with a red and white striped fabric belt that might very well be an American flag. While the Barbadian beauty sings in front of an American flag about “breathing the American Oxygen,” scenes from important moments in American history flicker across the screen. In a matter of seconds, we see illegal immigrants on top of the train that runs the length of Central America to the United States, John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting at JFK’s funeral, the World Trade Center on fire, and the black power salute during the 1968 Olympics. Not all the images make sense, though. Amidst those poignant moments, we also see images of the Beatles arriving in the United States for the first time, Bob Marley singing, the New York Stock Exchange, the moon, as well as images of young men, women, and children of every color, looking seriously at the camera, like all important videos of songs with a message need to have. The video is a visual “We Didn’t Start the Fire” for the new generation.

In another scene, Rihanna goes Top Gun, struggling to crawl with an open parachute strapped to her back, the American air no doubt blowing so hard against her. 

The song, which is about people “chasing the American dream,” seems to center on the struggles immigrants face making their way to this country, with a heavy focus on civil rights history, including a sample of  Robert F. Kennedy announcing to the crowd at Indianapolis University that Martin Luther King Jr. has been shot.

The song is the most solemn we have seen from Rihanna, or any other artist of late for that matter (unless you count Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts”), but then that was about another subject matter entirely. It seems a strange topic for Rihanna to tackle, but hey, “this is a new America” and perhaps a new Rihanna as well.

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