Rihanna’s fifth album, Loud, celebrates sex, love, and having a good time — a stark contrast with the anger emanating from her previous album, Rated R. For the tracks that don’t make you want to sprint to a dance floor, the rest scream one word: sex.
The first track, “S&M,” has a strong beat and raunchy, “Toxic”–era Britney Spears lyrics: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me.” This track is slated to be the next single off the album, and will sound at home at both a downtown and in the gym.
Her seductive voice accompanied by an electric guitar in “Skin” is enough to make anyone drop their pants; Rihanna sings about wanting to “go deep” and “strip down” because she “likes it rough,” an approach that’s a far cry from her “S.O.S.” days.
While Rihanna does spend a good deal of Loud singing about sex, she also devotes time on the album to simply having fun. The Avril Lavigne–sampling “Cheers (Drink to That)” is an upbeat ode to drinking one’s troubles away. “Complicated” is a sing–along–worthy track with an intense electronic beat.
There are two quirks about Loud. Rihanna engages her Barbadian roots in the reggae song “Man Down,” but the song is an outlier on an album made up of mostly sultry ballads and club hits. The album ends with “Love The Way You Lie (Part II)” featuring Eminem. The slower sequel is perfectly good but ultimately unnecessary, as the original is similar and has been stuck in our heads since this summer.
Loud delivers the fist–pumping tracks that were Rihanna’s pre–Rated R signature, but also adds a few sultry numbers to her repertoire.
Rihanna Loud Sounds Like: A slightly less angry Rihanna 99-Cent Download: “Cheers (Drink to That)” Good For: Dancing in public or private 4/5 stars
