Rihanna

Top Lyrics By
Rihanna

Rihanna "Loud" album

- Release date : November 2010 -

"Loud" is the fifth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, released on November 16, 2010 through Def Jam Recordings.

Recording sessions began in February 2010 and continued over a period of six months, concluding in August 2010. In June 2010, it was revealed that Rihanna was planning to release the fifth studio album soon. Singers, songwriters and producers Taio Cruz, Alex da Kid, Sean Garrett, Ne-Yo, Rico Love, Timbaland, Shontelle, David Guetta, and Drake worked on the album.

"I'm gonna miss the Rated R era too, but nothing compares to the album I just made," Rihanna said, adding,"I made sure not to let you down with my music. You guys are always defending me, so now you’ve got some great songs to justify it. I didn’t want to go backward and remake Good Girl Gone Bad. I wanted the next step in the evolution of Rihanna, and it’s perfect for us".

In early September 2010, she announced that the album would be called, Loud saying that "get Loud everybody, get crazy, get excited, because I'm pumped. I'm just gonna be me, because that's what you guys love the most, and that's what makes me feel best. Just being normal, normal for me is Loud! Sassy, fun, flirty, energetic." While Rihanna was on set filming for the movie Battleship, she explained in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, "Loud is, the word, the name of the album definitely reflects the attitude of it, it’s really sassy and flirty and it grabs your attention and that’s why I enjoy it. It takes you through a really really interesting ride. So colorful the album.”

The album's lead single "Only Girl (In the World)" was released on September 10, 2010. The song was sent to US mainstream and rhythmic radio on September 21, 2010. The song has peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song has also reached number one in the UK, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium (Wallonia), Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Slovakia. "What's My Name?" was released as the second single of the album on October 29, 2010 and the video has already been shot. On October 21, 2010 Billboard reported that the version of the single featuring Drake had made its hot shot debut on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart at number sixty-seven. It was released in some European countries on October 29, 2010 and later in the US on November 1. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Rihanna her ninth number-one hit on the chart.

"Raining Men" and "S&M" respectively serve as the third and fourth singles from the album. "Raining Men" was initially released to urban radio on December 7, 2010 and peaked on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart at number fifty-seven. "S&M" was released to mainstream radio on January 25, 2011. Rihanna had tipped the song to be a single early on, with plans for an "unexpected" music video. "S&M" charted at number 72 in on the Canadian Singles Chart, at number 53 on the US Billboard Hot 100, at number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number four on the Norwegian Singles Chart, following the album's release. "Raining Men" was also re-released to urban radio on January 25, 2011.

Rihanna first headed to London, UK to promote the album, on October 1, 2010. She interviewed with BBC Radio 1, "I can't believe it's the fifth album already," she said to host Scott Mills. "That's insane to think about. I've never been this excited about anything I've done creatively, and this is just the perfect Rihanna album, every song is tailored to me." During the making of the album, the singer had a particular agenda in mind: "I wanted songs that were all Rihanna songs, that nobody else could do. I didn't want the generic pop record that Kesha or Lady Gaga or Katy Perry could just do and it'll work. I wanted a song, or songs, that were Rihanna songs, that only I could do, had that little West Indian vibe to it, had that certain tone, a certain sass and a certain energy." As a part of the promotion, Rihanna unveiled five tracks from the album, at a club in London. Rihanna said during the promotion that much of the music was born out of frustration. She explained: "When you go to a club and have to listen to bad music you revert to the liquor, because you want to have a good time. I hate having to skip a track. I wanted to make an album you can just play."

The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 207,000 copies in the United States. It is Rihanna's highest first-week sales in the US. It also entered at number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In its second week, the album dropped to number six on the Billboard 200 and sold 141,000 copies. In its third week, the album sold 77,000 copies staying in the top 10. In its fourth week, the album sold an additional 71,000 copies, coming in at number 9 on the Billboard Top 200. In its fifth week, the album slipped to number 11 with sales of 84,000 copies. The album sold an additional 111,000 copies in its sixth week coming in at number 10 on the Billboard Top 200. In its seventh week, the album had climbed back to its original peak of 3 and sold 62,000 copies. As of January 30, 2011 the album had sold 865,000 copies in the United States. On January 25, 2011, Loud was certified Platinum in the United States.

Loud achieved considerable international charting, reaching the top-10 of charts in several countries. In Canada, it debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 27,000 copies in its first week. Loud went on to sell more than 80,000 units in Canada, thus achieving platinum status by the first week of December, 2010. As of January 5, 2011, Loud has sold more than 130,000 copies in Canada. In France, it debuted at number three with first week sales of 17,304 copies. By its sixth week on the French Charts, Loud achieved platinum status by reaching the 100,000 copies mark. In its second week on the Australian Albums Chart, the album was certified Gold for sales of over 35,000 copies. In Italy, the album became Rihanna's highest peaking chart position at number 11. It became her third consecutive number one album in Switzerland. Loud debuted at number two on the German Albums Chart. The album debuted at number two in Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In the UK, the album sold 91,000 copies in its first week. In its seventh week on the chart, it climbed to top of the UK album chart, giving her second number-one album in the country. After only seven weeks of sales in UK, the album became the fourth best-selling album in that country for 2010. As of January 7, 2011, the album was certificated three-time Platinum in the UK.

"Loud" album tracks and lyrics

"Loud" album reviews

Loud would not sound quite so slapdash if it did not follow Good Girl Gone Bad, one of the best pop albums of its decade, and Rated R, one of the most fascinating pop albums of the same time frame. This album, released less than a year after the latter, also has the misfortune of arriving with no fanfare; a dramatic intro proclaiming “The wait is ova,” à la Rated R's opening track, would be silly. Even without considering the weight of what it follows, there’s no getting past the notion that Loud is as uneven as Rihanna’s first two albums. It’s more an unfocused assortment of poor-to-solid songs than a unified set. The predatory StarGate/Sandy Vee-produced dance-pop (“S&M,” “Only Girl [In the World]”) is what works best here. Though neither one can touch “Rude Boy,” they do efficiently balance Rihanna’s playful and sinister sides. One song that sounds nothing like anything else in Rihanna’s past is “Skin,” a contender for anti-gravity slow jam of 2010 -- a match for Trey Songz's “Red Lipstick” and Usher’s “Mars vs Venus.” The low points -- the cluttered “Complicated,” the unfinished-sounding Nicki Minaj collaboration “Raining Men,” the overwrought rock weeper “California King Bed” -- weigh the album down, making it resemble a fourth-quarter stopgap as Rihanna prepares her next truly eventful release. There’s just enough quality content to maintain her visibility.

*** by Andy Kellman, All Music Guide ***

The pop/R&B superstar gets naughty on 'Loud,' which lets you know exactly what you're in for on opening track 'S&M.'

Rihanna is a good girl who went bad a couple of albums ago, and she keeps getting naughtier all the time. Loud's pulsating opener, S&M, makes it clear from the jump where she's headed as she acknowledges that "chains and whips excite me." She never retreats from that sexually aggressive tone as she shakes off the dark cloud of domestic violence that veiled 2009's Rated R. On her fifth album in five years, she is on a freaky, flirty, fun trip. The edgy music, which leans heavily toward dance and island sounds, fits well with her less than blissful romantic romps. On more than one occasion, she makes it clear that she likes her men complicated and that they can expect her to be the same.

Eminem puts in a cameo on Love the Way You Lie (Part II), which extends, but doesn't really add, to their earlier hit about a tortured relationship from his Recovery album. Better is Raining Men, a duet with Nicki Minaj on which busters feel the blast of the vamps' ire. Rihanna is not only loud, but full of drama.

*** by Steve Jones, USA Today ***

The reign of an r&b diva can be as cruelly brief as the lifespan of a gnat. For every Alicia Keys there lies the career corpses of Blu Cantrell or Brandi. Beyoncé, at a mere 29, has the regal air of an elder stateswoman; Mary J Blige, at 39, seems positively geriatric while the latest contender, Will Smith’s daughter Willow, is still at primary school.

Rihanna, who symbolically scored her biggest hit Umbrella when Blige turned it down, seems to be at the top of her game, but churning out five albums in five years along with corresponding image makeovers, suggests the 22-year-old is leaving nothing to chance.

Loud is a swift return to the kind of sunny, upbeat pop bangers that preceded the Barbados-born singer’s brush with domestic violence and the resulting dark melodrama of her last album Rated-R.

In some ways, this is Rihanna’s most versatile set of songs, spanning lilting reggae grooves that reflect her Caribbean roots to the kind of AOR country ballads that Taylor Swift would sing.

Amid the shape shifting, Rihanna does an impressive job of stamping her own sassy, tomboyish personality on sometimes generic material, but it’s the collaboration with new girl on the block Nicki Minaj that seems to bring out her competitive best.

*** by Bernadette McNulty, The Telegraph ***

Last year was possibly the nadir of Rihanna’s young life, and it showed all over her aptly titled Rated R — a bleak, bullet-cased chronicle of a domestic-violence victim–turned–sonic vigilante.

Loud, the 22-year-old Barbados native’s fifth disc, comes almost a year to the day after R, and only scant traces of that wounded warrior remain. In her place is a rebooted pop vixen, a Caribbean-accented kitten with a whip. What begins with late-night-Cinemax naughtiness (see: explicitly carnal opener ''S&M'' and playful Drake collab ''What’s My Name?'') soon yields to the walk-away ballad ''Fading,'' a gorgeously synthesized moment of sweet defiance. The Jameson-swilling, TGIF-toasting ''Cheers (Drink to That)'' folds a left-field Avril Lavigne sample into a crunked party anthem, while the rum-pa-pum ragga ''Man Down'' burrows neck-deep in island rhythms. Lead single ''Only Girl (In the World)'' finds her playing the spiraling dance-floor siren, a role she carries through the airy ''Complicated.'' Even while telling a recalcitrant man how hard he is to love, she sounds almost buoyant, her newly expanded vocals eager to scale the song’s high-altitude house beat.

At times the album’s lurid sexuality can feel forced: kink as oversold diva commodity. What Loud showcases best, though, is a star undefeated by her worst circumstances — and finding redemption in exactly the kind of pop nirvana that made her famous in the first place. A–

*** by Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly ***