Posted at 06:51h
in
Reviews
It's been a highly publicised turbulent year for Robyn '
Rihanna' Fenty, with her assault in February catapulting her into a strange place of sensationalised super stardom that even her mega-hit "Umbrella" didn't garner. But whilst she has been ever-present on blogs and gossip pages, she didn't utter a word on record and her silence transcended into music; we didn't hear so much as a leaked interlude until
very recently.
Rihanna didn't talk until the promotional engine was in motion, leading many to regard
Rated R as the aural response to her relationship with
Chris Brown.
It's sometimes difficult when you’ve followed someone from the beginning of their career to accept when they give you something different. But if we can all grow and change, why can’t they? Artists have to be two steps ahead of us, so with every album they release we’re supposed to be two steps behind - and that's pretty much what happened with this album. No one was expecting what Beyoncé came out with, partly due to the fact that the lead single ‘Who Run The World (Girls)’ was so misleading. So when a barrage of ballads was powerfully belted into our ears the majority were shocked, many disappointed (myself included, at first).