Rihanna Loud

Less than a year after the release of 2009’s dark vent fest Rated R, Rihanna returns with a more light-hearted collection of dance-oriented R&B. While this might sound like she’s backpedaling to more safe territory, the singer born Robyn Rihanna Fenty has made it clear that she is not interested in remaking her past triumphs, seeing the making of this record as her next logical step as an artist and as a method of diffusing the overly serious direction her life was taking since her assault at the hands of ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. Songwriter Sean Garrett, who worked with Rihanna on the album, said that the record was made to be “heavy in the club,” and first single “Only Girl (In The World),” with its blaring synths and loudly belted chorus, proves his words to be apt.

Abstract by Erik Ziedses des Plantes