After the enormous success of “Good Girl Gone Bad” and the allegations between her and Chris Brown, there was a great deal of intrigue surrounding Rihanna’s comeback effort. What seems to have emerged is a more developed artist who is eager to try and take her music to another level.
“Rated R,” Rihanna’s fourth studio album, has a consistent, darker sound that deals with more meaningful subject matter. We hear her edgier, more mature persona on almost every track. She is not jaded or scorned on “R,” but seems to have taken something from all of her recent experiences, good and bad, and she has created a voice that is slightly determined, slightly sad and certainly older.
The album is full of ballads at a variety of tempos that utilize many different instruments, and perhaps the most surprising aspect of “R” is that few are radio-friendly.
Young Jeezy, Will.i.am, and Slash — yes that Slash — are each featured on a tracks that have the subject matter or sound to garner some radio spins. “Hard” with Jeezy is a self-description of this new Rihanna, who is now big girl fully capable of handling herself: “that Rihanna / rain just won’t let up.”
Some of the issues with “R” are the overly predictable nature of many of the rhymes and the profanity that seems to be a hollow, misplaced token rather than true anger. Songs like “Wait Your Turn” and “Rockstar 101” are more juvenile, more pop, and don’t fit with the rest of the album.
The album gets better as it progresses, and the end of “R” has many of its best tracks. “Te Amo,” “Fire Bomb,” and “The Last Song” are some of the better efforts that achieve what Rihanna has said she wants: subject matter with intrigue and positive ambiguity and a sound that stays consistent and genuinely resonates.
Because of the surprising difference from “Good Girl Gone Bad,” “Rated R” might take some getting used to. Fortunately, it is an impressive example of an artist still affected by tragedy yet determined to improve herself and her music, both of which she has done successfully.
‘Rated R’ for maturity
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