Phil Oakey has said that while he likes Rihanna's music, it is the result of a "huge" behind-the-scenes team.
The Human League star told Metro that the industry has changed drastically since his band's 1980s heyday.
"We could have been eclipsed by new waves of acts who had established their own huge back catalogues but the music industry doesn't make popstars any more," Oakey said.
"Especially popstars from Britain."
He added of the current pop scene: "A lot of the people making it now aren't super brilliant singers. It seems to be a big corporate thing.
"I like Rihanna, a lot of her records are pretty exciting, but it's a result of a huge team - songwriters, producers, publicists - and the act is sort of a figurehead."
Oakey said: "I'm old enough to have been thrilled when The Beatles and Bob Dylan came through and could explain what they meant by certain lyrics.
"There's no point asking some new acts because they haven't written their songs."
"I like Rihanna, a lot of her records are pretty exciting, but it's a result of a huge team - songwriters, producers, publicists - and the act is sort of a figurehead."
it isn't even a diss, he's just pointing out the obvious. rihanna does have an enormous team behind her and many people have invested a lot of work into making her a success
Hasn't it pretty much always been like this, though? So annoyed with people complaining about how awful the music industry is now when it's always been pretty corrupt.
Hasn't it pretty much always been like this, though? So annoyed with people complaining about how awful the music industry is now when it's always been pretty corrupt.
Yeah. People will be complaining about the way the industry is 20 years from now as well, and how it was so great 'back in the day'.