Rihanna: Rated R
Thursday, 26, Nov 2009 04:36
Def Jam, out now.
What's it all about?
The 13-track album from Rihanna showcases an impressive array of writers; including NeYo (aka Shaffer Smith), Justin Timberlake and the artist herself.
In a pledge to her fans in the album's sleeve, Rihanna says Rated R is "my story... the movie... it's Rated R" - and that it is, this being the first of her albums to bear the Parental Advisory label.
The album sees the artist steer away from her popular R 'n' B clubbing image to present something with a much harder, rockier edge.
Who's it by?
Unfortunately for this talented young woman her name has become synonymous with that of her abusive ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who was convicted of assault on her earlier this year. After the cancellation of her performance at the Grammys in February it was later revealed the singer had been attacked by Brown and left with injuries to her face. The news which shocked the world has been a tough cross to bear for the 21-year-old, who has been forced to speak out about the domestic violence she was subjected to after the story failed to die down.
But professionally she is top of her game, with a string of number one hits under her belt as well as plethora of music awards including a Grammy and two MOBO awards.
Born in Barbados, Robyn Rihanna Fenty moved to the US aged 16 to begin her music career. Five years later she has sold over 12 million records, and recorded four studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005), A Girl Like Me (2006), Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and now Rated R. She founded the Believe Foundation in 2006 to help terminally ill children.
As an example...
"Your love was breaking the law/But I needed a witness/So pick me up when it's over/It don't make any difference/Will it ever be solved?/ Or am I taking the fall?/Truth was there all along/Tell me how did we miss it." - Cold Case Love
What the others say
"Searching for strength, Rihanna and her collaborators take on musical styles historically prone to machismo: hard rock, which Rihanna dons like a form of couture, and dancehall reggae, which she knows well but uses here in new ways. Images of violence abound: there are guns, grenades, girl gangs, crashing cars and smashed bodies on the football field." Ann Powers, LA Times
"No single song approaches the grandeur of Rihanna's 2007 megahit, Umbrella. But even the most sprawling power ballads here have an intimate quality. In the plaintive Stupid in Love, Rihanna turns the blame inward. "My new nickname is 'You Idiot'... /That's what my friends are calling me when they see me yelling into my phone". Such introspection is evidently beyond Brown. On Lucky Me, he turns his troubles into an occasion for self-congratulation: "Even when my world's falling down/I still wear a smile". A simple sorry might have made a better song - or at least made Brown a better guy." Jody Rosen, Rolling Stone
So is it any good?
Rihanna's back, and boy is she angry! Someone has given this girl a serious dose of Kelly Clarksonesque rage and she's not afraid to use it.
Following a traumatic year, no doubt many expected Rihanna to release an album of whiney ballads and tearful tunes. But the star hits back at the tough times in Rated R, establishing herself as a girl powered superwoman, the album resonating brawn with its violent metaphors and rock chick strength.
If music is therapy then Rihanna has used this album as her leather couch. With lyrics including "The dunce cap is off/You do not know what you've lost" and "Don't understand it/Blood on your hands/And still you insist/On repeatedly trying/To tell me lies", she sends a very clear message she is over her failed relationship and has come back bigger and better than before.
In G4L, "revenge is sweet", in Russian Roulette she knows she "must pass this test", while in The Wait is Ova she proclaims "I pitch with a grenade/Swing away if you're feeling brave"; whether intentional or not the album appears to be a metaphor for her new-found strength, and it suits her.
Justin Timberlake reportedly described the album as Rihanna being "more grown up", and the more adult sound could well do her a lot of favours. Gone is the girlishness of before, replaced with a funked-up, rockier beat, which underlies the whole album. Rather than there being one stand-out single as with her previous albums, Rated R tells a story from beginning to end, consistently challenging her old genre, and transgressing from pop to rock.
Rihanna will be performing Russian Roulette from the album on this week's X Factor on ITV1, on Sunday night.
8/10
Sarah Garrod