Snap Judgment: Rihanna's 'Disturbia' video lives up to its title

Raise your hand if you’ve come across the new Rihanna video on TV recently and been a little scared. (No, not that new Rihanna video… not that one, either… this new Rihanna video, for “Disturbia.”) It’s okay, I was shaken too. You can check out the clip below — if you dare. Mad creepy, right? It looks like she accidentally wandered into Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” video, or else some sort of freaky Victorian mental hospital. Not quite what I’d expected for a dance-pop song based around the lyrics “Dom-dom-dee-dom, dom-dom-dee-dom-dom.” It’s cool to see Rihanna trying something new, though. And the song is so catchy it’d work with practically any visuals — even if this video seems like it was crafted to test the limits of that statement.

So, do you dig this video’s haunted-hallucination vibe? And while we’re at it, I’m hoping one of you can help explain why this song is called “Disturbia.” Did I miss the time when that became a word in the English language? (Is disturbia a place? A state of mind? An unusual first name?) Or is this, like, an oblique tribute to that Shia LaBeouf movie? Help!