Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 11/07/2012 at 3:40 PM News

The Popdust Files: chris brown, Nobodies Business, rihanna, unapologetic

We’re not usually the types to root against someone who’s as much a force for good in pop music as Rihanna, but we’d be lying if we said that we didn’t hope that her Unapologetic (in more ways than one, by obvious design) collaboration with ex-and-maybe-current-boyfriend Chris Brown didn’t turn out to be a dud. I mean…how can you root for a song that’s so obviously begging for people to come after it, so the two can go further on the defensive and do the whole Us Against the World thing? It’s tough, and it’d be a lot easier for us if the song was as ignorable as their “Birthday Cake” and “Turn Up the Music” collabs.

Well, a 90-second snippet of the song leaked today, and wouldn’t you know it? The damned thing sounds pretty good. We figured chances were pretty good it was gonna end up being kinda grimy and overly sexual and generally icky, but it’s actually a breezy, catchy little disco-pop number, with an early-’90s vibe that would’ve allowed it to fit right in on the latest R. Kelly album. And the chorus reveals that the song’s title is a lift from Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel,” a fun reference that stops well short of being overbearing or over-obvious.

We’ll have to wait for the full thing to judge for sure, but against our better judgment, we think we might love this fucking song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WecQKAoSa3Q