#6 Rihanna has had her share of ups and down in 2009. Luckily for Rihanna, the good would outweigh the bad. The Island Def Jam artist came back stronger than ever. A sexier and more outspoken Rihanna had arrived. Mentor Jay-Z recruited the “Umbrella” singer for the worldwide hit “Run This Town”. Early November on ABC’s 20/20, thousands would watch from their TV sets as the Barbados beauty set the record straight between her and ex Brown. “Rated R”, Rihanna’s fourth studio album, was also released later that month. The dark lyrical content of the album revealed a more vulnerable side to the former “Little Miss Sunshine”.
With the wounds still fresh from the infamous incident in February. The Barbados beauty exited away from the pressuring limelight-and immediately headed back to the studio for her fourth awaited disc.
Getting over a relationship is harder than it seems. But it appears Rihanna uses her new album Rated R as a way to vent out her emotions, which as a result makes for a very vulnerable and often emotional album by the 21-year-old singer.
Rated R begins its journey with a Michael Jackson Thriller-esque intro on “Madhouse”. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to those of you are easily frightened we suggest you turn away now. “To those of you who think they can take it we say-welcome to the Madhouse”.
The 1st single off of “Rated R” is one of Rihanna’s most finest and personal ballads to date-”Russian Roulette”(Ne-yo).The narrative lead ballad proves just how much Rihanna’s vocal capabilities have matured since the previous albums. “Russian Roulette” gets vocally challenging towards the end, but fortunately for Rihanna she succeeds on this particular record.
“Photographs” the gem of Rated R, is a mid-tempo track produced by Black Eyed Peas front man Will.I.AM. Rihanna vocals are mellow and soft-often almost angelic at times on the eletronica record. Not afraid of controversy, Rihanna expresses her feelings or lack thereof about someone of the same sex on “Te Amo” a fiery Latin ballad. “Cold Case Love” is very telling of her previous relationship with Brown. Her voiced is surrounded by a piano and sweet violins at first. But the lengthy six minute track gradually builds and ends with aggressive beat boxing and a satisfyingly ear appeasing electric guitar.
But things are not all loom and dark on “Rated R”. There are tracks reminiscent of past Rihanna records. For instance the aggressive “Hard”(The Dream) w/ Rapper Young Jeezy. Rihanna finds herself boasting a time or two on the cocky track: “I’m the hottest b–tch, in heels right here” and the lyric “Brilliant, resilient. Fan mail from 27 million”. She lives the lifestyle of a Rockstar in “Rockstar 101″-introducing some ear opening lyrics “Check my panties and my bra”-a far cry from the innocent “Pon De Replay” days. “The Good Girl Gone Bad” singer even gets a little flirtatious and cocky on “Rude Boy”. “G4L” is a bit silly and honestly one of the forgettable tracks off “Rated R”, but a fun cut nonetheless.
Rated R couldn’t have ended better with “The Last Song”. The ballad finds Rihanna pondering just “What if?” . The closer track features a beautiful guitar solo, and with that the “Rated R” journey comes to a drawing close.
“Rated R” is what “The Velvet Rope” was to Janet Jackson and “Ray of Light” was to Madonna-very personal albums. It’s raw and emotional at times, but the album shows a fun and playful side of the singer still exists. “Rated R” beautifully displays what the singer has been going through these past couple months. A solid followup to her record breaking album.
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Note: The album Rated R was used strictly for a music review only. The company or artist did not in any way endorse the author of this post.
Exactly when was the last time we’ve witnessed a music battle this big? You can bet overly excited fans will be more involved in the waged war than the artists themselves. Let’s just hope we don’t see anyone making a video like THIS one. Nevertheless, things are certainly going to be entertaining this week as we see musical stars Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Shakira, Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle square off for the coveted number one slot on Billboard.
Let’s see how things are looking for the contenders:
Lady Gaga: She is still relatively new to the music community. The eccentric blonde bombshell has garnered more pop hits than any artist this year “Just Dance” “Poker Face “Love Game” “Papparazzi” and “Bad Romance” are all 10 top ten hits with 3 hitting #1. Lady Gaga’s unpredictable videos and performances have been praised by fans and critics alike. The sophomore release, The Fame Monster features 8 new catchy pop tunes-one being a guest appearance from Beyonce herself.
Rihanna: Thanks to her monstrous single “Umbrella”, Rhianna like Lady Gaga, has become a household name. The release of 2007’s “Good Girl Gone Bad” gave the world of music “Shut Up and Drive” “Please Don’t Stop The Music” “Take a Bow” and “Disturbia”. Now Little Miss Sunshine unleashes her fourth disc Rated R. The lyrically explicit albums enters more a darker territory for the “Russian Roulette” singer. Rihanna’s street hit “Hard” w/ Young Jeezy is one of the 13 tracks to make the cut.
Adam Lambert: Thanks to his risque performance at the 2009 American Music Awards Adam Lambert debut disc For Your Entertainment could possibly be his first number one. Earlier this year Lambert lost to Kris Allen, but despite being runner up to Allen, the flamboyant singer has been the talk of the town.
Susan Boyle: She’s the underdog in this competition. Susan Boyle story has won her over fans across the world. According to early predictions Susan’s I Dreamed A Dream could bow at #1, making her fairy tale story even sweeter. Could Boyle pull a upset victory over her competitors?
Shakira: She was a sexy She Wolf in her music video and did we forget to mention the very impressive bed choreography for “Did It Again”? Latin singer Shakira is no stranger to success as “Hips Don’t Lie” was one of the biggest Pop songs in recent history.
It was the interview watched around the world Friday evening. Even moments after it finished airing Twitters, Youtubers, and communities still continue to buzz about the very public matter.
It’s her first public TV interview since the domestic incident. Grammy Award winner Rihanna sat down in very candid interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s 20/20. Many wondered and even thought Rihanna would keep mum about the February altercation between herself and Chris Brown.
From the very beginning, singer Rihanna was very responsive to all of Sawyer’s questions, not holding back for an instant.
Highlights from the 1 hour, no holds barred interview include the altercation between Rihanna and Brown. Rihanna tells Sawyer that she confronted Chris Brown about a particular text message from a (unnamed) old girlfriend. After not letting the situation go, that is where things imploded.
Describing the event as “Ugly”, A frightened Rihanna states that Brown was not himself that night. “He had no soul in his eyes”. “Just Blank”.
Rihanna herself admits that the deeper they fell for each other. The more dangerous they became for each other. Equally. “It became an obsession”, she tells Sawyner.
Rihanna truthfully tells Diane that she did not listen to the apology penned song by Chris Brown “Changed Man”. Even maliciously calling out Brown for his supposed public apology to the “Umbrella” singer. “It looks like he was reading off a teleprompter”.
A now strong-willed Rihanna ends the already engaging interview on powerful note “Don’t React off of love….Eff Love”. Fighting back tears she continues “To come out of the situation and look at it third person…Look at for what it really is”. “Love is so blind”. “It’s so blind”
Closing Thoughts:
You don’t hear too many individuals that have been in a similar situation speak out. So, for Rihanna to finally open up, I think takes tremendous courage and hopefully will inspire others to wake up and do the same. Rihanna remained composed, calm and very honest. The incident, though unfortunate has helped the singer mature greatly. Some may argue that it was a ploy for album sales of her “Rated R” album. But in truth, it felt more like a therapeutic process for Rihanna, hence her very open responses.
One who hasn’t been nearly as open is Brown himself. Chris says that he wants to keep the matters between himself and Rihanna private. But after tonight’s interview will he feel the same way? When you look at both sides, Chris Brown and Rihanna obviously both have some issues to work out amongst themselves. They’re still very young and it’s shame that they have to deal with something this serious in their blossoming careers.
There’s no escaping the February event as it will continue linger over both their careers from here on out. So, hopefully the two will continue to grow and realize their past mistakes.
