Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded
Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded is the reissue of Barbadian singer Rihanna's third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). It was first released digitally in selected countries on June 2, 2008, by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. Launched to mark the first anniversary of the original album, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded features three newly recorded songs and a DVD showing exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Rihanna's worldwide tour, the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007–2009). For the new material, she worked with past collaborators Ne-Yo, Stargate, and C. "Tricky" Stewart, as well as Brian Kennedy, Mark Endert, Mike Elizondo, Mark "Spike" Stent and Maroon 5.
Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded
Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the sound and production of the newly added material. However, other critics felt that the album was not worthy of re-release with only three new songs. Among other awards and achievements, the reissue's songs earned two Grammy nominations at the 2009 ceremony; "Disturbia" was nominated for Best Dance Recording, while "If I Never See Your Face Again" received a nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Following its release, the reissue helped Good Girl Gone Bad re-enter several national charts. Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded sold 63,000 copies in its first week and helped the original album rise to number seven on the US Billboard 200 chart. The reissue charted in New Zealand and peaked at number four; it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), denoting shipments of over 15,000 copies. Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded was promoted with four singles, including the US number-one hits "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia", and "If I Never See Your Face Again", which featured Maroon 5. To further promote the album, Rihanna performed songs from the reissue on several television programs and award ceremonies including FNMTV and the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.
New material[edit]
Four new songs were recorded for Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded: "Disturbia", "Hatin' on the Club", "If I Never See Your Face Again" (with Maroon 5) and "Take a Bow". All were initially confirmed for inclusion on the album, though "Hatin' on the Club" was removed for unspecified reasons.[22] The song was leaked online in January 2009 on Big Mike & DJ Neptune's R&B Kings Part Two mixtape.[23]
"Disturbia" is an uptempo electropop song.[24] According to BBC Music's Fraser McAlpine, it is reminiscent of Rihanna's 2007 single "Don't Stop the Music".[25] McAlpine also noted that the song has a "frosty-rave" chorus accompanied with Rihanna's "icy" vocals.[25] It was written by Brian Kennedy Seals, Chris Brown, Robert Allen and Andre Merritt for the re-release of Brown's second studio album, Exclusive (2007). However, after finishing the song, Brown took preference to another track, "Forever", which would later be released as the first single from the re-release. He felt that "Disturbia" would be better suited for a female singer and gave it to Rihanna.[28] Kennedy produced "Disturbia", while Makeba Riddick produced Rihanna's vocals. The song was recorded by Andrew Vastola at Rocky Mountain Recorders in Denver, Colorado. It was mixed by Phil Tan at Soapbox Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional engineering was provided by Josh Houghkirk, with assistance from Carlos Oyanedel.[29] Speaking to USA Today, Brown described his feelings about giving "Disturbia" to Rihanna: "It's fun being creative and even if you have a concept in your head to write about, you can write it and give it and give it to someone else because it might not personally fit you, but it might be an idea you have".[30]
"If I Never See Your Face Again" is an R&B song[26] that incorporates a "jagged" use of synthesizers and "buzzing" guitars in its production.[27] It was written by Adam Levine and James Valentine, two of the five band members from Maroon 5. It was produced by Mark Endert, Mike Elizondo, Mark "Spike" Stent, C. "Tricky" Stewart and Maroon 5. "If I Never See Your Face Again" was recorded by Stent at Conway Studios in Hollywood, Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank and Phantom Studios in Westlake Village. The song was mixed by Endert at Scream Studios in Miami, with assistance from Doug Johnson.[29] "If I Never See Your Face Again" was originally included on the standard version of It Won't Be Soon Before Long without the inclusion of Rihanna, however, Levine stated in an interview with James Montgomery for MTV News while on set of the music video that he wanted to try something different for the album's re-release.[31] He also said that he asked Rihanna to do some "bits and pieces" in the recording studio and that it came together very quickly.[31] Levine stated that if there is "magic" between two artists, then "you don't even have to think about it."[31] In an interview with MTV's Total Request Live, Rihanna said that she was very excited about the collaboration with the band because she always "loved them" and their work.[11]
"Take a Bow" is an R&B song[32] that tells of how the female protagonist expresses disinterest in rekindling her relationship with a dishonorable and unfaithful ex-boyfriend.[9] The song was written by Ne-Yo, Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen. Hermansen and Eriksen produced and provided instruments for "Take a Bow" under their production name, Stargate, while Smith co-produced the song. Rihanna's vocals were recorded by Eriksen at Roc the Mic Studios in New York City, Westlake Studios in Los Angeles and Parr Street Studios in Liverpool. The song was mixed by Tan at Soapbox Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, with assistance from Houghkirk.[29]
Promotion[edit]
To further promote Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, Rihanna performed on several television programs and award ceremonies. She performed "Take a Bow" for the first time at the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards held in Toronto, Canada in the MuchMusic's headquarters on June 15, 2008.[58] On June 20, Rihanna appeared on the Today Concert Series held at the Rockefeller Plaza, New York City. She performed "Take a Bow" together with her 2007 singles "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop the Music".[59] On June 27, she appeared on FNMTV together with Maroon 5. She sang "Take a Bow" before performing together on their collaboration "If I Never See Your Face Again".[60] In July 2008, Rihanna performed the Spanglish version of "Hate That I Love You" with Bisbal, at the sixth series of the Spanish talent show, Operación Triunfo.[61]
Rihanna performed "Disturbia" for the first time at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, held on September 7, 2008.[62] She performed it while revealing a leather "goth inspired" outfit. Together with the dance troops, she performed a Thriller-inspired dance in which glow sticks and leather props were used.[63][64] On September 19, 2008, Rihanna visited France and performed "Disturbia" at Star Academy France.[65] Rihanna sang "Disturbia" at the 2009 Super Bowl which was held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.[66] The performance of the song featured a sample from the White Stripes song "Seven Nation Army" (2003) and was accompanied by flames that shot up across the front of the stage.[66]
Critical reception[edit]
A reviewer from The National praised the material on the original album, particularly the "ubiquity" of "Umbrella", and also complimented "Don't Stop the Music", "Hate That I Love You", and "Shut Up and Drive".[67] He further stated that the release of Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded was made to mark the first anniversary of the album and that "the new tracks are everything you want pop to be, and are a testament to the power of the original record and to the new Rihanna."[67] Spence D. of IGN reviewed the new material and wrote that "Disturbia" is built on an infective "bum-bum-be-dum-bum-bum..." hook "that sucks you into the detached electronic bounce of the track".[68] He said that "Take a Bow" is perfectly fitted for a "post-break-up days of gloom" and further praised Rihanna's vocals on the song.[68] According to D., "If I Never See Your Face Again" is inspired by the works of American musician Prince and wrote that the "Rihanna's presence [on the song] definitely gives it a nice boost".[68]
J. Edward Keyes of eMusic gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that the "uber-futurist" production of the release accompanied with Rihanna's "Robo Dominatrix vocal approach—is a big reason the record works so well. Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded is all blue-light electronics and primal throb, 25th-century pop music in the here and now."[69] Digital Spy's Nick Levine also gave Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded four out of five stars, but was skeptical about the choice to re-release the album, writing that "it isn't worth forking out for Good Girl Gone Bad twice just to hear the new songs".[70] Despite that, he praised the newly added songs especially "If I Never See Your Face Again"; he called the song "superior".[70] Levine further wrote, "if Reloaded encourages a few hesitant pop fans to invest in this album, the closest thing to a Thriller that 2007/8 is likely to produce, this rather cynical reissue should be let off the hook... just."[70] Among other achieved awards and nominations, "Disturbia" and "If I Never See Your Face Again" received nominations for Best Dance Recording and Pop Collaboration with Vocals respectively at the 2009 Grammy Awards.[71]
Commercial performance[edit]
After the release of Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, music publications predicted that the reissue would sell between 45,000 and 50,000 copies in its first week in the US.[59] For the week ending June 22, 2008, it sold 63,000 copies and helped the original version of the album to jump from number 124 to number seven on the US Billboard 200 in its 55th week.[72] It also helped the original rise to number five on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[73] With this, Good Girl Gone Bad got back in the top 10 for the first time since its debut in June 2007.[72] Five songs from the reissue were listed on the Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Disturbia", which debuted at number six.[72] The next week, Good Girl Gone Bad (combined sales with Reloaded) fell to number nine and sold 40,000 more copies.[74] In its third week, it charted at number ten on sales of 41,000 copies.[75] By November 2012, both Good Girl Gone Bad and the reissue had sold 2,800,000 copies in the US alone.[76] Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded helped the original album re-enter and peak at number six on the Canadian Albums Chart.[77]
Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded debuted at number seven on the New Zealand Albums Chart in the week of June 30, 2008.[78] It reached its peak position on the chart at number four the following week.[79] It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipping over 15,000 copies.[79] Following the reissue, the original album re-entered the charts of countries, including UK at number 12,[80] Denmark at number 15,[81] Switzerland at number 32,[82] and Austria at number 36.[83] By June 2012, Good Girl Gone Bad (combined sales with Reloaded) had sold 1,850,000 copies in the UK.[84]
When Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded was released, the original album received a sales increase of 930%—more than any other non-debuting album in the history of the Billboard 200 chart.[72] Its songs had sold over 17 million digital copies by July 2010.[85] "Disturbia" and "Take a Bow" were two of the album's most downloaded songs.[85] Before reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Take a Bow" jumped from number 53 to the top of the chart, following digital sales of 267,000 copies.[35] It registered one of the biggest single-week jump to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[35]