Rihanna probably wouldn’t
have made this album last year. She couldn’t have. Back then she was
addressing the fallout from her assault by former boyfriend Chris Brown
and released “Rated R,’’ a dark and unflinching work that rattled her
fans while pushing her artistic limits.
As usual, there are
throwaways amid the keepers, but it’s hard to tame a pop star who
scratches her way out of the gate with an ode to kink. “I may be bad,
but I’m perfectly good at it,’’ she brags on the opening “S&M’’
before teasing, “Sticks and stones may break my bones/ But chains and
whips excite me.’’ Too bad she then drowns that sass in a beer on
“Cheers (Drink to That),’’ a drinking song as generic as the title
suggests: “Don’t let the bastards get you down/ Turn it around with
another round.’’
More than
her previous records, “Loud’’ is all about Rihanna’s fighting side. Over
a reggae bounce, the Barbados-born singer plays an outlaw on “Man
Down’’ (as in, she shot him). And “Raining Men,’’ borrowing a digitized
riff from Beyoncé’s “Diva,’’ features rising rapper Nicki Minaj on a
typically manic guest rhyme. The song’s message doubles as the album’s
mantra: Some cats really do have nine lives. (Out tomorrow)