Welcome To The Mad House

Some love her and some hate her. Some think she can't sing and some think she can. I for one, am a Rihanna fan but I am not putting her at the top of my list for greatest singers of this decade. I will say that lyrically this album takes the cake on a lot of album released this year. She channels all of her pain and anguish from a bad relationship (ahem! Chris Brown) and put it all into songs that anyone who has been hurt can feel, whether or not you think she can blow. The album opens up with a intro that is supposed to scare ("MAD HOUSE"), but in actuality, it makes me smile. I am loving this new, darker Rihanna! The promo single "Wait Your Turn" is the first song that invades your ears. I feel as though this song could have been left off the album, but she quickly makes up for it with the Young Jeezy featured single, "HARD". And this beat does indeed goes hard. Rihanna proclaims she is the "baddest chick in heels right here!" I'm sure you will find yourself nodding your head to this banger. "Stupid In Love" comes next and I think this song hits home for a lot of people who are vulnerable enough to go back to a bad relationship over and over again but then realize they are not stupid in love, just a little dumb. I Definitely could see this being a single. Gun N Roses Slash appears on the braggadocious single "Rock Star 101" and Ne-Yo pens the first single "Russian Roulette" which is Rihanna twelfth top ten hit. "Fire Bomb" comes next and this song seems to fit so well with Rihanna rough and nasally island-voice along with the ride or die song G4L (which stands for Gangster 4 Life) where she is simply saying she is going to ride or die for her best friend, no matter what. "I lick the gun when I'm done cuz you know that revenge is SWEET" the good girl gone NASTY sings.
Ms Fenty also shines on the Will.I.Am assisted single "Photographs" another song that shows that Rihanna has found the right sound for her voice. The song that really made this album pop! is the Y's produced "Cold Case Love" 6:04 of bleeding love gone wrong. The album ends with "The Last Song", a perfect way to end this dark and edgy sound that Rihanna is going for this time around. I'm not going to say this album is better than Good Girl Gone Bad but it is an improvement lyrically and image wise. Rihanna's got this in the bag!