Rihanna - Rated R
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CD Details
Artist: RihannaEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 2009-11-23
Music Label: Def Jam Recordings
Product features:
- RIHANNA RATED R
- Mad House
- Wait Your Turn
- Hard featuring Jeezy
- Stupid In Love
- ROCKSTAR 101 featuring Slash
- Russian Roulette
- Fire Bomb
- Rude Boy
- Photographs featuring will.i.am
- G4L
- Te Amo
- Cold Case Love
- The Last Song
Music reviews of Rated R
Music Review: Rihanna Didn't Lie When She Said this Album was 'Rated R'! 4 stars!
Rating: 4 Stars
Rihanna certainly returns to the R&B scene with an 'unexpected bang'. Rated R is by far Rihanna's edgiest album and her most distinct album of her four previous releases. Gone is the clean, tween fun of Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded [CD/DVD] which was nominated for multiple Grammy-awards, winning one for "Umbrella". 'Rated R' delves Rihanna into her most aggressive work yet, rebelling against her 'good-girl' image in favor of a darker, bad-girl image. Clearly a product of her environment, the listener quickly infers this new turn from Def Jam's golden girl is a result of her highly-publicized assault by R&B singer Chris Brown. One then must question was Brown's assault the true reason such an album by Rihanna materialized, or did Rihanna use that even simply as a springboard to evolve as an artist. My guess is it is a mixture and it is one that is both shocking though also brilliant. While I question Rihanna's adoption of the 'parental advisory' symbol given her 'tween' fans, when I purchased my copy of 'Rated R', there were plenty of [clean] versions, making me wonder if Def Jam were thinking the same was as I about the marketing of such an agressive album by a star purchased by so many youth. Conjecturing aside, 'Rated R' is as solid as 'Good Girl Gone Bad' if in a slightly edgier, darker, and more bewildering way.
The introductory track "Mad House" alerts the listener that this is like nothing else Rihanna has released. Gone are the tropical leanings that helped to build up Rihanna on her 2005 debut Music of the Sun or 2006's A Girl Like Me. Dark, brooding, almost frightening, "Mad House" serves as an appropriate lead in into 'Rated R.' The catchy, if dark-sounding "Wait Your Turn" is a fantastic opening track. "Wait Your Turn" finds Rihanna asserting that she's "such a f**king lady", something she or Def Jam would've never dreamed of including on her previous studio albums. The production work is exceptional and Rihanna vocally sounds the most commanding she's ever sounded. "Wait Your Turn" is certainly not "Umbrella", but it bodes well in Rihanna's favor and keeps the 'rated R' theme of the album at the forefront.
"Hard" featuring ubiquitous rapper Young Jeezy (who goes by just 'Jeezy' here) is produced by production team standout The-Dream (Terius Nash) and "Tricky" (Christopher Stewart). An excellent choice for a second single following the darker, more somber "Russian Roulette", this track serves as the first to showcase the more overtly 'bad-girl' Rihanna to fans who have yet to purchase the new album. Rihanna sounds good, even when she trash talks here ("That Rihanna Rain just won't let up".. "I'm gonna rock this s**t like fashion, etc.). Jeezy continues to evolve as a rapper with another solid collaboration here. Surprising and equally shocking, "Hard" is just another chapter in Rihanna's evolution... if that's what you want to call it.
"Stupid in Love" is dark in it's own way, favoring more somber production and 'colder' sounds (think 2006's "Unfaithful" or "Russian Roulette"). Well written, "Stupid In Love" finds Rihanna belting for perhaps the first time in her career, with the production placing her voices at the forefront as opposed to the background. She sounds fantastic here and perhaps among the most inspired of her career. "Stupid in Love" is as potent as anything else. The Slash featuring "Rockstar 101" is killer, finding Rihanna possessing the most swagger that I've heard her ever possess. With one liners like "Got My Middle finger up, I don't really give a f**k", one instantly sees that Rihanna has turned to the dark side - at least for 'Rated R'. "Rockstar 101" is easily a favorite.
"Russian Roulette" is quite a valedictory performance, perhaps one of the best of her entire career. Surprisingly written by the more adult-contemporary-leaning Ne-Yo, "Russian Roulette" is incredibly dark, without using the dark synths of "Wait Your Turn" or "Rockstar 101". There is something that is unquestionably creepy, edgy, and chilling about this Rihanna performance. It screams 'Grammy nomination next year'. "Fire Bomb" is edgy as everything else, pinning Rihanna against more rock-leaning production work. While it isn't my personal favorite, it is still a worthwhile performance by all means. "Rude Boy" proves to be another standout, with strong production work consisting of animated drums and synths, and a fine vocal performance from Rihanna.
"Photographs" featuring will.i.am provides slight relief from the edgier moments of this album, without taking away from the extravagant heights Rihanna takes to make her point. Enjoyable as everything else. "G4L" returns Rihanna back to spacey, dark, edgy production work. "G4L" is definitely one of the more disturbing tracks from 'Rated R' finding Rihanna once again lacing strings of profanities together with great facility (can you believe this is "S.O.S." Rihanna?). A standout, if shocking. "Te Amo", produced by Stargate given the slightly lighter sound, still doesn't shed the minor key quality that has predominated this album. Even if it slightly less satisfying than more overt numbers like "Rockstar 101", it is still above par by all means.
Penultimate track "Cold Case Love" opens up with a distant organ sound, with spare synth lines entering in. Rihanna sounds incredibly pained here, singing alone aside from the organ and the eventual addition of drums, piano, and strings. Beautiful, minimalist and unique in comparison to her past songs, "Cold Case Love" is exceptional by all means. The album closes with the strong "The Last Song", a more restrained number (initially).
Essentially, 'Rated R' is quite a capable album. I'd even go as far to say it is one of 2009's best releases. Even if some consider that an overstatement, it at least ties 'Good Girl Gone Bad' for Rihanna's best album. Vocally, this album shows quite a great bit of vocal maturation from the Barbados superstar. 4 stars, easily. I highly recommend 'Rated R'.
Description of Rated R
The wait is ova - for one of the most hotly anticipated new albums in recent history, as multi-platinum, award-winning Def Jam recording artist Rihanna announces the completion of her fourth original studio album, Rated R, scheduled to arrive in the physical and digital marketplace on Monday, November 23rd.The "Russian Roulette" video, directed by Anthony Mandler, will premiere in prime-time on ABC."Russian Roulette" was written and produced by fellow Def Jam artist Ne-Yo, whose long track record with Rihanna includes the #1 hit "Unfaithful" (2006, from A Girl Like Me), their Top 10 duet "Hate That I Love You" (2007, from Good Girl Gone Bad), and #1 pop/ #1 R&B "Take A Bow" (2008, from Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded). In addition to Ne-Yo, other producers and writers on Rihanna's new album include the team of The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, Chase & Status, Stargate, Justin Timberlake and more.
Rated R is the long-awaited follow-up to Good Girl Gone Bad (May 2007), which contained the non-stop string of hit singles that began with the MTV VMA and Grammy Award-winning global #1 hit "Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z), then "Shut Up and Drive," "Hate That I Love You" (featuring Ne-Yo), and "Don't Stop the Music." Good Girl Gone Bad spent 98 total weeks on the Soundscan chart, earned cumulative sales of more than 36-times platinum in at least 20 territories around the world, and spun off the CD+DVD package Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded (January 2009) - which continued the string of hits with the #1 "Take A Bow," and the #1 "Disturbia."
Good Girl Gone Bad was the third album release in less than two years by the 21-year old Barbados native Rihanna. It followed-up 2006's RIAA platinum A Girl Like Me, which contained the back-to-back hits, "S.O.S." and "Unfaithful"; and her RIAA gold debut from 2005, Music Of the Sun, featuring the world-wide smash, "Pon De Replay."
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