Album Review: Rated R - Rihanna

You know how sometimes a friend of yours is depressed, and they don’t act like themselves? Not that I know anything about Rihanna’s incident with Chris Brown, but her new album Rated R just sounds different from her previous work. Maybe it’s just me hearing what I want to hear, or maybe I’m onto something and it’s a matter of a record label giving the public what it thinks they expect. But when someone you know (or think you know) is having a tough time, you can do one of three things - tune them out until they figure it out themselves, listen to and support them, or pick your spots to do either one.

In the case of Rated R, selective listening is the way to go. These are my recommended tracks:









Russian Roulette is the lead single and already a major hit, but I’d say Cold Case Love is the most interesting because of the buildup in the instrumental.

If you’re looking for something danceable like Disturbia, or defiantly upbeat like Umbrella, move along. Nothing to see here. My main issue is that we either get cookie cutter hiphop or barely audible introspection on this album. The emotive voice with the trademark Caribbean accent is the same, but the production doesn’t have the sensibility or straight up infectiousness of her previous work. I feel like she wanted to go deeper and darker while still appealing to a pop audience, and the album comes off sounding indecisive.

I give Rated R a 3.5 out of 5. It was a chance for her to diversify the discography in a good way, and she didn’t seize the spotlight like she should have. That said, there’s enough good material here to prove to us that while Rihanna may be down, she’s certainly not out.

Listen to samples and download the album: