Upon listening to Rihanna's third album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' it is immediately apparent that - as the title suggests - the Bajan star has shed her innocent image and replaced it with a more sexed-up/edgier sound. The resulting tracks, however, are an unevenly balanced collection of great songs and tracks that are average-at-best. The infectious lead single 'Umbrella' opens the album with a bang and serves an indicator of the album's alternate sound. Yet, things from there onwards take on a patchy form. Fantastic songs such as the sexually-charged dance number 'Push It Up' and the whimsical 'Say It' are few and far between. On paper, some of the interesting song titles drew me to them; however I was left underwhelmed by many of them such as the unconvincing 'Breakin' Dishes'. Though, I should note that the pop/rock fusion 'Shut Up & Drive' has grown on me considerably since initially hearing it and I feel it to be one of the album's few standout tracks.
The album also suffers from a distinct aura of unoriginality; one of the Timbaland produced tracks 'Rehab' sounds too much like Justin Timberlake's 'What Goes Around'. Also, the Ne-Yo produced/featured track 'Hate That I Love You' appears to be a mesh of the singer-songwriter's own hit 'Sexy Love' and Beyonce's 'Irreplaceable' (also penned by the star). It should be noted that the production on the CD is consistent throughout and certain tracks are only let down by the 19 year old star's poor delivery or infantile lyrics i.e. 'Lemme Get That' and 'Sell Me Candy'.
With 'Good Girl Gone Bad', Rihanna has successfully managed to distance herself from the standard R&B featured on her past efforts. In it's place are a collection of songs that incorporate Pop/Dance/Rock and R&B elements. Having noted these, the tracks, themselves, are too inconsistent- varying from excellent to filler - and at times the CD feels gimmicky. Rihanna will have to do more than deviate from the genre-norms in future releases if she wants to establish herself as a viable artist. 'Good Girl Gone Bad' hits stores June 4th in the UK and June 5th in the USA.
Will you be picking up 'Good Girl Gone Bad'?
Labels: Album Review, Rihanna
