Rihanna’s AMAs 2009 Performance, by Far the Hottest

This year’s edition of the American Music Awards, held over the weekend at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, was not only the venue where Adam Lambert made his big musical debut outside the American Idol circuit, but also the one where Rihanna made her splashing return into the spotlight. Very high hopes were pinned on her performance and, from what Los Angeles Times is saying, it clearly did not disappoint.

Rihanna’s new album is “Rated R” and the singer has been promoting heavily it in recent months, both through the release of singles off it and media interviews. Hype has been building slowly for a material that the singer herself describes as her most personal work to date, having been inspired and heavily influenced by her experience with Chris Brown and the February incident more specifically, which left her bloodied, bruised, and of course, heavily traumatized.

The musical result of said experience is a more aggressive sound, a more in your face musical persona and a complete lack of fear of experimenting. The same could also be noted during the AMAs performance, where Rihanna sang “Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)” and “Hard,” two of the songs included on “Rated R.” “Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you who are easily frightened, we suggest you turn away now. To those of you who think they can take it, we say: Welcome to the madhouse,” a voice-over said right before the lights shone on Rihanna.

And a madhouse Rihanna’s performance was, critics agree. “Ne-Yo told us that the ‘R’ in her ‘Rated R’ stands for either ‘remarkable’ or ‘really, really [hot].’ Not quite sure if it completely hit both of those notes, but it was definitely over too soon. Performing in a sort of sci-fi junkyard, Rihanna came onstage in what could have been a torture device,” the LA Times writes of the performance.

“Like Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna is definitely tapping into the cyborg pop mentality that’s all the rage at the moment (nice spikes on the shoulders). She gave us snippets of two songs from ‘Rated R’ – ‘Wait Your Turn’ and ‘Hard’ – but it would have been better to just stick with one. To her credit, she sounded sharp, metallic and owned the songs. The night’s best performance thus far.” the same publication adds, rating the gig an “A-.”

Below is Rihanna performing “Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)” and “Hard,” dressed in a futuristic white ensemble with lighted shoulder pads.