How hot is Rihanna? Quite a bit, we think. Well, she’s back with a fantastic new single, Umbrella and a fairly weird video.

At first listen, Umbrella’s not a wonderful track. But who are we to argue with relentless radio and video play? After a few listens, you’ll be found wandering down the street singing “ella-ella-ella” at the top of your voice like a moron!

On Radio 1 today, Edith Bowman was asking if Rihanna had surpassed Beyonce yet. I think she’s close to taking the crown. Rihanna’s young, sassy and has a really sexy singing style. Her only low point was Unfaithful. She should stick to the slick R&B material and leave the lame ballads to someone else.

Speaking of Beyonce, why-oh-why do we have to endure a dire appearance from Jay-Z before the song kicks in? Jay-Z’s great, but the rap here is totally out of place. (I thought he’d retired anyway?)

Anyway, for what it’s worth, we’re loving Umbrella here. We still think the best Rihanna single so far is Pon De Replay, though. What’s your opinion?

The Video

What can we say about the Umbrella video? Well, for a start Miss Rihanna looks pretty foxy in that PVC gear. We didn’t like the computer generated rain – it was crap. Surely they could afford for get decent effects instead of a mucky gray splodge.

Umbrella is from Rihanna’s new album, Good Girl Gone Bad. It also made our Top 5 Rihanna Singles list.