Tag Archives: Rated R

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Song of the Day #606: ‘Rude Boy’ – Rihanna

Rihanna’s Rated R is a decidedly dark and downbeat affair, but one song bucks that trend. ‘Rude Boy,’ the latest single, is a raunchy dance-hall come-on that checks any trace of inner pain or turmoil at the door.

Rihanna has pushed her sexuality front and center in the promotion of Rated R, taking the album’s title to heart. It’s as if the 22-year-old wants to prove that the past year has forced her to grow up in all sorts of ways. Or else she just wants to use her ample, um, assets to sell more records. Either way, I’m not complaining, though I sometimes have the urge to cover her with my jacket and walk her home.

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Song of the Day #539: ‘Fire Bomb’ – Rihanna

Best Songs of 2009 – #2

I wonder what Rihanna’s follow-up to Good Girl Gone Bad would have been like had she not been beaten up by boyfriend Chris Brown last February. Clearly she was capable of the sort of darkness and edginess she displays on Rated R but apparently it took that ugly incident to inspire her to capture it on record. I hate to say her pain is our gain, but it’s true.

I suppose 2008’s ‘Disturbia,’ written by Brown, was a start down this path but the songs on Rated R that tackle the violent incident directly and indirectly are a whole new ball game.

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Rihanna – Rated R

What a fascinating career Rihanna has already had.

By 2008, she had sold more than 12 million albums worldwide and notched more #1 singles than any other woman this decade (or century, or millennium). And she was just 19 years old, having gone from an unknown schoolgirl in a small town in Barbados to an international megastar.

And then, on the night of the 2009 Grammys, she became the most famous victim of domestic violence since Tina Turner when her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, viciously beat her during an argument in his car. The pictures of Rihanna following the incident were horrific, as was the prospect of her returning to Brown’s side — which she did, briefly, before thinking better of it and leaving him for good.

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Song of the Day #473: ‘Russian Roulette’ – Rihanna

rihannabarbOne of the first thoughts I had after hearing about Chris Brown beating up Rihanna (right after “let me get my hands on that motherfucker”) was that I couldn’t wait to hear what Rihanna would do with the whole situation on her next album. I’ve been dying for new music from her anyway, loving Good Girl Gone Bad as much as I do, but with meaty material like a public domestic violence incident to work with, she was bound to come up with something memorable.

I was right. The first single from Rihanna’s upcoming album, Rated R, has been released and it is powerful and disturbing and clearly inspired by those dark days earlier this year. Titled ‘Russian Roulette,’ the song uses that deadly game as a metaphor for an unhealthy (and, yes, violent) relationship.

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