Album Review: Rihanna's Rated R

Bouncing back from her struggle with domestic abuse, Rihanna has released her 4^th album, Rated R, and she’s certainly not the teenaged girl who released “Pon de Replay” (god, that was in 2005!). I was shocked that she put out a slow song as her lead single after the success of all the dance hits from Good Girl Gone Bad. This choice made me even more curious to see the direction of her newest project.

"Mad House" serves the purpose of a your typical intro track, but it has a unique sound that could have preceded "Disturbia". Footsteps with strange echoes lead into organ chords and an old-school sounding PSA. Rihanna's vocals come in with moans in various, seemingly disparate parts that eventually blend together to a 3-part harmony. Her only words are "Come on in." It seems a bit strange for a hip-hop/R&B album, but it matches the album art perfectly.

This album makes the same faux pas as many hip-hop/R&B albums: having an intro followed up by a full intro song (see Mariah Carey’s Memoires…). While "Wait Your Turn" is redundant in principle, it distinguishes itself from the previous track because it has more of a cocky, rapper-like groove. Even her low vocals sound more like a chant than a melody. The instrumental is quite simple: a boom-boom-kat in the percussion, an electric guitar-like synth bass, and a high southern rap-like synth. It gives a sort of modernized "We Will Rock You" vibe, but it feels sparse in the bridge. The pre-chorus of this song builds great tension. An abreviation of this song would work great for her tour as an opener or to introduce a new scene/set/costume.

The piano arpeggios throughout "Stupid in Love" remind me a bit of "Unfaithful"; however, Rihanna’s delivery is far superior on this track produced by Stargate and co-produced and written by Ne-Yo. The timpani and high piano in minor set the serious mood of this track. The hook walks a fine line between cleverly themed and redundant, but I its evolution over the course of the song is well done: sparse background vocals, then more background vocals, then ad-libbing.

"Rockstar 101" features a southern rap beat with a slow guitar riff (see Shop Boyz's "Party Like a Rockstar"). I almost wish they had gotten Jeezy for this song as well as “Hard” (later in the album). The vamp going into the bridge builds great tension, but there's no variation in the repeated phrase in the vocals, which makes the vamp fall a bit flat. And in the tradition of Tricky Stewart and The Dream, the track has a strange key change for the bridge, stepping down a diminished 5th (or a tritone *cringe*). Coming out of the bridge, the Stewart had a chance to do something really cool (maybe a fucking guitar solo since you have one of the best guitarists known in the studio... I say greatest because I've actually heard of him and he doesn't sing... he's from Guns N Roses for those of you who are culturally disadvantaged like I am).

"Russian Roullette" builds wonderful tension throughout the track. Rihanna sings a background vocal in the verse that plays a great counterpoint to the spaces in the lyric, but it's so faint that I didn't notice it on the radio. The piano descant in the verses adds a creepy horror-film feel, as does the strange chord in the 2nd half of the verse. What's really atypical is that Ne-Yo and Stargate were able to create such tension with no pre-chorus. Rihanna's interpretation and delivery is nearly flawless. The only problem I have with this song is the gun shot at the end, which sort of gives away the mystery for me.

The deep electric guitar strums in the intro to “Fire Bomb” give the impression of another "Shut up and Drive", but the 80s electric guitar and piano give it more of a Beyoncé's I Am... feel (as in, not Sasha Fierce… think "Smash into You"). Her low crooning in the first verse is great, and I love the harmonized second verse. The hook, on the other hand, makes me make the stank face with those random low notes. The concept of the melodic line works, but it almost sounds like Rihanna doesn't know what the next note's supposed to be. It exposes a limitation in her voice, and I’m shocked that vocal producer Makeba Riddick let that happen. The hook should have been changed or the song should have been cut from the album. The bridge, however, is beautifully written and delivered, and the ad-libs in the background of the last hook make it much more tolerable. I really could have done without the sound of the fire and trucks in the background, but I guess subtlety isn’t the focus of this album.

"Rude Boy" gives us a taste of Good Girl Gone Bad, but it’s still laid back. But she gets more explicit with her lyrics ("can you get it up" and "I like the way you pull my hair") This is the first track on the album with complex percussion, and it’s the first danceable track as well. It was no surprise to find that Stargate produced this song.

"Hard" is quite the hip hop b-side instrumental with basic percussion, comically artificial brass in the bass, and the vamping high piano chords. It's a self-aggrandizing, brand name-dropping track, so the aforementioned qualities are a elements of a genre-appropriate sound. I'm just not sure I like Rihanna doing it (I had a hard enough time with Beyoncé going there, too). Jezzy's verse is solid, and I love that they use his voice throughout the song in the hooks. Rihanna gets points for shouting out the bloggers, but to me, this track a weak attempt to re-create what “Rockstar 101” accomplished. Both were produced by Tricky Stewart (basically all of Mariah Carey’s Memoirs… and Electrik Red’s How to Be a Lady) and written by The Dream, Rihanna and Stewart.

The instrumental of "Photographs" starts out with subdued guitar plucking. The vocals come in come in with high paced lyrics that leave the listener guessing as to whether the track will turn into a dance song or remain at a ballad pace. The instrumentation remains mellow with little more than bongos in the percussion. Will.i.am drops the guitar during the verses and lets a few laid-back synth hits and a muted bassline carry the track. After the bridge, the song essentially ends, but a silent pause gives way to a synth-heavy line. Will.i.am comes in with a verse and danceable beat that doesn’t match the serious tone of the rest of the song. But is this really a surprise coming from will.i.am (sic)?

The intro to “G4L” almost sounds like a cross between a video game soundtrack and a horror movie, and it moves into a first verse with electronic-sounding beeps, buzzes, and futuristic hits on a digital drum kit. The verses are very dark and make the listener wonder where the song will go (and the flatted 7^th degree in the verses adds to the horror-flick aesthetic). So when the chorus comes in with airy chords in the vocals, it sounds a bit gentle for the lyrics “gangsta for life.” The excessive cursing sounds like the song is trying to hard. This made sense when I looked up the producers and primary writers, Chase & Status (two white guys from the UK). Let’s just hope it was one of the black co-writers who wrote the line with “nigga” in it.

“Te Amo” opens with a syncopated Caribbean rhythm that’s reminiscent of “Lemme Get That” from Good Girl Gone Bad, but in a more subdued, up-tempo-ballad way with bongos and light, airy synths. This song really grooves. The bridge takes influence from Central and South American music with the guitar plucking as well as the claps and clicks in the percussion. Stargate, writers and producers of this song, use their same high synths from Ne-Yo’s “Miss Independent” to fill out the chorus. One of the things I really like is that the chorus develops towards the end, adding an actual snare (absent from the track until after the bridge) and a 3^rd harmony part. It’s just enough to give the song variation without doing the typical ad-libs.

“Cold Case Love” starts out with organ chords under the first verse, bringing in bongo-like percussion at the pre-chorus and a single cello at the start of the chorus. It’s a very slow build: even the second verse doesn’t seem to have full percussion. The bridge is carried almost entirely by a chorus of strings before a hard hitting percussion pick up that leads into a Timbo-gasm of beat boxing and hard snares (definitely two if not more snare sounds layered). But don’t be fooled: Justin Timberlake’s The Y’s (sic) wrote and produced this track. It’s almost as if this is the point where they just stop thinking about Rihanna and get totally caught up in the in the sound of their own track. While it sounds amazing, it’s really a lot for what’s going on with her vocals on the last chorus. And Rihanna doesn’t even sing for the last minute and a half of the track.

“The Last Song”, which happens to be the last song (remember what I said about not being subtle) starts out with airy synths and Rihanna’s voice with heavy reverb. Her delivery vacillates from cooing to medium belt through the verse. And in the chorus, hits a note that seems to be the perfect frequency for her voice (most singers have a note where their belting voice really rings out, but the dimensions of the room where the singer is singing can play into that… and vocal producer Makeba Reddick may have cleverly manipulated the EQ). The second verse brings in some piano chords, and eventually some percussion and synthesized strings join the mix. The full percussion is much more rock based than I expected. And again, her voice is almost lost in the mix of the second chorus. It’s oddly similar to the previous track in strategic layout.

While Rihanna doesn’t have a single primary or even secondary writing credit on the album, she’s one of two executive producers, which is pretty huge for an artist. It means she’s pretty much calling the shots and making decisions for the album as a whole. This was certainly not an album catering to the Good Girl Gone Bad audience. In fact, this album was more of a bad girl grown up. The writing caters to a more mature audience that’s going to do more than lip synch and swing their hair, and there’s more noticeable cursing. While she may have alienated many of her previous fans, I’m sure she’s finding a new (if smaller) audience with her latest work.

Suggested tracks for individual download:

“Stupid in Love”

“Russian Roulette”

“Rude Boy”

“Te Amo”

Maybe:

“Wait Your Turn”

“Rockstar 101”

“Fire Bomb”

“Cold Case Love”

Click here to check out my review of Lady Gaga's Fame Monster.