My overall thought on this is that this is going to be one of her "classic" albums. Obviously, Rihanna has solidified herself as a pop icon, now she needs to worry about having that permanent mark on the industry. Loud makes a pretty good imprint.
The album opens with "S & M", which, true to the album, has this wonderful loud beat. I can see this one being a single, and it has that flavor we expect from Rihanna.
"S & M" is immediately followed up with "What's My Name" easily my FAVORITE song on the whole album. When this song shot straight to number 1 on the Billboard charts I wasn't surprised at all. It seems like you can't go one day on Facebook without someone writing "Oh na na" on their status or something to that effect. The song has this smooth beat and seems to deviate a little from your standard song setup -- what I'm referring to is the chorus of the song, which repeats itself twice before leading into the ever popular "oh na na". When I first heard the song, I didn't expect that repeat, and when it was followed up by the popular catch phrase, I was sold. I also thought it was unique how Drake's guest feature musically was the very first verse only-- you don't hear a peep out of him after that! Most featured artists get placed on the hook or the chorus, so I thought this was really innovative.
I do like "Cheers" but I could really do without the Avril Lavigne sample. I really can't stand Avril, and I think my reasons are pretty obvious (read: FUCKING ANNOYING.) But I love how the song has a good beat to dance to while still being slow.
Fading keeps that same slowed down beat, and gives a little bit more emotion and depth than any of the previous songs -- focusing more on love and emotions rather than clubbing and partying.
Rihanna's other single, "Only Girl in the World" follows this song directly, picking speed up and getting you ready to dance again. One thing I really like about this song is how she demonstrates just how strong her singing voice is-- it takes quite a bit to sing that powerfully for most of a song!
Then, we slow waaaaay down into the slowest song on the album, "California King Bed". The song is definitely the most vulnerable song on the album. One thing that stood out to me about this song as well as the last is that there seems to be a strong rock influence and quite a bit of both electric and acoustic guitar.
Next up is "Man Down", which has a strong island beat-- "What's My Name" has traces of this, but the beat doesn't really come full force until now. I like how the beat for this song picks up a bit from the last, and doesn't barrel right into a full dance beat.
"Raining Men" has traces of this beat, but moves more into that dance beat we know and love Rihanna for. Nicki Minaj is featured on this song, and gives a bit of a harder flavor to the song as a whole while still maintaining that beat. These girls collaborate well together.
"Complicated" has Rihanna flexing that powerful voice of hers during the chorus, but I do think that the verses and general feel of the song is lacking somewhere-- it definitely is the song that I have the least amount of interest in.
Following, we have "Skin". The song starts really slow with a feeling that we're about to build to another strong dance beat. This never happens, but the song has a really sexy feel that keeps me wanting to listen (versus "Complicated", had to stop myself from hitting next!)
The Album closes with "Love the Way you Lie pt. 2" which appropriately features Eminem, as Rihanna was featured on one of his hugest songs of the year -- Yes, you guessed it, "Love the Way you Lie". The song seems a bit slower and darker than the first version, but I like how each of them essentially made their own interpretation of the song, and I think Pt 2 gives us a bit more of feminine emotion, versus the raw emotion we get from Eminem which feels much more masculine.
All in all, I would have liked the CD to have either ended with a bang-- as in a strong dance song, or at least the song right before the last to have that feel. Besides that, I obviously loved the album, and I have no doubt in my mind that decades from now, people will look back on this album as being full of Classic Rihanna hits.
