Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad

For months now, I’ve stubbornly resisted buying this album. During that time, it has been topping the iTunes charts and is played incessantly across the radio. Everyone has heard it, and most listeners have a strong opinion about it one way or the other. So finally, I can ignore it no more – I caved and bought it.

A paradoxical album, some of its tracks have an addictive, driving beat that has me turning up the volume and moving to the pulse. Others, like ‘Umbrella’, are so unbearably annoying and unmusical that I can hardly bear to listen to them. 

No one can deny that the album has variety. There are club-style dance tracks in ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ and ‘Push Up On Me’. The vocals of ‘Lemme Get That’ are mostly rapped, while ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ sounds more like pop of the generic “soft-rock” radio variety. ‘Shut Up and Drive’ (great track!), has rock guitars and drums. All of this from an artist whose previous albums were criticized for lacking versatility. No more!

It’s true – there’s some lack of musicality here. The melodies aren’t impressive for their own sake, and the tracks are driven mostly by a strong rhythm section. But, credit must be given for certainly showing much improvement over Rihanna’s previous albums. 

My conclusion: it’s a worthwhile album! If you can avoid those few tracks that will drive you insane, the rest is a really good listen.