Rihanna, making her fifth visit to Saturday Night Live, helped close out the series’ 40th season by performing visually stunning renditions of her most recent singles, “Bitch Better Have My Money” and “American Oxygen.” The SNL stage often isn’t kind to pop star musical guests, but Rihanna, an SNL vet at this point, avoided those pitfalls by transforming her eighth album singles into a eye-catching spectacle while also infusing some new personality into those now-familiar radio songs. “Bitch Better Have My Money” turned SNL’s Studio 8H into a film noir set as Rihanna recklessly drives and sings while pursued by police. (The pine tree air freshener and cross hanging from the rearview mirror were clever details that added to an already unique SNL performance.)
