With millions of streams, downloads and over 780 million views on You Tube, Rihanna doesn’t need me to promote her music but that doesn’t change the fact that I believe Rihanna’s song “Work” is one of the greatest pop songs of all time and I will defend my claim against any song released in 2016 that you care (or should I say dare?) to put up against it! You can attempt to dispute my claim by throwing in pop juggernauts that were produced or performed in 2016 by Fifth Harmony, Drake, Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, Lukas Graham, DNCE, Sia, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake or Bieber but I still stand firm in my assertion…

Still here?

Good! Because whether you agree or disagree with the emotion of my devotion regarding Rihanna’s hit single, I hope it doesn’t dissuade you from reading the rest of this content, even if you don’t find it particularly agreeable. I write these posts because I want to share my distinct view of the world and I regularly read the blogs of others because it helps develop my understanding of just how individual we all are and what a gift that is.

I want to read perspectives that differ from my own, I want to read content that tests the capacity of the neurons and glial cells that live within my brain. I write these posts to expose the body of my thoughts yet remain open to the fact, my ideas may come under more scrutiny than Kanye West’s recent outburst that he would vote for Donald Trump.

Clearly there are issues that carry more gravitas than the merits of Rihanna’s pop music because you can elicit very strong opinions on subjects like abortion, religion, political affiliations, animal testing, climate change, the death penalty, gay marriage or if golf is really a sport? But even if you have a core belief that I don’t agree with….guess what?…that won’t put me off wanting to spend time with you because there is real value in being exposed to perspectives other than my own and attempting to understand them.

I use this form of communication as a way to express thoughts that I am unable to explore during casual lunchtime conversation, but it is not necessarily an attempt to provide content that the regular or casual reader will find agreeable. It is an attempt to express a point of view (and perhaps some context) as to why I feel and think the way I do.

Since picking up blogging, the post that garnered the most controversial response among friends and colleagues was when I wrote The Truth!?…No Thanks I’m Good. The title is a bit of a giveaway, however the post detailed my belief that the cold hard truth can be just as devastating as warm, soft lies. In my humble opinion I think it’s best to understand both the individual circumstances and the nature of the person you are dealing with before deciding if truth is better than silence…but that’s just me…

Not all people agree with my sentiment, as some feel truth is always best regardless of the situation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t meet up in our local coffee house for an overpriced coffee and conversation; just because we don’t agree on something, does not mean we can no longer be friends, as I’m interested in broadening the horizon of our respective understandings, even if we never find mutual agreement.

This post has been directly influenced by recent US political events because it disturbs me a little that people feel they need to defend their voting choices; because no matter what the motive, all the U.S. electorate has done is engage in a democratic process, which only gives two candidate options.

Let’s not forget opinions can change, so I will concede that Rihanna’s Work may not be one of the greatest pop songs of all time, but the genius of the song is that not only can Rihanna perform the song with little or no vocal effort, it’s a song that even the youngest child can sing along with and even if Rihanna was ever to forget the lyrics for the second half of the song she’ll be okay…

Pure genius!  And if you disagree with me (which you probably do?) that’s okay…

Until next time.