Rihanna's Unapologetic: Adventurous & Off-Kilter
Unapologetic is nice, but the album is so inconsistent that the only way to get through a good chunk of it is to treat it as such. Let’s talk about it.
Rihanna released her fourth November album on time in 2012. With the first single, the artist tried something new. Instead of choosing a dramatic ballad like Russian Roulette or a massive dance number like We Found Love, she opted for a more subdued tune. A midtempo pop ballad called Diamonds instead won out; it is simple but effective, with a light message but an enormous sound. That acceleration was unlikely to portend a radical shift in strategy.
Unapologetic is a bit more experimental and a whole lot deeper than any of Rihanna's other albums, and it's a similarly welcome reinvention of modern pop music. Rihanna is carrying on the tradition of showing off her assets that started with Rated R. This is also true with Pour It Up, a Mike Will Made-It duet that seems like a continuation of the producer's smash hit with Juicy J, Bandz a Make Her Dance, with its cold synths and booming beat. Rihanna's calm smirk conceals some serious trash talk. It's moments like those that make the album's few heart-on-sleeve ballads, except for What Now, the enormous, pounding, wailing power ballad, feel forced and unnatural.
In the album's second half, you'll find back-to-back tunes among its most fascinating, contrasting, and non-everywoman. Terius “The-Dream” Nash and Carlos “Los” McKinney co-wrote and co-produced the two. Infused with samples of Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, Nobody's Business is an active, dancy disco-house collaboration with Chris Brown. Rihanna's boyfriend proposes an intimate ride in a Lexus, who then declares that their relationship "ain't nobody's business." Just as Rihanna did not choose to be abused by Chris Brown, she did not ask for the millions of Twitter followers eager to weigh in on her every move.
After the party, the songs Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary are performed together; they have a dramatic scope similar to that of the-Dream's Abyss. Rihanna laments, confesses, and ultimately gives up over a building and dissolving production reminiscent of Kim Carnes' Bette Davis' Eyes. The evidence presented by Unapologetic is strong that Rihanna knows what she's doing. The best of the pop phenomenon still has something intriguing to offer.