Rihanna/Ke$ha

Wed., Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m., $31-$106, Susquehanna Bank Center, 1 Harbour Blvd., Camden, N.J., 800-745-3000, livenation.com.

by K. Ross Hoffman

pop/dance

This double-bill features one of pop's current reigning sovereigns plus one of its brashest, snottiest new faces. Each has put plenty of effort lately into projecting a singularly unpalatable persona — one a harsh, hard-bitten, violently moody woman scorned; the other a gleefully trashy, obnoxious brat. Both halves of this remarkably incongruous duo are easily as fascinating, image-politics-wise, as, say, Lady Gaga. Rihanna's Rated R (Def Jam) was a dark, daring curveball from a hitherto featherweight-seeming (albeit zillion-selling) diva, flush with dense, turgid, overwrought productions and Gothic melodrama — the effervescent "Rude Boy" sounds basically nothing like the rest of it — but impossible to look away from. As for Ke$ha (pictured), of brushing-with-Jack infamy: If you're repulsed by the singles — which constitute a strong second front in electro-pop's Gaga-led assault on U.S. charts, now with extra Euro-bosh jolliness — feel free to steer clear of Animal (RCA), but it's a surprisingly solid, yuk-filled (both kinds), brainless-pop pleasure cruise that actually winds up making her seem sorta endearing.