Album Review: Rihanna's 'Loud'

I'm trying out something different here? Bear with me...

After releasing commercial failure Rated R almost exactly a year ago, Rihanna has returned to her brand of danceable pop on Loud. While the album is packed with undeniable smash hits, the entire set feels a little hollow. Rihanna is back in high spirits, paired with that flaming red mane, but the twelve tracks on Loud fail to meld together into a cohesive album. It's a tighter, more controlled edition of what she delivered on Good Girl Gone Bad. Rihanna has become much more sonically mature, and Loud is an effortless, well-crafted pop gem; unfortunately, she's also not departing too far from her regular shtick.

The album kick off with its hottest track, and allegedly the album's third single, "S&M." Unabashedly sexualized, with shocking schoolyard recess wordplay and an extremely hooky chorus, the track is soaked in lurid sex appeal; it's a near-perfect pop jam, a modern twist on the best stuff from the 80s. Rihanna also wows with "Cheers (Drink To That)," using an obscure Avril Lavigne sample to craft a sing-a-long anthem. Rihanna in known for taking the best elements of modern radio and crafting flawless earworms, and Loud is far and above the strongest her usually thin voice has ever sounded. However, unlike fellow radio diva Lady Gaga, Rihanna is never a step ahead of current trends; "Cheers" shows that maybe there is a smarter and more imaginative album in Rihanna's future.

The rest of the album strives to reach the pop splendor of those two standout tracks, as well as the album's fun and flirty first two singles, "Only Girl (In The World)" and "What's My Name?" featuring Drake. "Complicated" shows that Rihanna has been working on her belt, and is certainly the album's strongest mid-tempo track; the rest of the quasi-ballads are forgettable and uninspired. "Raining Men" wastes the skills of guest rapper Nicki Minaj with clunky production, and the island flavor of "Man Down" is a searingly hot but awkwardly squeezed in amongst the rest of the tracks. Regardless, it is wonderful to hear a rock-tinge smattered throughout Loud, including the boiling guitar riffs found throughout Rated R.

Ultimately, Loud doesn't completely work because Rihanna was at the height of her artistic talents on Rated R. Many dismissed the album for being too dark and depressing, too much of a departure of the singer. However, while many moments of Loud feel empty, Rated R blazed with raw aggression and passion. Each of the thirteen songs on Rated R showed a new facet of a woman dealing with unbearable tragedy; it was a true album, sonically electrifying and visceral, endlessly interesting and entertaining. Rihanna might be pleasing a much larger audience with Loud, but turning up the volume doesn't necessarily mean she has more to say. The album's final track, a beautiful acoustic cut of "Love The Way You Lie (Part II)," just Rihanna and a piano, shows the songstress at her most vulnerable, stripped and broken but still standing. It's the sort of emotion Loud could have used more of. B