Rihanna
Rated R
2009
The only reason I checked out this record in the first place is that I heard "Rude Boy" on a car radio and thought..."damn, that's hot!" Rihanna has an original vocal style, a sort of deadened monotone that works well in the current auto-tuned climate of R&B and hoped her album would have more of the same to offer. I'm walking away from "Rated R" with the same assessment of Rihanna as a vocalist but there are too many negatives about this album to commend her for anything else.
The very first thing I noticed about "Rated R" is that the lyrics are absolutely horrible. I'm talking so bad they made me laugh out loud. Although she isn't attributed with even one songwriting credit on the album I think Rihanna must be writing the lyrics herself because I can't imagine Def Jam hiring a songwriter with such bad taste.
Thematically much of the album is about the emotional harm done to her by Chris Brown, although never mentioned by name, but the way she's chosen to express her feelings of heartbreak and betrayal could have been done just as effectively by a 15-year-old who didn't get asked to the prom. Here she's turned genuine feelings of personal anguish into flat, laughable and tasteless metaphors on "Russian Roulette" and "Fire Bomb" -- wasting the opportunity to channel her pain into something artistically relevant. Same with "Stupid In Love" and "Cold Case Love" which are complete jokes both lyrically and musically. Only the will.i.am produced "Photographs" succeeds in creating a genuine musical expression of emotion I could believe in and relate to.
And that's another big problem right there. The only reason "Photographs" works is because of who wrote and produced it. It's basically will.i.am's strengths that make the song a success and oh, it just so happens Rihanna is here too. As mentioned before, Rihanna has no songwriting credits on this album so you can hardly even consider this work to reflect any artistic integrity. Each track (although brightly colored by her vocals if the song works) sinks or swims based on the producer. I cannot respect this. The "take it for what it is" mentality doesn't fly with me. Yes, it's just a pop album meant to sell singles and make money but I hold all music to a higher standard.
Listening to this has frustrated me and I think it's because I hoped it would break my notions of what radio pop is in America today. On certain songs Rihanna is legitimately doing original things with her voice but it's still over the backdrop of slick yet immature R&B/Hip Hop production that will forever date it to this moment in time.
The vast majority of "Rated R" is utterly disposable and easily forgettable. I still feel Rihanna has potential to rise above these flavor of the month sounds and make something great but based on this I feel it may still be awhile in coming.
Best Tracks: "Hard", "Rude Boy", "Photographs"
The very first thing I noticed about "Rated R" is that the lyrics are absolutely horrible. I'm talking so bad they made me laugh out loud. Although she isn't attributed with even one songwriting credit on the album I think Rihanna must be writing the lyrics herself because I can't imagine Def Jam hiring a songwriter with such bad taste.
Thematically much of the album is about the emotional harm done to her by Chris Brown, although never mentioned by name, but the way she's chosen to express her feelings of heartbreak and betrayal could have been done just as effectively by a 15-year-old who didn't get asked to the prom. Here she's turned genuine feelings of personal anguish into flat, laughable and tasteless metaphors on "Russian Roulette" and "Fire Bomb" -- wasting the opportunity to channel her pain into something artistically relevant. Same with "Stupid In Love" and "Cold Case Love" which are complete jokes both lyrically and musically. Only the will.i.am produced "Photographs" succeeds in creating a genuine musical expression of emotion I could believe in and relate to.
And that's another big problem right there. The only reason "Photographs" works is because of who wrote and produced it. It's basically will.i.am's strengths that make the song a success and oh, it just so happens Rihanna is here too. As mentioned before, Rihanna has no songwriting credits on this album so you can hardly even consider this work to reflect any artistic integrity. Each track (although brightly colored by her vocals if the song works) sinks or swims based on the producer. I cannot respect this. The "take it for what it is" mentality doesn't fly with me. Yes, it's just a pop album meant to sell singles and make money but I hold all music to a higher standard.
Listening to this has frustrated me and I think it's because I hoped it would break my notions of what radio pop is in America today. On certain songs Rihanna is legitimately doing original things with her voice but it's still over the backdrop of slick yet immature R&B/Hip Hop production that will forever date it to this moment in time.
The vast majority of "Rated R" is utterly disposable and easily forgettable. I still feel Rihanna has potential to rise above these flavor of the month sounds and make something great but based on this I feel it may still be awhile in coming.
Best Tracks: "Hard", "Rude Boy", "Photographs"
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