Let's have a thread for Rihanna's LOUD

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F%2BFYxLb7L.jpg

Some previous discussion found here: rolling pop 2010

After hearing the album in a piecemeal manner of the past few days, it's nice to actually have it all in one place with proper finished recordings. Dare I say, GODDAMN! All together, this album is really working on me.

Oh hang on, I just got to "California King Bed"--which sounds like Taylor Swift? Weird move to MOR pop.

A regression after the awesome Rated R. Ugh.

(Judging from the few songs I've heard, at least.)

Oh hang on, I just got to "California King Bed"--which sounds like Taylor Swift? Weird move to MOR pop.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, November 8, 2010 5:38 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

the acoustic song on 'good girl gone bad' ("hate that i love you") is one of her best singles

i didn't like a lot of what i heard at first but "cheers" iz muh jam rite now

oh man i forgot "hate that i love you", that was a nice song

i'm gonna get sued for $1.5 million dollars for downloading like 6 fake leaks of this album

There's a real version of it around, but it's clean. Fuck that.

the acoustic song on 'good girl gone bad' ("hate that i love you") is one of her best singles

i thought the title track was the better excursion into acoustica on GGGB - the closing double-header of "good girl gone bad" and "cry" is one of my favourite sequences on her albums.

i expect i've downloaded a fake, oh well, not gonna get into it til tomorrow.

"raining men" with nicki minaj is pretty great, "cheers" has grown on me (reminds me of kanye's toast to the assholes for some reason) - would've been better if rihanna had just sung the hey-e-yeahs, avril's piercing voice doesn't quite gel.

i'm gonna get sued for $1.5 million dollars for downloading like 6 fake leaks of this album

i am turning you in right now for reward money.

great album cover btw.

Hate That I Love You is not a bit like California King Bed. The latter is a full-blown slick pop song with a Swiftian tinge of modern country. Like, if you played it for me w/o telling me it was Rihanna, I'd have no idea who I was hearing.

So is Stargate all over this, or just the three singles?

this album is really good -- i'm surprised

I'm particularly impressed with the one-two of "complicated" and "skin," would've liked if the whole album was like that! which songs are u feeling the most j0rdan

everything pretty much except "california king bed" i think

oh and not "love the way you lie pt 2" duh

someone wake me up when they're on part 200 and we're all dead

"california king bed" is a little too much like 4 non blondes for my taste i think

rihannanow.com/getloud

nvm sorry that's just samples

I guess my main complaint abt this album is that coming off of rated r it sounds a bit too slight and understated - it's not bad, but it's a little dull, I feel like the best songs on here ("man down," "skin," "complicated,") all sound like a continuation of what she was doing on Rated R in a way (though obv not as "dark")... the rest is just kind of there/doesn't really move me in any particular way... like, if rihanna is going to do basic pop records she should at least try to top Good Girl Gone Bad, this is kind of middling

but this is just off of like 1.5 listens so obv haven't really let it sink in yet... but nothing touching "cold case love," etc.

and yeah "california king bed" is lame power ballad :| sounds like the sequel to Fergie's "big girls don't cry" or some shit

diggin nicki's verse on this

It's raining men... FAT BITCHES is prob the best grocery bag line ever

man i've been outta the loop i haven't been checking for this at all, heard "only girl" on the radio a bunch but don't care for it much. am i gonna like this given my indifference to rated r?

on the real tho i don't think we need another rihanna album just yet - rated r came out what 13 months ago? kinda surprised this is coming out so soon given that rated r wasn't exactly a smash or anything? i mean i'd venture to guess "rude boy" blowing up after a minute there sort of prolonged its commercial shelf-life

i actually was kind of disappointed w/ that after how promising "feeding me my catfishes is"

i think the record scratch effect and pitch down to normal voice for REALLY REALLY REALLY wait really? is the best use of nicki's wackiness i've heard

i think "rude boy" came out far enough after 'rated r' and was so divorced from everything else that was put out for that album that it didn't really help that album's sales really which is prob why they rushed this one out to continue on that momentum

yeah that's probably right

yep, as expected, great album <3

where is the dirty, retail rip?

There isn't one yet, as I said upthread.

all you're missing out w/ the clean version is rihanna saying "nigga" twice and minaj saying "bitches"

Yeah, I guess. And it shouldn't be a hassle to download the dirty versions of the track/s to replace...

ok so both versions i've downloaded have weird mid-song fades and even the one that purports to be 320kbps sounds like ass, so i guess i'll wait for something that's actually adequate to emerge

think you'll be waiting for the follow-up if you want one that doesn't sound like ass.

This is pretty terrible.

This album is completely unnecessary. I mean, there was just a remix album released in May! Why is she allowing her label to rush her through her career with such unremarkable material? I think her red wig ate her common sense.

You dudes is harsh. I think there's plenty to like here. The only WTF moment is California King Bed.

i'm sure she's absolutely devastated at being forced to record and sell number one singles and platinum albums

it's pretty obvious why they rushed another album out by her, as i outlined upthread

Are you kidding me? The first single is hugely successful in the US and Europe, the second single is currently sitting at the top of US digital rankings, this album is more or less guaranteed to shoot her back into the commercial top tier. Common sense is exactly what this album is about, correcting the (hugely unfortunate) lack of mega sales for the Rated R campaign.

xp and as I wrote that Jordan made the same point.

Yeah ok it's not "terrible" but it's not very good at all.

Also I don't buy the I'm-a-nympho stuff on here, asides from MAYBE "Skin." When I hear "Rude Boy," I still feel like Rihanna's going to punish me for being a bad, bad boy and it's great, but here it's not convincing at all.

listening back to "good girl gone bad" & it's actually better than i remembered

h8 phrases like "commercial top tier"

it may well get her back to that (though having assumed that, i'm...less convinced now i've heard it), but it's hardly a reason to care about the album in itself

I didn't say it was a reason to care about the album. It hasn't done anything for me after two listens, but it has definitely pushed her to the top of the charts. I say it's much better to get an album of half-decent'whatevers' quickly after a great album rather than her label forever mulling a strategy to strike back and THEN getting an album of average shit. At least now there's hope she does something crazy the next time around.

not crazy, interesting*

xpost
don't really wanna get into the sales=quality strawman again, but I hardly think the American public as of late is to be lauded for it's ability to discern between what's good or bad. The most likable thing about this album is when she puts her accent at the forefront(Man Down, What's My Name) two songs which I would actually listen to again. As someone else said, it's not terrible, but it leaves me feeling like, "Ok, I'm ready for the next album in 5 months." And yeah, her faux-nympho schtick is about as believable as her satan-fingers and 'rock star' stance.

Well I wasn't remotely close to suggesting sales=quality. On the other hand I was definitely saying sales = good business.

kind of bummed that "Pour It Up" is pulling ahead of "Loveeeeeee Song" on urban radio

the victoria secret show performance of 'phresh out the runway' was really awesome

"phresh out the runway" is dope but "numb" is the real banger off this. i like "pour it up" more than "loveeeeee song"

numn when that man comes in on the chorus

chills

Stay video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF8BRvqGCNs

Mykki Ekko confuses me. Why is some completely random unknown moany white boy on a big Rihanna single?

Terrible song with or without him though

Yeah who is this guy?

He co-wrote/-produced it, I guess? I don't really have any problem with the song, seems like a weird choice for a single tho.

So weird, right? Songwriters singing and producing their own songs...ON A RIHANNA ALBUM?!! GTFO!

i think i like stay a lot, seems like a weird song to call terrible but i have to listen again i've only heard it like once

xp Terius should've been her duet partner (not really, but anyone other than Chris) on "Nobody's Business" at any rate.

I assume no songwriter as hitherto unknown (and unremarkable) as Ekko would end up with a featuring credit, a substantial vocal part, a video appearance and his song being pushed as a single if a big push in his own right wasn't being planned. Which is ominous, because on the evidence he's shit and this is nothing to look fwd to

perhaps i've developed a degree of paranoia after years of being comprehensively gainsaid by rih's fiendishly clever handlers but i think of 'stay' as kind of a muted trojan horse just to keep her name in the air until the (spring/summer)time is right and punters' patience is more temperate

contrary to what i had idly assumed it appears there is in fact a substantial difference between mykkis blanco and ekko. i'm actually looking at pictures of ekko now trying to see into his soul but all that comes to mind is "john mayer needs a haircut"

Found myself enjoying this on the radio recently which is more than I could say for Diamonds.

Still never heard Unapologetic in full.

Despite a couple barely forgivable moments it's possibly her best album? Which isn't saying a ton but it's good.

nah, 'good girl gone bad' is wayyyyy better

that's an out-an-out great pop album

I'd say they're on par. I haven't listened to GGGB in forever tho and should probably revisit.

seems like a weird choice for a single tho.

Seems pretty obviously an attempt to capitalize on some Gotye hangover. I don't think this will have a ton of top 40 success, but it's definitely one of those THIS IS DEEP AND MEANS SOMETHING TO ME songs for teenagers.

the whole album is pretty downtempo compared to other Rihanna records (maybe even Rated R?), so it kinda figures that this would be the time that they'd venture a piano ballad single for the first time since "Unfaithful" (which this is at least way way better than)

I was thinking Adele, rather than Gotye.

I'll put Music of the Sun up with GGGB and Unapologetic. It's kind of a perfect Caribbean-pop trifle in a way.

A little of both maybe? The duet reminds me of Gotye, the accompaniment is all Adele.

yeah i get nothing Gotye out that other than 'for the first time ever, white boys can help Rihanna dominate pop radio'

out of that

yea as far as downtempo goes Stay is leaps and bounds ahead of Diamonds and Unfaithful jeez louise

both of those songs are like jackhammers in your brain

'for the first time ever, white boys can help Rihanna dominate pop radio'

please

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSjFam_dQL85wCHZVi3jd-TCcUxhtItAFozAI5Of2W9AdByjbiEtA

eh i meant as performers obv

lol

well idk i kinda like this song actually, it sounded 'right' when i first heard it on the radio on a cold night

totally

One thing I've noticed about Rihanna as a singer is that she has started emoting more convincingly as she's gotten older; I cringe to think of what she would have done to this song had it come out at the same time as "Unfaithful".

it would have been very sad :(

and yes i've heard people comment similarly about her recent performances

she's pretty fantastic on "Loveeeeeee Song" imo

ur pretty fantastic

ur pretty

thx surm happy valentine's day

blushin

favourite riri album for me is a tossup between GGGB and Rated R, Loud and Talk that talk both had shining moments but felt tossed off and lazy. Everything I read about this album made it sound even lazier + i guess i still find the whole chris brown thing pretty icky, but then I listened to "stay" about four times yesterday so now i don't even know.

vin diesel is feeling "stay"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4256755106383&set=vb.89562268312&type=2&theater

haha wtf

totally come round to "pour it up" now, her delivery is fucking amazing

i want a video asap

she sounds so...sober

I don't know where this should go, because there a million Rihanna threads, but this is so good I have no problem linking to bu**feed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/a-rihanna-meet-greet-vs-an-avril-lavigne-meet-greet

yeah that was pretty hysterical

those rihanna pictures are so beautiful!
like richard renaldi portraits, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117208/touching-strangers-richard-renaldi-surprisingly-moving

awesome

is Rihanna way taller than I realized?

Yeah, I had the same though. I'd always assumed she was kind of short(ish) for some reason, but perhaps not.

she's 5'8" and always in heels, so

orchestral "pour it up" <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLcjTzDsJnc