Rihanna
Rated R
Def Jam
November 20, 2009

By Mike Theodore

I knew this album was going to be dark and gritty, but I didn’t realize it was going to be boring. You can’t help but to be captivated by the Rated R title of Rihanna’s most recent studio project. However, after the first few songs, the album becomes very annoying and varies without an actual plot for the so called “Rated R movie.”

At the opening of the album we’re being welcome to the “Mad House,” Rihanna’s intro to the album. Very interesting, but no singing, just ad-libs in the background. Continuing on, we get songs like “Go Hard” and “Wait Your Turn,” which have a hip hop and r&b vibe to them which helps make them very interesting. You also get “Stupid in Love” and “Photographs,” featuring pop producer Will.I.Am and obvious dedications to ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.

While the rest of the album is fairly decent, it doesn’t meet the expectations you probably will have for it. I mean, if I’m being told something is rated R, I’m expecting that because what I’m experiencing is supposed to go into certain extremes that would not be suitable for children. Rated R is almost a kiddie friendly heartbroken record with a few dirty words here and there. Maybe they should have called it Rated PG.

Rated R contains good songs here and there, but it’s almost impossible to like the entire album. Unfortunately, it lacks that much consistency. So if you like one track, you might not like the next. Instead of stepping up, Rihanna takes a couple steps back.