Album Review: Rihanna – Rated R

Posted by Rickified on 11/14/09 • Categorized as Reviews • 1,975 views

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“Rated R” is the fourth studio album by Rihanna is set to be release on November 23th 2009 in the US.

First Impressions
Was rather emotional upon getting my hands on this album for the review. So many stuff has happen to me these couple of days. Okie, shan’t digress. The hype for her first single, “Russian Roulette“, creates tons of negative reception from most of her fans and casual listeners alike. Same goes with promo single, “Wait Your Turn” and 2nd single, “Hard“. This is because when the songs are being released individually, it does not capture one’s attention immediately sonically.

As a whole, you’ll understand what Rihanna is trying to express with this album. Gone are the dance-y syth (Dont’t Stop The Music, Disturbia), enter erratic hip-hop beats and amazing guitar riffs.

Don’t say Rihanna didn’t warn you guys about the sound of this album. A good prelude song to this album would be “Run This Town“. It’s towards that direction. Love it that there are explicit lyrics without being censored. And rest assured, not all songs sound extremely dark. =)

Track By Track Review

Mad House
A short instrumental to start this album. It’s a way of saying this album is ‘NSFW‘, which means ‘Not Strictly For the Weak’.
Wait Your Turn
Promotional Single and is being used as the teaser for the album’s release. “The Wait is Ova” hook is rather catchy. Many dislike this song, but I think otherwise. Produced by Stargate, the clash beats is recognizable as their signature.
Hard
Featuring Young Jeezy (or Jeezy in this case). 2nd single from the album. It’s a grower due to the fact that it’s not a conventional mainstream single that RiRi used to release. Has a genuine swagger to it.
Stupid In Love
Ne-Yo + Stargate = Surefire Hit!!! Need me say more??? =) Way better than “Take a Bow“.
Rockstar 101
Featuring Slash (on the guitar). Another rather dark track, Slash’s contribution on the track is like icing on the cake. Strain your ears for detaling.
Russion Roulette
On first thought, it’s an unusual move for Rihanna to release a ballad as a first single. But she has learned to break rules, I have to give it up to her. Another grower track. As I’ve said on the single review, this song is extremely haunting.
Fire Bomb
Describing love using ‘cars’ related words and the freeway. Unique and original. Kinda intrigued by this song.
Rude Boy
Another Stargate production. Has that dancehall vibe which traces back to Rihanna’s roots. You guys shouldn’t complain. This song is not dark at all. It’s in fact extremely catachy with its “Rude Boy Boy” hook.
Photographs
Featuring Will.i.am. Reminds me of Will.i.am’s own “Heartbreaker” but it’s 100 times much better. The verse by Will feels it’s straight from BEP’s “The E.N.D”. A hidden gem of the album.
G4L
Derived from the song itself, G4L stands for Gangsta 4 Life. Seems like it’s quite effortless for Riri to transist into a Hip-Hop artist. =) Doesn’t sound forced.
Te Amo
This song leaked quite a long while ago as a demo. Sounds really good in album quality. The ethnic tribal drum beats are hypnotic. Produced by Justin Timberlake’s production team, The Y’s.
Cold Case Love
A long epic song (6 mins!!!) written by Justin Timberlake and produced by The Y’s. Love the organic sound of this song. Flows well like a story. The tempo picks up at 3:46. Another highlight of the album. A song custom-made for Riri.
The Last Song
Feels like a filler but it ain’t. Riri is pouring her emotions out on this album closer.

Final Verdict
I would rank this album with the likes of Kelly Clarkson’s “My December“. Both are dark, but different genres. Commercially, it wont do as well as GGGB, but critically she’s up onto another level, proving that she’s diverse and not containing herself in the mainstream box. I applaud her for taking this risk.

To the detractors who’s saying this album is a bore, bland and blah, it’s a mistake by shunning this album without trying to understand it. Sure, it’s too Hip-Hop-ish, but it’s the direction that Rihanna wants to go with this album. She could’ve pull off another “Disturbia” easily with the array of producers she work with, but this is where she wanna go with this album. Respect it.

To those who think she’s fake, try experiencing being abused urself and recover from it. Ain’t easy. I can relate to what she’ve been through, in a way (not neccessary being abused, but alike).

This album is a masterpiece and a MUST have for every music fanatic.

This album scores a full 5 out of 5 (cause it’s FLAWLESS).

Tagged as: album review, rihanna

19 Comments

Jacob
November 14, 2009 • 6:48 pm

Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of it! It probably wasnt censored coz u didn’t get the singapore version, else there’ll be a lot of blanks here and there… And i really liked the fact that Rihanna dares to try out different musical genres rather than stick to tried-and-test formula of synth-pop dance hits. Too bad Wait your turn didn’t receive the recognition that it deserved cos personally, i think it’s the best out of the three we’ve heard so far on her Rated R album. And what’s wrong with sounding a lil bit dark? I think it suits her current predictatement very well…..
Rickified
November 14, 2009 • 7:54 pm

@Jacob – Yeap, glad that she didn’t succumb to mainstream pressure. I like “Wait Your Turn” too from it’s promo video for the album to it’s official video concept. =) And there’s nothing wrong sounding dark too. Nobody can live a life as a happy person always. Life’s full of ups and downs. =)
André
November 14, 2009 • 10:49 pm

i never liked her and this album is no difference. still the annoying voice.
Confessions of a Bad Boy
November 15, 2009 • 12:17 am

I like a few songs such as Rude Boy, Wait Your Turn, Cold Case Love and Rockstar 101 but the rest are really just so so. They are nothing special. I personally don’t think it was a good idea for Rihanna to abandon dance-oriented songs so recklessly. The clubs love her and the clubs are what made her really big. She should have cultivated her dance fanbase before doing anything so drastic. This whole thing could turn out well like Pink transitioning from Cant take me home to Mizundastood or bad like from Mizundastood to Try this.
Rickified
November 15, 2009 • 12:31 am

@Confessions of a Bad Boy – Hmm, there’s hints of dance elements in some of her tracks, not in a conventional way though. So, she didn’t really abandon, just moulding it into a new sound. Umbrella itself (the album version) is not clubby too and it stayed for upteen weeks at number 1. Album edits are usually up to the artist to explore their sound. There are many club-oriented artists out there who uses the same formula everytime (Think Cascada).

That’s when club remixes comes into place. Rihanna’s singles always has remixes catered to the clubs. To me, only proper remixes should be played in clubs and not album edits. The vibe would be different (Unless it’s a DJ produced album, like David Guetta’s).
Fagalicious
November 15, 2009 • 12:34 am

I wasn’t awed by the few songs in the album that I have heard. I think Rihanna’s idea of doing something totally different was foremost in her mind and that perspective and approach to making music made the album less pop. I won’t be buying this album unless there are wonderful remixes that come with it, just like the first one. I hope she keeps her gay audience in mind. Pleease don’t stop the music !!
Carlos
November 16, 2009 • 4:26 am

Most of the songs are the type of songs you listen alone while you’re driving in the middle of traffic like at 5pm. Then, there are some songs like firebomb, rudeboy. rockstar 101, that you may even put them in a gettogether with some close friends. oh..and rudeboy might even be good on a club… but yeah, its a good album, very different! 3.5/5.
Antwan Jones
November 18, 2009 • 2:20 am

I love the album. It’s not as one dimensional as her first two efforts. I think it’s just as good as GGGB, if not better for the sheer fact that her vocal ability has greatly improved. I love Russian Roulette, G4L, Rockstar 101, Cold Case Song, Rudeboy and Fire Bomb. The other songs are pretty good also. I like that she’s carving a niche in the music industry for herself that won’t limit what she can do in the future. Some people won’t get this new direction for her and that’s okay.
braddd
November 19, 2009 • 11:47 pm

This album is so amazing, so incredible, so artistic, so unique, so powerful and SO mental! Screw the clubs. She’s had her time to do the club scene and make some classic pop hits, now it’s about time she becomes a real artist, and really pushes the boundaries and experiments, and makes music that means something – classic musical masterpieces.

This album has more aggression, power and personality than… well anything I’ve heard in the past decade at least.
Charlie Wilson
July 12, 2010 • 11:44 pm

Cold Case looks like CSI just like anyother detective tv series;.”
Connor Bell
August 30, 2010 • 12:52 pm

i followed Cold Case on our local cable channel and it was a great detective tv series:*-