Move over, Miley ...

Rihanna has given the entertainment media something to chatter about other than Miley Cyrus's twerking: her own Twerking 101 in her Pour It Up music video.

It didn't take long before critics switched focus and began haranguing the 25-year-old Barbadian singer for her "provocative" new video.

Various tweets accused her of "stripping for relevance" and being "classless" - but if there's anything we've learned from her career it is that such criticism only encourages her to do something even more shocking. Her songs - including S&M, Only Girl (In the World), Rude Boy and Birthday Cake - are notorious for their preoccupation with sex.

Her provocative lyrics, revealing outfits and risque dance moves have led to many calling her a poor role model for the youth.

She told US magazine Glamour two years ago: "I want to set the right example and, at the same time, live my life.

"I feel like pop stars can't be rock stars any more because they have to be role models, and it takes the fun out of it for us, because we just want to have fun with art."

Actress Rosario Dawson said earlier this year: "To put all that responsibility on one woman is outrageous. I don't think we should engage with what we 'should and shouldn't do', 'should and shouldn't wear' and 'should and shouldn't look like'. We don't do that with men."

In the Pour It Up video, she wraps herself around a stripper pole in barely- there denim shorts, a bejewelled bra that just hides her nipples, black gloves and a blonde wig.

She then "sits" upon a golden throne, with dollar notes strewn everywhere, in a manner not befitting conventional royalty. The dancers also " twerk on water" to use the pop star's expression.

As one person put it on Twitter, Rihanna made the modern-day Miley Cyrus look like Hannah Montana in her prime.

The Parent's Television Council in the US called Rihanna's previous video Man Downan "inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song", saying it condoned gun violence and rape.

Rihanna's response on Twitter was: "U can't hide your kids from society, or they'll never learn how to adapt! This is the real world. The music industry isn't exactly Parents R Us! We have the freedom to make art, Let us! It's your job to make sure they don't turn out like us."

Rape Crisis Centre spokesman Eileen Kelly said of the video for We Found Love : "It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases."

The video's director Meline Matsoukas said: "It's not really at all about domestic violence.It's really just about it being toxic - but I think it's also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It's not trying to glorify."

Rihanna will perform at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on October 13 and Cape Town Stadium on October 16.