Memo to Bruno Mars: This is how you put on a Brits performance. Rihanna absolutely smashed it on “We Found Love,” with a set bursting with color, a perfectly choreographed dance routine and a vocal performance nearly up there with Adele’s and Florence’s. But more than anyone else at this year’s event, Rihanna recognized that pop doesn’t need to be solemn. She actually seemed happy to be here in London; as such, it was hardly a surprise that the (until then, extremely mild) crowd was whipped up into a frenzy, screaming as if their lives depended on it. And Rihanna clearly knows something else about pop, which is why “We Found Love” has found its way into all our hearts: pop will always be short for popular.
Grade: A