Reconciliation, at Least in Song

And you’d be surprised how long a scar lasts. The urge to cover it up, to hide from the story it tells, must be overwhelming.

That is certainly true of Chris Brown and Rihanna, who on Monday each released a new song featuring the other, a notable development because three years ago, on the eve of the 2009 Grammys, Mr. Brown assaulted Rihanna, then his girlfriend. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence of probation and community service. In the course of the proceedings, information about two previous violent incidents surfaced.

It was an awful episode involving two of the most promising stars in pop, and it has continued to reverberate in the years since. Rihanna has emerged as a tough-talking dominator, one of the most striking and powerful figures in music, male or female. And Mr. Brown has made music that has largely been puerile and has had quite a few flashes of bad temper that haven’t done much for his image.

The release of the two songs, teased online for a couple of days in advance, shows a desire by both to reshape the narrative, to disperse the black cloud. For Rihanna, perhaps the goal is to avoid living forever as a victim, to replace hostility with magnanimity. Mr. Brown, on the other hand, is certainly grasping at whatever image rehabilitation is offered him. For better or worse, they both generate a tremendous amount of good will — even Mr. Brown, who remains an in-demand and idolized star.

The most revealing piece of media criticism to emerge from the drudgery that was this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony was the aggregation by BuzzFeed of Twitter posts from several young women proclaiming they would be happy to be beaten by Mr. Brown: they meant it as praise. Us Weekly also printed an item in which it accused Mr. Brown of using his notoriety as a pick-up line: “I promise I won’t beat you”

Thanks to the loyalty of their fans, these collaborations matter. In real life there are questions and ambiguities to grapple with. In music, though, Rihanna and Mr. Brown don’t have to be articulate.

So maybe these collaborations were an inevitable outcome, though they suggest two kids playing around without adult supervision more than they suggest a calculated grab for public redemption or approval. It displays an advanced understanding of marketing and an understanding of moral obligations and ethics that’s not much more than rudimentary. It is a woman publicly accepting her abuser — nothing more, nothing less.

The songs themselves don’t say much, at least not much of interest. The remix of Mr. Brown’s “Turn Up the Music” — rumored to be the first single from his forthcoming album “Fortune” (RCA) — is consistent with the dance-floor-ready R&B; of today, and the sort that Mr. Brown, with his flexible limbs and airy voice, is best suited to.

Rihanna adds some lyrics that are mildly troubling in context — “Turn up the music ’cause I feel a little turned on” — and then the two sing together, promising to “do whatever it takes to make it right,” which in this case means turning the music loud, presumably to block out the dissenters and the loud ringing bell of good sense.

Rihanna’s song “Birthday Cake” is an extended version of the interlude of the same name from her recent album, “Talk That Talk” (Island Def Jam). Mr. Brown opens his verse with an aggressive, unpublishable come-on — one that Rihanna uses in the song’s original version — adding, “Been a long time, I been missing your body” and, later, “Give it to her in the worst way, can’t wait to blow her candles out.”

Near the end of the song Rihanna steps up the gamesmanship: “Remember how you did it/If you still wanna kiss it/Then come and get it.”

If the songs were dull or disposable, they’d still be important, but they might matter less. But they’re both good, “Birthday Cake” very much so. The quality matters because they’re likely to lodge themselves in the public consciousness and seep onto radio playlists: this mess won’t just melt into the air.

And the mess is likely to persist, if similar situations with other stars are anything to go by. One of the most moving parts of Whitney Houston’s funeral was the performance by R. Kelly, who in 2008 was acquitted of charges relating to child pornography but who remains a divisive figure. Even at this year’s Grammys, Mr. Brown’s performance was the primary flashpoint, but others wondered about the honoring of the revered country figure Glen Campbell, whose relationship with Tanya Tucker decades ago has been the subject of rumors about violence, charges Mr. Campbell has denied.

Those examples may not be instructive because they remain ambiguous. In the case of Mr. Brown and Rihanna, there was photographic evidence, a guilty plea, a restraining order. Photos that circulated online after Grammy night show the two pressed up against each other warmly, as if everything were safe.

You want to forget? Fine. But don’t forgive.