Rated R (Rihanna album)
Rated R is the fourth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on November 20, 2009, by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. Recording sessions for the album began in March 2009 and took place at recording studios throughout United States and Europe. Rihanna was the executive producer of the album alongside Antonio "L.A." Reid and The Carter Administration. It features additional production by various record producers, including Chase & Status, Stargate, The-Dream, Ne-Yo, and Brian Kennedy. The record features several vocalists and instrumentalists, including Young Jeezy, will.i.am, Justin Timberlake and Slash, who played the guitars in "Rockstar 101".
For the remix album, see Rated R: Remixed.Rated R
Musically, the album represents a departure from her previous effort Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), which contained up-tempo and ballad-oriented songs. Rated R is a rock-influenced pop, hip hop and R&B album; it features a foreboding and atmospheric tone in terms of musical and lyrical direction, and it incorporates elements of dubstep. It also explores other genres, such as dancehall in "Rude Boy" and Latin-infusion in "Te Amo". Rated R received positive reviews from music critics, who commended Rihanna's mature performance and called the album her most layered and heartfelt effort. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. It also attained top ten positions in over twelve other countries.
The album produced six singles, "Russian Roulette", "Wait Your Turn", "Hard", "Rude Boy", "Rockstar 101", and "Te Amo". "Russian Roulette" was released as the album's lead single and managed to reach top-ten in over 25 countries. "Hard" became her thirteenth US top-ten single, while "Rude Boy" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for five consecutive weeks. "Te Amo" attained top-ten positions around Europe and reached number one in Brazil. To further promote the album, Rihanna embarked on her third worldwide concert tour Last Girl on Earth (2010–2011). Rated R is deemed as an important album in Rihanna's career and a groundwork inspiration for her follow-up releases.
Music and lyrics[edit]
Rated R features a darker and more foreboding tone than Rihanna's previous albums.[33] Primarily a pop,[34] hip hop[35] and R&B album,[36] it also incorporates musical elements of rock music.[37] The album's production is typified by a sleek sound and incorporates ominous synthesizers, intertwining guitar licks, tense beats, minor-key melodies, and polyrhythmic vocal harmonies.[33][34][38] Songs such as "G4L", "Mad House", and "Wait Your Turn" incorporate elements of dubstep, including brooding synths and grumbling basslines.[39][40] The album also incorporates other musical genres, such as dancehall in the Jamaican inspired "Rude Boy" and Latin music-infusion in "Te Amo".[41][42] Rihanna discussed the musical direction of the project in an interview for Glamour magazine, stating "The songs are really personal. It's rock 'n' roll, but it's really hip-hop: If Lil Wayne and Kings of Leon like my album, then I'll feel good."[43]
The lyrical content of the album features generally bleak views on love and boastful lyrics concerning perseverance and overcoming adversity.[38][44] Its lyrics are characterized by grim and angry tones,[45] and songs that contain boastful and persevering themes are characterized by images of violence and brutality.[37][46] While journalists Ann Powers of Los Angeles Times, Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine, and Rob Harvilla of The Village Voice perceived its lyrics as allusions to Rihanna's assault by Chris Brown,[37][45][47] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the album "doesn't specifically address those events, but it hardly ignores them".[44] According to Powers, regret is a significant theme on the album: "The songs on 'Rated R' never have their singer apologize for the man who so seriously wronged her, but they do acknowledge the other emotions that come with separation, even from a partner who's also a perpetrator. Those feelings include regret, tenderness and deep sadness".[37]
Commercial performance[edit]
Rated R debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 181,000 copies in the country, giving Rihanna her highest first-week sales at that time.[117][118][119] It surpassed the first week sales of her previous album Good Girl Gone Bad, which entered at number two on the chart in 2007, with sales of 162,000 copies sold.[118] It topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and became her first number-one on the chart.[120] On March 26, 2018, Rated R was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[121] and had sold over 1,130,000 copies in the US as of June 2015.[122] The album debuted and peaked at number five on the Canadian Albums Chart[123] and it received a platinum certification from Music Canada (MC).[124]
For the issue dated November 29, 2009, the album entered at number sixteen on the UK Albums Chart[125] and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in just four days.[126] For the issue dated March 7, 2010, the album broke into the top ten, and reached its number nine peak in the 15th week on the chart.[127][128] It had sold over 710,000 copies in the country, as of 2015,[129] and earned a two-times platinum certification from BPI.[126] The album debuted at number 15 on the Australian Albums Chart.[130] In August, the album was certified Platinum for shipping 70,000 units.[131] For the issue dated March 14, 2010, Rated R set a new high of 12.[130] It entered and peaked at number 14 on the New Zealand Albums Chart.[132]
Rated R debuted at number 12 on the Norwegian Albums Chart. In its tenth week, it peaked atop the chart[133] and became Rihanna's first number-one album in the country.[134] It was certified gold by IFPI Norway, denoting sales of over 15,000 copies.[135] The album opened at number one on the Swiss Albums Chart for the issue dated December 6, 2009, and spent a total of 43 weeks on the chart.[136] It received a platinum certification from IFPI Switzerland for shipment of 15,000 copies in the country.[137] Rated R debuted and peaked at number four on the German Albums Chart for the issue dated December 4, 2009. It became Rihanna's second top-five album[138] and received a platinum certification from Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipments of over 200,000 copies in the country.[139] In Poland, the album peaked at number five and received a gold certification, selling 20,000 copies in one month,[140] beating Good Girl Gone Bad's sales of 20,000 achieved in two years.[141] It also peaked at number 7 at the Austrian[142] and Irish Albums charts,[143] and number 10 on the Croatian,[144] French[145] and Japanese Albums charts.[146] Worldwide, Rated R had sold over three million copies, as of November 2010.[147]
Legacy[edit]
Rated R is deemed a pivotal record in Rihanna's career as it was released nine months after the domestic violence case with Brown. In 2019, ten years after the album release, Chuck Arnold of Billboard described the record as a "coming-of-age manifesto" and also Rihanna's version of Jackson's Control (1986). According to him, Rated R is "her declaration of independence from Brown and her taking charge of a narrative that had turned her into a victim."[148] Similarly, Blavity's Jordan Simon compared it to Jackson's The Velvet Rope, and described it as "a dark portrait of a Black woman's journey to self-healing".[149]