Rated R (Rihanna album)
Encyclopedia
Rated R is the fourth studio album by Barbadian
recording artist Rihanna
, first released November 20, 2009, on Def Jam Recordings
. The album is a musical distance from her previous effort Good Girl Gone Bad
(2007), which contained up-tempo and ballad-oriented songs, and it heavily incorporated pop
and dance-pop
musical styles. Conceived after Rihanna's assault by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, Rated R features different foreboding and angry tone, in terms of musical and lyrical direction, and incorporates elements of hip hop
, rock
, and dubstep
. The album also incorporated other musical genres, such as Dancehall in the Jamaican inspired "Rude Boy
" and Latin in "Te Amo
".
Recording sessions for the album took place during March to November 2009 at several recording studios throughout United States
and Europe
. Rihanna together with L.A. Reid, Jay-Z
and Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers
, executively produced the album and worked with several record producers, including Chase & Status
, StarGate
, The-Dream
, Ne-Yo
, and Brian Kennedy
. The album also included several featured vocalists and instrumentalist, including Young Jeezy
, Will.i.am
and Slash
who played the guitars in "Rockstar 101
".
Upon its release Rated R received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Rihanna's mature performance, and described the album as her most layered and heartfelt effort. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200
chart, selling 181,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album reached number-one in Norway
, Switzerland
and on the US Billboard
R&B/Hip Hop Albums. On the UK Albums Chart
, the album reached a peak of nine, and was certified gold in only four days.
The album produced five singles, including the international hits "Russian Roulette
", "Rude Boy" and "Te Amo", together with the US releases "Hard
". "Wait Your Turn
" was also released as the albums promotional single. "Russian Roulette" was released as albums lead single and managed to reach top-ten in seventeen countries and topped the charts in Norway and Switzerland. "Hard reached number nine in the United States and became her thirteenth top-ten single re-tying her with Beyoncé Knowles
as the female artist with the most top-ten hit singles in the United States. "Rude Boy" was a commercial success and became the only single from the album that topped the US Billboard Hot 100
for five consecutive weeks. "Rockstar 101" was released in the United States and managed to reach number two on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs. "Te Amo", the last international released single, managed to reach number one on Brazilian Hot 100 Airplay and peaked within the top-ten in nine other countries.
Rihanna's previous album Good Girl Gone Bad
(2007) was a commercial success and received generally favorable reviews from most music critics. The album featured five top ten hits—three US number one hit singles—including the international breakthrough single "Umbrella
". With regards to the Rated R album, there was much speculation as to whether any of the songs on the album would be about former boyfriend Chris Brown. In an interview with MTV, Ne-Yo
—who has written songs for Rihanna in the past—clarified that he would not write a song for Rihanna about Brown because he doesn't think that needs to be a song and because of his friendship with Brown. Producer Chuck Harmony
felt that no matter what song Rihanna released as the lead single people would immediately think that the song is about Brown.
During an interview with Marc Malkin at the MTV Video Music Awards
, Ne-Yo stated that people should expect an edgier and angrier Rihanna on the album. He later told In Touch Weekly
that the album is definitely more edgy than the way we're used to seeing Rihanna while describing the album as "liberated". Akon
, on the other hand, stated that he was "going to lighten her up" and didn't want an angry Rihanna. With the success of her last album, Rihanna wanted to make sure that she didn't fall into one sound or vibe. At the "Justin Timberlake & Friends Concert in Las Vegas", Timberlake
told MTV that Rated R is a whole new sound and that the new songs are not just a rehash of what fans heard on her last album. "She broke onto the scene so hard with the last record — to have that many songs on the charts is impressive. I think that the smartest thing she's doing is not trying to emulate what she did but move forward", Timberlake explained.
After the release of the lead single, "Russian Roulette
," Harmony was aware that the reaction was mixed from fans who've heard the track. He further clarified that the song is not relating to the rest of the album and that it is a reflection of Rihanna's growth as an artist. Tricky Stewart
spoke to Rap-Up
about the song he and The-Dream contributed to and about the album as a whole describing the song as an uptempo and edgy club banger while stating that the album is different than her past works. In February 2010, Rihanna said that she liked the album but her next would be much less intense: "I really like the bottom, the grime of it. But if I were to combine that with more energetic, up-tempo pop records, then I think that would be a happy marriage. And that's where we'll probably go next". When asked what the most important song to her was, she stated that she doesn't have one that is most important, however, "Fire Bomb" and "Cold Case Love" are some of her favorites. She also stated she does enjoy the "fun" songs on this album as well including "Rockstar 101
", "Hard
", and her hit single, "Rude Boy
".
, New York
, Metropolis Studios in London
, England
, Studios Davout in Paris, France and at Westlake Recording Studios
in Los Angeles
, California
. Rihanna worked with several different song-writers and producers on the album, including Chuck Harmony, The-Dream
, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Chase & Status
, Stargate
, Demo, and Justin Timberlake. Rihanna wanted the album to be less Synthpop
and have more bass and grime beats which was a major shift from the lighthearted commercial pop of her previous albums. In the early stages of the production, she worked with Adonis Shropshire
who stated that she was just easing back into the studio with a couple of ideas here and there over the last couple of weeks. Rihanna also worked with Stargate who added that the collaboration was "very rewarding" and "inspiring for us", commenting: "I don't think we should talk about titles just yet. We don't really know which songs are gonna make it, but it feels exciting." It was later revealed that Stargate originally produced a collaboration between Rihanna and Canadian
rapper Drake
. Eventually, however, for reasons unknown, the song did not make the final cut for the album.
During the summer, Rihanna recorded songs for the album with record producer Chuck Harmony
. She was involved with writing most of the lyrics on the album with the help of Timberlake and Ne-Yo who would help her translate her emotions into the songs. She worked with Ne-Yo on a number of songs although he didn't know what songs were kept for the album. While working together, he felt that Rihanna wasn't the same girl as the one he worked with a few years before and stated that she had become more comfortable in her skin now. In terms of musical direction, Rihanna requested somber vibe songs for the album, but not just dark for the sake of being dark; she wanted dark songs that had some kind of meaning. Harmony wanted "Russian Roulette
" to stand out and felt that the song should be darker, edgier and more morbid just to try it out. Rihanna was comfortable with the vibe and the lyrical content of the song and eventually phoned in to Ne-Yo to tell him that it was one of her favorites.
After listening to track "Saxon" performed by Nicki Minaj
and production duo Chase & Status
, Rihanna got in contact with them and wanted to work with them because she loved the feel of the drums and wanted a similar thing for her album. Chase & Status had a pair of sessions with Rihanna and worked together for a few weeks in an undisclosed location. Chase & Status worked with her on songs that had a dubstep
vibe, although whenever Rihanna didn't like something she would let them know. On one of the tracks, Rihanna came up with a melody
and idea to give the song the kind of vibe she wanted. In October 2009, she concluded recording sessions with Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. Dream and Tricky flew out to Paris and played a few songs for Rihanna which included the songs "Hard
" and "Rockstar 101." The song "Hard" stood out from all the songs because she felt that it had such an arrogance to it. In the song "Rockstar 101
," guitarist
Slash
contributed a bass guitar
on the track while "Photographs" is a duet with will.i.am
. In addition, Ester Dean
co-wrote the song "Rude Boy
." "The Last Song" was one of the last tracks crafted for the album. Rihanna recorded the song within the final twelve hours of the album's conception: "When the label finally said we had 12 hours to turn in the album, I was like, Okay, I have to do it. I just drank some red wine, dimmed the lights, got in the booth and sang it."
and pop
-oriented album, it also incorporates musical elements of hip hop
, rock
, and dancehall
. The album's production is typified by a sleek sound and incorporates ominous synthesizer
s, intertwining guitar licks, tense beats
, minor-key melodies, and polyrhythm
ic vocal harmonies. Songs such as "Mad House", "G4L", and "Wait Your Turn" incorporate elements of dubstep
, including brooding synths and grumbling basslines. Rihanna discussed its musical direction 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". On Rated Rs musical style, music journalist Jim DeRogatis
perceived that it only incorporates elements of rock, writing "Though there's nothing inherently rock 'n' roll or 'super-fearless' about lacing slick, synthesized dance-pop grooves with a little electric guitar, some of it courtesy of Slash, a quarter of a century after Thriller
, there is a more insistent punch and electrifying energy in the 13 grooves on Rated R".
The lyrical content of Rated R features generally bleak views on love and boastful lyrics concerning perseverance and overcoming adversity. The album's lyrics are characterized by grim, raw and angry tones, and songs that contain boastful and persevering themes are characterized by images of violence and brutality. Its lyrics are also distinguished by prominent profanity. While several music writers perceived its lyrics as allusions to Rihanna's assault by Chris Brown, journalist Jon Pareles
wrote that the album "doesn't specifically address those events, but it hardly ignores them". According to music writer Ann 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".
in a nude body suit and white fur coat. The photos were thought to be on the front cover or booklet of the album. The final image from the photoshoot for the album was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth
who stated that "Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album." von Unwerth, who has also shot other album covers such as, The Velvet Rope
(1997) by Janet Jackson
, Back to Basics
(2006) by Christina Aguilera
, and Blackout (2007) by Britney Spears
, went on to say that Rihanna was involved in every aspect of the shoot and was ready to push the boundaries. The album cover was released on October 27, 2009, which features Rihanna in a moody, contemplative pose wearing a leather top with her hand covering her right eye and each finger wrapped in an intricate set of rings. The black-and-white cover was compared to the outrageous 1980s album covers by singer Grace Jones
.
The brand and styling of Rated R was conceived by British artist and director Simon Henwood
, the creative director of the campaign. "We talked extensively for months before the album's release, and looked at every aspect of the campaign—from styling to stage ideas and visuals," Henwood revealed in an interview with ArjanWrites.com. "Everything comes from the music, and this is her most personal album to date—so everything draws from it in one way or another." He designed the "R" logo seen on the album cover, which "is a two edge sword [...] One side symbolizes strength and the other vulnerability. I designed it as a 3D object first that changes form in rotation as an animation—It forms the logo shape at the end of the loop." He took inspiration from the songs and the film The Omega Man
. Henwood also conceived the look and feel of the album's artwork, videos and TV spots, and will also contribute to Rihanna's forthcoming tour, including the show's stage design, costumes and background visuals.
" which premiered on her official website on November 3, 2009. A snippet of the song with the title "The Wait is Ova" also appeared as background music for a promo video of the album as well as an uncommented countdown clock on her website. After the release of the promo video for "Wait Your Turn", producer Mikkel S. Eriksen had confirmed that the song would be released as the second single from Rated R. However, it was later announced that "Hard" was chosen instead. On November 5, 2009, Rihanna's first televised interview since her altercation with Chris Brown aired on Good Morning America
in support of the album. In addition to appearing on Good Morning America, the interview continued the following day on ABC's 20/20. Rihanna appeared in the December 2009 issue of Glamour
magazine, the January 2010 issue of GQ magazine, and the February 2010 issue of W
magazine.
In November 2009, Island Def Jam joined forces with Nokia
for a special promotional concert held on November 16, 2009, in the United Kingdom. Rihanna shot a promo video for the event which took place at the Brixton Academy in London. She premiered songs from the album during the event which was her first solo concert since the incident with Brown. Nokia gave away free tickets to fans for the show and hosted listening parties around the globe on the same date of the event. The Nokia Music Store
offered an enhanced version of the album on its release date, with exclusive cover art, a remix and an unnamed exclusive track. Rated R was released on November 23, 2009, in North America and the United Kingdom. The album was also made available digitally with two bonus downloads for Nokia Comes With Music subscribers.
On February 4, 2010, she performed at the Pepsi Super Bowl
Fan Jam on VH1
along with performers Timbaland
and Justin Bieber
. Rihanna performed "Hard", "Rude Boy" and "Don't Stop The Music" at the Kids Choice Awards on March 27, 2010. Rated R: Remixed, a collection of ten remixes by Chew Fu of Rated Rs tracks, was released May 25, 2010. Both a "clean" and explicit version of the new album were released. Rihanna began her Last Girl on Earth Tour
in Belgium
on April 16, 2010, in support of the album. Jamie King
serves as the tour director with Simon Henwood
as the creative director. There have been approximately 70 dates announced, although a handful were later cancelled. Pixie Lott
served as the support act for the 30-show European leg of the tour. The North American leg of the tour features Ke$ha. It began on July 4 at General Motors Place
in Vancouver
, and visited 26 other arenas and theatres before concluding at the Great New York State Fair
in Syracuse on August 28, 2010. The Oceania leg of the tour began on February 5, 2011.
" was released as a promo single on November 3, 2009. On October 16, 2009, Rihanna shot the music video for the song. The song reached number 45 in the United Kingdom, number 32 in Ireland, and number 82 in Australia due to strong digital downloads following the album's release. "Russian Roulette
" was released as the album's official lead single on November 3, 2009 along with the promotional single "Wait Your Turn
". It had already premiered on worldwide radio on October 20, 2009. The song debuted at number 100 in the United States and peaked at number nine, giving Rihanna her twelfth top ten single of her career. The song reached the top ten in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France and Ireland. On January 12, 2010, the single was certified silver in the United Kingdom.
"Hard
" was released as the second single in the US. It officially impacted US radio on November 10, 2009. The song features American rapper Young Jeezy
. It reached a peak position of number eight on the Billboard Hot 100
, giving Rihanna her thirteenth top ten. The song also reached number 42 in the United Kingdom. The album's fourth single was revealed to be "Rude Boy
" and was released as the third US and second international single from the album on February 19, 2010. It peaked at number one in the United States, becoming Rihanna's sixth number-one single on the Hot 100 and fourteenth top ten hit of her career. It was also the album's third consecutive top-ten single and highest charting. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number 52, eventually peaking at number two. It also reached number-one in Australia, making it Rihanna's fourth number one single in the country.
Then it was announced that "Rockstar 101
" featuring Slash
would serve as the album's fourth single, only to be released in the United States. It officially impacted both Mainstream and Rhythmic radio on June 1, 2010. The song was performed on American Idol
on April 7, 2010. The music video premiered on May 25, 2010 on VEVO
. It debuted at number 39 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart for the week ending June 19, 2010, and later peaked at 2. For the chart week of August 14, 2010, it entered the Hot 100 at number 99 and peaked 64 in two weeks. It entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 50 for the week of August 16, 2010 and peaked at number 24. "Te Amo
", was released album's sixth overall single though it serves as the album's third international single. It was the last release from the album, hitting digital retailers on June 11, 2010. Prior to its release as a single, it had debuted on the Swedish Singles Chart in 2009, reaching number 52. On April 18, 2010, the song debuted on the UK Singles Chart
at number 94. and number 29 on the R&B chart
. It reached a peak of number 14 on the singles chart and five on the R&B chart. The music video premiered on May 28, 2010.
chart and sold 181,000 units in its first week, beating her previous album Good Girl Gone Bad
s first week sales of 168,000, and making it her highest selling week ever at the time. The album was also Rihanna's fourth top ten album in the country and her second highest album chart position. It also topped Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
chart, becoming her first album to top the chart. On January 8, 2010, Rated R was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) with an estimated 1,000,000 copies shipped to date. The album had sold more than 1,017,000 units in the US as of December 2010.
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number sixteen and was certified gold in just four days. The album has so far shipped at least 600,000 copies and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) on October 15, 2010. It is Rihanna's third most successful album in the country, above her first album, Music of the Sun
which sold 200,000 copies and her second album, A Girl like Me
which sold at least 300,000. On the issue dated January 24, 2010, the album rose to number thirty having been at thirty-four the previous week. The following week, it rose again from number thirty to twenty-seven. On February 21, 2010, the album rose from number thirty-one to number twenty-six, and then climbed even further the following week to its debut and peak of number sixteen. It was also the highest climber that week. On the issue dated March 7, 2010, the album broke into the top ten, landing at number nine in its fifteenth week. The following week, the album rose to number two on the R&B chart. It is Rihanna's fastest selling album of her career in the United Kingdom, receiving a platinum certification in just over two months of its release. This beats her previous album, Good Girl Gone Bad
, which went platinum in just over three months. As of August 1, 2010 the album had been on the UK Albums Chart
for 36 weeks. As of June 26, 2011 the album has sold 656,527 copies.
Despite debuting at only number fifteen in Australia, the album was certified gold its second week on the chart. In August, the album was certified Platinum after shipping 70,000 units. With the release of the album's third single, "Rude Boy
", Rated R set a new high of twelve on March 7, 2010. In Poland, the album peaked at number five and received a gold certification, selling 20,000 copies in just one month, beating Good Girl Gone Bads sales of 20,000 in two years. In Sweden, Rated R rose dramatically to a peak position of number nineteen on the issue dated January 29, 2010, after being at thirty-four its previous week. In New Zealand, the album debuted at number fourteen and in Finland it debuted at number twenty-eight eventually climbing to number fifteen. In April 2010, the album soared from number fifty-nine to its new peak of eighteen on the Dutch Albums Chart. In June 2010, the album re-entered the Greek Albums Chart
to reach a new peak of number six. In addition to the studio release, a remix album, Rated R: Remixed, was released in May 2010. It managed to chart at number 158 on the Billboard 200. In the same week it also debuted at number six on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It also made its debut on the Canadian Albums Chart
at number 84, making it Rihanna's first remixed album to appear on the chart. In June 2010, the remix album debuted at number eleven on the Greek Albums Chart
. Worldwide, Rated R has sold over three million copies, as of November 2010.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 76, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
called it "a raw, often unsettling portrait of an artist who is, she insists, no longer a Girl at all". Chicago Tribune
writer Greg Kot
gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and described it as "powerful and moving art". Chicago Sun-Times
writer Jim DeRogatis noted a maturity from Rihanna, calling it her "best, most layered and most heartfelt effort". NME
s Ailbhe Malone called it "a startlingly masculine record – in sound and in attitude". Ed Potton of The Times
gave it four out of five stars and described it as "By turns syrupy and strident, part lament, part tooled-up revenge fantasy... the best record Rihanna has made". Los Angeles Times
writer Ann Powers praised her performance and called the album "a complex and fascinating portrait of a young woman's emotional process after enduring abuse". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe
called it "an interesting snapshot of several current events, including Rihanna’s evolution as a performer and the confluence of tabloid culture and pop art". Rolling Stone
s Jody Rosen
complimented its grim themes and dubbed it "one of the best pop records of the year".
However, Sean Fennessey of Spin
viewed that the album does not suit Rihanna's ballad-based strengths, stating "[she] has the sort of even-keeled, toneless voice that's rarely expressive enough to convey fury". Emily Tartanella of PopMatters
wrote that "its attempts at 'serious', and 'thoughtful' songs just wind up falling flat". Chris Richards of The Washington Post
commented that the album "bristles with a formless rage" and stated "She dispatches soulful vocal runs with antiseptic precision, making it hard to discern if she's truly seething or just pantomiming ire. Is she grappling with demons? Or projecting the image of a singer grappling with demons?". Michaelangelo Matos of The A.V. Club
found its music "turgid" and compared its lyrics to "excerpts from a therapy session". The Guardian
s Alexis Petridis criticized its allusions to her assault by Chris Brown, stating "there's more to her than the public's prurient interest in her private life. That you can't tell that more often from Rated R is the album's big flaw". Rob Harvilla of The Village Voice
perceived the subtext relating to her assault by Chris Brown and the incident's media spotlight as having a negative effect on the album, stating "Rated Rs low points are pretty bad. But its high points, thrilling as they are, might make you feel even worse". Pitchfork Media
's Ryan Dombal commented that "Rihanna's artistic aspirations are currently loftier than her abilities".
In his consumer guide for MSN Music
, critic Robert Christgau
gave the album an honorable mention rating, indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy". Christgau noted "Hard" and "Rude Boy" as highlights on the album and commended Rihanna for "concocting a persona of interest out of one dynamite musical trick and a bad patch I wouldn't wish on Lindsay Lohan
". Steve Jones of USA Today
gave the album three out of four stars and wrote that its subtext contributed in "pushing her further into the edgier territory she staked out on" Good Girl Gone Bad, while noting "bolder and often explicit lyrics and more assured vocals reflect a growing confidence and artistic maturity". Jon Pareles of The New York Times
called it "both brave and skillful". Allmusic writer Andy Kellman stated "Much of this daring album is absolutely over the top, bleak and sleek both lyrically and sonically, but it’s compelling, filled with as many memorably belligerent lines... as a rap album made ripe for dissection". Nick Levine of Digital Spy
gave the album five out of five stars and called it "the record – startling in vision, startlingly good in execution – that elevates her from popstar to pop artist". Slant Magazine
's Eric Henderson compared its confessional nature to that of Janet Jackson
's The Velvet Rope
(1997), viewing that both albums "radiate an unmistakably, nakedly autobiographical vibe".
In his year-end list of best albums, Entertainment Weeklys Leah Greenblatt named it the best pop album of the year. Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot ranked it number eight on his list of the top albums of 2009.
Remixed edition
Barbadian people
Barbadians are people originating on the Caribbean island of Barbados whether they live there or in the Barbadian diaspora.Rihanna is by far the most popular Barbadian on the planet.-Diaspora:...
recording artist Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, first released November 20, 2009, on Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
. The album is a musical distance from her previous effort Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released May 30, 2007, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during October 2006 to April 2007 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Rihanna worked with producers Christopher "Tricky"...
(2007), which contained up-tempo and ballad-oriented songs, and it heavily incorporated pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
musical styles. Conceived after Rihanna's assault by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, Rated R features different foreboding and angry tone, in terms of musical and lyrical direction, and incorporates elements of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
. The album also incorporated other musical genres, such as Dancehall in the Jamaican inspired "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
" and Latin in "Te Amo
Te Amo (Rihanna song)
"Te Amo" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, James Fauntleroy II and Rihanna, with production helmed by Eriksen and Hermansen under their production name, Stargate...
".
Recording sessions for the album took place during March to November 2009 at several recording studios throughout United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Rihanna together with L.A. Reid, Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
and Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers
Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers
Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers are New York-based songwriters and music producers who are business partners and friends. They have produced hits for Ruben Studdard, Wild Orchid, Christina Aguilera, and Rihanna's debut album...
, executively produced the album and worked with several record producers, including Chase & Status
Chase & Status
Chase & Status are an electronic music production duo from London consisting of Saul Milton and Will Kennard. MC Rage & Andy Gangadeen also make up the live band.-2003-2005:...
, StarGate
Stargate (production team)
This is a list of songs written and produced by the Norwegian production team Stargate.-Produced singles:-1999:5ive - Invincible*05. "Two Sides to Every Story"*06. "You Make Me a Better Man"Noora Noor - Curious*01. "Curious"...
, The-Dream
The-Dream
Terius Youngdell Nash , better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies " for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs...
, Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...
, and Brian Kennedy
Brian Kennedy (producer)
Brian Kennedy Seals is an American songwriter, record producer and musician from Kansas City, MO. Revered as a piano prodigy, he has been making music tracks since 2001...
. The album also included several featured vocalists and instrumentalist, including Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
, Will.i.am
Will.i.am
William James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
and Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
who played the guitars in "Rockstar 101
Rockstar 101
"Rockstar 101" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the album's fourth overall single on June 2, 2010 through Def Jam. "Rockstar 101" was written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Rihanna,...
".
Upon its release Rated R received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Rihanna's mature performance, and described the album as her most layered and heartfelt effort. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 181,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album reached number-one in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and on the US Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B/Hip Hop Albums. On the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, the album reached a peak of nine, and was certified gold in only four days.
The album produced five singles, including the international hits "Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (song)
"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R . The song premiered on radio stations on October 20, 2009 and was released as the album's lead single on October 26, 2009 through Def Jam Recordings. It was written and produced by...
", "Rude Boy" and "Te Amo", together with the US releases "Hard
Hard (song)
"Hard" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . It was written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Rihanna and American rapper Jeezy, who also provides featured vocals. Nash and Stewart produced the song under their respective stage names The-Dream...
". "Wait Your Turn
Wait Your Turn
"Wait Your Turn" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by StarGate and Chase & Status, James Fauntleroy II, Takura Tendayi and Rihanna, and produced by the first two of these production teams...
" was also released as the albums promotional single. "Russian Roulette" was released as albums lead single and managed to reach top-ten in seventeen countries and topped the charts in Norway and Switzerland. "Hard reached number nine in the United States and became her thirteenth top-ten single re-tying her with Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
as the female artist with the most top-ten hit singles in the United States. "Rude Boy" was a commercial success and became the only single from the album that topped the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
for five consecutive weeks. "Rockstar 101" was released in the United States and managed to reach number two on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs. "Te Amo", the last international released single, managed to reach number one on Brazilian Hot 100 Airplay and peaked within the top-ten in nine other countries.
Background
Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released May 30, 2007, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during October 2006 to April 2007 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Rihanna worked with producers Christopher "Tricky"...
(2007) was a commercial success and received generally favorable reviews from most music critics. The album featured five top ten hits—three US number one hit singles—including the international breakthrough single "Umbrella
Umbrella (song)
"Umbrella" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, featuring a rap verse by Jay-Z. The song was written by The-Dream, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, and was produced by Stewart and The-Dream for Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad...
". With regards to the Rated R album, there was much speculation as to whether any of the songs on the album would be about former boyfriend Chris Brown. In an interview with MTV, Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...
—who has written songs for Rihanna in the past—clarified that he would not write a song for Rihanna about Brown because he doesn't think that needs to be a song and because of his friendship with Brown. Producer Chuck Harmony
Chuck Harmony
Charles T. Harmon better known as Chuck Harmony is an American music producer, musician and songwriter, based in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Early life:Harmon was born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois...
felt that no matter what song Rihanna released as the lead single people would immediately think that the song is about Brown.
During an interview with Marc Malkin at the MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
, Ne-Yo stated that people should expect an edgier and angrier Rihanna on the album. He later told In Touch Weekly
In Touch Weekly
In Touch Weekly is an American celebrity gossip magazine. The magazine is focused on celebrity news, fashion, beauty, relationships and lifestyle, and is geared towards a younger readership, billing itself as "fast and fun", along with making claims about their lower cover price on their front...
that the album is definitely more edgy than the way we're used to seeing Rihanna while describing the album as "liberated". Akon
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...
, on the other hand, stated that he was "going to lighten her up" and didn't want an angry Rihanna. With the success of her last album, Rihanna wanted to make sure that she didn't fall into one sound or vibe. At the "Justin Timberlake & Friends Concert in Las Vegas", Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
told MTV that Rated R is a whole new sound and that the new songs are not just a rehash of what fans heard on her last album. "She broke onto the scene so hard with the last record — to have that many songs on the charts is impressive. I think that the smartest thing she's doing is not trying to emulate what she did but move forward", Timberlake explained.
After the release of the lead single, "Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (song)
"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R . The song premiered on radio stations on October 20, 2009 and was released as the album's lead single on October 26, 2009 through Def Jam Recordings. It was written and produced by...
," Harmony was aware that the reaction was mixed from fans who've heard the track. He further clarified that the song is not relating to the rest of the album and that it is a reflection of Rihanna's growth as an artist. Tricky Stewart
Christopher Stewart (music producer)
Christopher "Tricky" Stewart is an American songwriter, music producer, music publisher, executive producer, recording industry executive and recording studio owner. In a career spanning 16 years, Stewart, at the helm of his company RedZone Entertainment, is responsible for over 25 million...
spoke to Rap-Up
Rap-Up
Rap-Up is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the hip hop and R&B aspect of the music industry, and...
about the song he and The-Dream contributed to and about the album as a whole describing the song as an uptempo and edgy club banger while stating that the album is different than her past works. In February 2010, Rihanna said that she liked the album but her next would be much less intense: "I really like the bottom, the grime of it. But if I were to combine that with more energetic, up-tempo pop records, then I think that would be a happy marriage. And that's where we'll probably go next". When asked what the most important song to her was, she stated that she doesn't have one that is most important, however, "Fire Bomb" and "Cold Case Love" are some of her favorites. She also stated she does enjoy the "fun" songs on this album as well including "Rockstar 101
Rockstar 101
"Rockstar 101" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the album's fourth overall single on June 2, 2010 through Def Jam. "Rockstar 101" was written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Rihanna,...
", "Hard
Hard (song)
"Hard" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . It was written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Rihanna and American rapper Jeezy, who also provides featured vocals. Nash and Stewart produced the song under their respective stage names The-Dream...
", and her hit single, "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
".
Recording
Rihanna began recording songs for the album in March 2009. The album was recorded over a span of approximately eight months from March to November 2009. The recording sessions for the album took place at Milk Studios in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Metropolis Studios in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Studios Davout in Paris, France and at Westlake Recording Studios
Westlake Recording Studios
Westlake Recording Studios is a well-known music recording studio in West Hollywood, CA.-History:The studio was founded as Westlake Audio in the early 1970s by Tom Hidley, and is credited as "one of the first big commercial efforts to produce acoustically standardised 'interchangeable' rooms"...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Rihanna worked with several different song-writers and producers on the album, including Chuck Harmony, The-Dream
The-Dream
Terius Youngdell Nash , better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies " for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs...
, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Chase & Status
Chase & Status
Chase & Status are an electronic music production duo from London consisting of Saul Milton and Will Kennard. MC Rage & Andy Gangadeen also make up the live band.-2003-2005:...
, Stargate
Stargate (production team)
This is a list of songs written and produced by the Norwegian production team Stargate.-Produced singles:-1999:5ive - Invincible*05. "Two Sides to Every Story"*06. "You Make Me a Better Man"Noora Noor - Curious*01. "Curious"...
, Demo, and Justin Timberlake. Rihanna wanted the album to be less Synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and have more bass and grime beats which was a major shift from the lighthearted commercial pop of her previous albums. In the early stages of the production, she worked with Adonis Shropshire
Adonis Shropshire
Adonis Shropshire or Adonis for short, is an award-winning American songwriter and record producer.He has written and or produced singles including: Mariah Carey's "I Stay In Love", Usher Raymond's "My Boo", P...
who stated that she was just easing back into the studio with a couple of ideas here and there over the last couple of weeks. Rihanna also worked with Stargate who added that the collaboration was "very rewarding" and "inspiring for us", commenting: "I don't think we should talk about titles just yet. We don't really know which songs are gonna make it, but it feels exciting." It was later revealed that Stargate originally produced a collaboration between Rihanna and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
rapper Drake
Drake (entertainer)
Aubrey Drake Graham , who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He originally became known for playing Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation....
. Eventually, however, for reasons unknown, the song did not make the final cut for the album.
During the summer, Rihanna recorded songs for the album with record producer Chuck Harmony
Chuck Harmony
Charles T. Harmon better known as Chuck Harmony is an American music producer, musician and songwriter, based in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Early life:Harmon was born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois...
. She was involved with writing most of the lyrics on the album with the help of Timberlake and Ne-Yo who would help her translate her emotions into the songs. She worked with Ne-Yo on a number of songs although he didn't know what songs were kept for the album. While working together, he felt that Rihanna wasn't the same girl as the one he worked with a few years before and stated that she had become more comfortable in her skin now. In terms of musical direction, Rihanna requested somber vibe songs for the album, but not just dark for the sake of being dark; she wanted dark songs that had some kind of meaning. Harmony wanted "Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (song)
"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R . The song premiered on radio stations on October 20, 2009 and was released as the album's lead single on October 26, 2009 through Def Jam Recordings. It was written and produced by...
" to stand out and felt that the song should be darker, edgier and more morbid just to try it out. Rihanna was comfortable with the vibe and the lyrical content of the song and eventually phoned in to Ne-Yo to tell him that it was one of her favorites.
After listening to track "Saxon" performed by Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...
and production duo Chase & Status
Chase & Status
Chase & Status are an electronic music production duo from London consisting of Saul Milton and Will Kennard. MC Rage & Andy Gangadeen also make up the live band.-2003-2005:...
, Rihanna got in contact with them and wanted to work with them because she loved the feel of the drums and wanted a similar thing for her album. Chase & Status had a pair of sessions with Rihanna and worked together for a few weeks in an undisclosed location. Chase & Status worked with her on songs that had a dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
vibe, although whenever Rihanna didn't like something she would let them know. On one of the tracks, Rihanna came up with a melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and idea to give the song the kind of vibe she wanted. In October 2009, she concluded recording sessions with Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. Dream and Tricky flew out to Paris and played a few songs for Rihanna which included the songs "Hard
Hard (song)
"Hard" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . It was written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Rihanna and American rapper Jeezy, who also provides featured vocals. Nash and Stewart produced the song under their respective stage names The-Dream...
" and "Rockstar 101." The song "Hard" stood out from all the songs because she felt that it had such an arrogance to it. In the song "Rockstar 101
Rockstar 101
"Rockstar 101" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the album's fourth overall single on June 2, 2010 through Def Jam. "Rockstar 101" was written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Rihanna,...
," guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
contributed a bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
on the track while "Photographs" is a duet with will.i.am
Will.i.am
William James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
. In addition, Ester Dean
Ester Dean
Ester Renay Dean is an American singer and songwriter, and record producer signed to Zone 4 Records/Interscope Records. She is most notable for her dual appearance on Rio: Music From The Motion Picture and her 2009 US hit single "Drop It Low", which featured singer Chris Brown...
co-wrote the song "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
." "The Last Song" was one of the last tracks crafted for the album. Rihanna recorded the song within the final twelve hours of the album's conception: "When the label finally said we had 12 hours to turn in the album, I was like, Okay, I have to do it. I just drank some red wine, dimmed the lights, got in the booth and sang it."
Music
Rated R features a darker and foreboding tone than Rihanna's previous albums. Primarily an R&BContemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-oriented album, it also incorporates musical elements of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
. The album's production is typified by a sleek sound and incorporates ominous synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, intertwining guitar licks, tense beats
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
, minor-key melodies, and polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
ic vocal harmonies. Songs such as "Mad House", "G4L", and "Wait Your Turn" incorporate elements of dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
, including brooding synths and grumbling basslines. Rihanna discussed its musical direction in an interview for Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
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". On Rated Rs musical style, music journalist Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
perceived that it only incorporates elements of rock, writing "Though there's nothing inherently rock 'n' roll or 'super-fearless' about lacing slick, synthesized dance-pop grooves with a little electric guitar, some of it courtesy of Slash, a quarter of a century after Thriller
Thriller (album)
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...
, there is a more insistent punch and electrifying energy in the 13 grooves on Rated R".
The lyrical content of Rated R features generally bleak views on love and boastful lyrics concerning perseverance and overcoming adversity. The album's lyrics are characterized by grim, raw and angry tones, and songs that contain boastful and persevering themes are characterized by images of violence and brutality. Its lyrics are also distinguished by prominent profanity. While several music writers perceived its lyrics as allusions to Rihanna's assault by Chris Brown, journalist Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
wrote that the album "doesn't specifically address those events, but it hardly ignores them". According to music writer Ann Powers
Ann Powers
Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic.Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s...
, 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".
Artwork
On October 8, 2009, Rihanna was shooting pictures in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in a nude body suit and white fur coat. The photos were thought to be on the front cover or booklet of the album. The final image from the photoshoot for the album was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth
Ellen von Unwerth
Ellen von Unwerth is a photographer and director, specializing in erotic femininity. She worked as a fashion model for ten years herself before moving behind the camera, and now makes fashion, editorial, and advertising photographs.Ellen von Unwerth found fame when she first photographed Claudia...
who stated that "Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album." von Unwerth, who has also shot other album covers such as, The Velvet Rope
The Velvet Rope
The Velvet Rope is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released October 7, 1997 by Virgin Records. Prior to its debut, Jackson had been at the center of a second high-profile bidding war over her recording contract...
(1997) by Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
, Back to Basics
Back to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)
Back to Basics is the third studio album by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, first released on August 10, 2006 by RCA Records...
(2006) by Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
, and Blackout (2007) by Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, went on to say that Rihanna was involved in every aspect of the shoot and was ready to push the boundaries. The album cover was released on October 27, 2009, which features Rihanna in a moody, contemplative pose wearing a leather top with her hand covering her right eye and each finger wrapped in an intricate set of rings. The black-and-white cover was compared to the outrageous 1980s album covers by singer Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
.
The brand and styling of Rated R was conceived by British artist and director Simon Henwood
Simon Henwood
Simon Henwood is a British artist, author, film director, and music video director. Henwood first gained attention as a children's writer and later on for his paintings inspired by adolescence, as well as combining "darkness and hip together"...
, the creative director of the campaign. "We talked extensively for months before the album's release, and looked at every aspect of the campaign—from styling to stage ideas and visuals," Henwood revealed in an interview with ArjanWrites.com. "Everything comes from the music, and this is her most personal album to date—so everything draws from it in one way or another." He designed the "R" logo seen on the album cover, which "is a two edge sword [...] One side symbolizes strength and the other vulnerability. I designed it as a 3D object first that changes form in rotation as an animation—It forms the logo shape at the end of the loop." He took inspiration from the songs and the film The Omega Man
The Omega Man
The Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
. Henwood also conceived the look and feel of the album's artwork, videos and TV spots, and will also contribute to Rihanna's forthcoming tour, including the show's stage design, costumes and background visuals.
Release and promotion
On October 15, 2009, Rihanna released a statement along with a picture on her official website saying, "The Wait is Ova. Nov 23 09" which was the release date for Rated R. The following day, Rihanna shot a promotional music video for "Wait Your TurnWait Your Turn
"Wait Your Turn" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by StarGate and Chase & Status, James Fauntleroy II, Takura Tendayi and Rihanna, and produced by the first two of these production teams...
" which premiered on her official website on November 3, 2009. A snippet of the song with the title "The Wait is Ova" also appeared as background music for a promo video of the album as well as an uncommented countdown clock on her website. After the release of the promo video for "Wait Your Turn", producer Mikkel S. Eriksen had confirmed that the song would be released as the second single from Rated R. However, it was later announced that "Hard" was chosen instead. On November 5, 2009, Rihanna's first televised interview since her altercation with Chris Brown aired on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
in support of the album. In addition to appearing on Good Morning America, the interview continued the following day on ABC's 20/20. Rihanna appeared in the December 2009 issue of Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
magazine, the January 2010 issue of GQ magazine, and the February 2010 issue of W
W (magazine)
W is a monthly American fashion magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, who purchased original owner Fairchild Publications in 1999. It was created in 1971 by the publisher of sister magazine Woman's Wear Daily, James Brady. The magazine is an oversize format – ten inches wide and...
magazine.
In November 2009, Island Def Jam joined forces with Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
for a special promotional concert held on November 16, 2009, in the United Kingdom. Rihanna shot a promo video for the event which took place at the Brixton Academy in London. She premiered songs from the album during the event which was her first solo concert since the incident with Brown. Nokia gave away free tickets to fans for the show and hosted listening parties around the globe on the same date of the event. The Nokia Music Store
Nokia Music Store
Nokia Music Store is part of the Ovi services portal from Nokia. It was launched on August 29, 2007. The idea behind the store is to provide to all Nokia MP3 capable mobile users a music store on the phone as on the PC....
offered an enhanced version of the album on its release date, with exclusive cover art, a remix and an unnamed exclusive track. Rated R was released on November 23, 2009, in North America and the United Kingdom. The album was also made available digitally with two bonus downloads for Nokia Comes With Music subscribers.
On February 4, 2010, she performed at the Pepsi Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
Fan Jam on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
along with performers Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
and Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
. Rihanna performed "Hard", "Rude Boy" and "Don't Stop The Music" at the Kids Choice Awards on March 27, 2010. Rated R: Remixed, a collection of ten remixes by Chew Fu of Rated Rs tracks, was released May 25, 2010. Both a "clean" and explicit version of the new album were released. Rihanna began her Last Girl on Earth Tour
Last Girl on Earth Tour
The Last Girl on Earth Tour was the third concert tour by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. Visiting Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, the tour supported her fourth studio album, Rated R . The tour was announced through MTV News in December 2009...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
on April 16, 2010, in support of the album. Jamie King
Jamie King
Jamie King is a creative director and choreographer whose work directing concert tours for pop stars has grossed over two billion dollars...
serves as the tour director with Simon Henwood
Simon Henwood
Simon Henwood is a British artist, author, film director, and music video director. Henwood first gained attention as a children's writer and later on for his paintings inspired by adolescence, as well as combining "darkness and hip together"...
as the creative director. There have been approximately 70 dates announced, although a handful were later cancelled. Pixie Lott
Pixie Lott
Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott is an English singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. Her debut single "Mama Do" was released in June 2009 and went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart. Her second single "Boys and Girls", also topped the UK charts in September 2009. Her debut album Turn It...
served as the support act for the 30-show European leg of the tour. The North American leg of the tour features Ke$ha. It began on July 4 at General Motors Place
General Motors Place
Rogers Arena Rogers Arena Rogers Arena (nicknamed "The Phone Booth" and "The Cable Box" and also "The Garage" (when it was called GM Place) is an indoor sports arena located at 800 Griffiths Way in the downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, and visited 26 other arenas and theatres before concluding at the Great New York State Fair
Great New York State Fair
The Great New York State Fair is an annual farmers' exposition and a 12-day showcase of entertainment, education, industry, technology, and more, sponsored by the State of New York. Additionally there are midway rides, , and concerts. The first fair took place in Syracuse in 1841...
in Syracuse on August 28, 2010. The Oceania leg of the tour began on February 5, 2011.
Singles
"Wait Your TurnWait Your Turn
"Wait Your Turn" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by StarGate and Chase & Status, James Fauntleroy II, Takura Tendayi and Rihanna, and produced by the first two of these production teams...
" was released as a promo single on November 3, 2009. On October 16, 2009, Rihanna shot the music video for the song. The song reached number 45 in the United Kingdom, number 32 in Ireland, and number 82 in Australia due to strong digital downloads following the album's release. "Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette (song)
"Russian Roulette" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album Rated R . The song premiered on radio stations on October 20, 2009 and was released as the album's lead single on October 26, 2009 through Def Jam Recordings. It was written and produced by...
" was released as the album's official lead single on November 3, 2009 along with the promotional single "Wait Your Turn
Wait Your Turn
"Wait Your Turn" is a song performed by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by StarGate and Chase & Status, James Fauntleroy II, Takura Tendayi and Rihanna, and produced by the first two of these production teams...
". It had already premiered on worldwide radio on October 20, 2009. The song debuted at number 100 in the United States and peaked at number nine, giving Rihanna her twelfth top ten single of her career. The song reached the top ten in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France and Ireland. On January 12, 2010, the single was certified silver in the United Kingdom.
"Hard
Hard (song)
"Hard" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . It was written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Rihanna and American rapper Jeezy, who also provides featured vocals. Nash and Stewart produced the song under their respective stage names The-Dream...
" was released as the second single in the US. It officially impacted US radio on November 10, 2009. The song features American rapper Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins , better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is the member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America and a former member of BMF...
. It reached a peak position of number eight on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, giving Rihanna her thirteenth top ten. The song also reached number 42 in the United Kingdom. The album's fourth single was revealed to be "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
" and was released as the third US and second international single from the album on February 19, 2010. It peaked at number one in the United States, becoming Rihanna's sixth number-one single on the Hot 100 and fourteenth top ten hit of her career. It was also the album's third consecutive top-ten single and highest charting. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number 52, eventually peaking at number two. It also reached number-one in Australia, making it Rihanna's fourth number one single in the country.
Then it was announced that "Rockstar 101
Rockstar 101
"Rockstar 101" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the album's fourth overall single on June 2, 2010 through Def Jam. "Rockstar 101" was written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Rihanna,...
" featuring Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
would serve as the album's fourth single, only to be released in the United States. It officially impacted both Mainstream and Rhythmic radio on June 1, 2010. The song was performed on American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
on April 7, 2010. The music video premiered on May 25, 2010 on VEVO
Vevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
. It debuted at number 39 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart for the week ending June 19, 2010, and later peaked at 2. For the chart week of August 14, 2010, it entered the Hot 100 at number 99 and peaked 64 in two weeks. It entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 50 for the week of August 16, 2010 and peaked at number 24. "Te Amo
Te Amo (Rihanna song)
"Te Amo" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, James Fauntleroy II and Rihanna, with production helmed by Eriksen and Hermansen under their production name, Stargate...
", was released album's sixth overall single though it serves as the album's third international single. It was the last release from the album, hitting digital retailers on June 11, 2010. Prior to its release as a single, it had debuted on the Swedish Singles Chart in 2009, reaching number 52. On April 18, 2010, the song debuted on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
at number 94. and number 29 on the R&B chart
UK R&B Chart
The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week...
. It reached a peak of number 14 on the singles chart and five on the R&B chart. The music video premiered on May 28, 2010.
Commercial performance
In the United States, Rated R debuted at number four on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and sold 181,000 units in its first week, beating her previous album Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released May 30, 2007, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during October 2006 to April 2007 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Rihanna worked with producers Christopher "Tricky"...
s first week sales of 168,000, and making it her highest selling week ever at the time. The album was also Rihanna's fourth top ten album in the country and her second highest album chart position. It also topped Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
chart, becoming her first album to top the chart. On January 8, 2010, Rated R was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) with an estimated 1,000,000 copies shipped to date. The album had sold more than 1,017,000 units in the US as of December 2010.
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number sixteen and was certified gold in just four days. The album has so far shipped at least 600,000 copies and has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI) on October 15, 2010. It is Rihanna's third most successful album in the country, above her first album, Music of the Sun
Music of the Sun
Music of the Sun is the debut album of Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released August 26, 2005 on Def Jam Recordings. Rihanna worked with several producers for the album, mainly Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers who produced and penned most of the tracks on the album. It features guest contributions by...
which sold 200,000 copies and her second album, A Girl like Me
A Girl Like Me (Rihanna album)
A Girl like Me is the second studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna. It was released through Def Jam Recordings on April 19, 2006 in Japan, on April 24 in the United Kingdom, and on April 25 in the United States. For the production of the album, Rihanna worked with Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken,...
which sold at least 300,000. On the issue dated January 24, 2010, the album rose to number thirty having been at thirty-four the previous week. The following week, it rose again from number thirty to twenty-seven. On February 21, 2010, the album rose from number thirty-one to number twenty-six, and then climbed even further the following week to its debut and peak of number sixteen. It was also the highest climber that week. On the issue dated March 7, 2010, the album broke into the top ten, landing at number nine in its fifteenth week. The following week, the album rose to number two on the R&B chart. It is Rihanna's fastest selling album of her career in the United Kingdom, receiving a platinum certification in just over two months of its release. This beats her previous album, Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad
Good Girl Gone Bad is the third studio album by Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, released May 30, 2007, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place during October 2006 to April 2007 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Rihanna worked with producers Christopher "Tricky"...
, which went platinum in just over three months. As of August 1, 2010 the album had been on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
for 36 weeks. As of June 26, 2011 the album has sold 656,527 copies.
Despite debuting at only number fifteen in Australia, the album was certified gold its second week on the chart. In August, the album was certified Platinum after shipping 70,000 units. With the release of the album's third single, "Rude Boy
Rude Boy (song)
"Rude Boy" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from her fourth studio album, Rated R . The song was released as the third single from the album on February 19, 2010, through Def Jam. It was written by Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Ester Dean, Makeba Riddick, Rob Swire...
", Rated R set a new high of twelve on March 7, 2010. In Poland, the album peaked at number five and received a gold certification, selling 20,000 copies in just one month, beating Good Girl Gone Bads sales of 20,000 in two years. In Sweden, Rated R rose dramatically to a peak position of number nineteen on the issue dated January 29, 2010, after being at thirty-four its previous week. In New Zealand, the album debuted at number fourteen and in Finland it debuted at number twenty-eight eventually climbing to number fifteen. In April 2010, the album soared from number fifty-nine to its new peak of eighteen on the Dutch Albums Chart. In June 2010, the album re-entered the Greek Albums Chart
Greek Albums Chart
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of...
to reach a new peak of number six. In addition to the studio release, a remix album, Rated R: Remixed, was released in May 2010. It managed to chart at number 158 on the Billboard 200. In the same week it also debuted at number six on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It also made its debut on the Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
at number 84, making it Rihanna's first remixed album to appear on the chart. In June 2010, the remix album debuted at number eleven on the Greek Albums Chart
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland...
. Worldwide, Rated R has sold over three million copies, as of November 2010.
Critical response
Rated R received positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 76, based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called it "a raw, often unsettling portrait of an artist who is, she insists, no longer a Girl at all". Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and described it as "powerful and moving art". Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
writer Jim DeRogatis noted a maturity from Rihanna, calling it her "best, most layered and most heartfelt effort". NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s Ailbhe Malone called it "a startlingly masculine record – in sound and in attitude". Ed Potton of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
gave it four out of five stars and described it as "By turns syrupy and strident, part lament, part tooled-up revenge fantasy... the best record Rihanna has made". Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Ann Powers praised her performance and called the album "a complex and fascinating portrait of a young woman's emotional process after enduring abuse". Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called it "an interesting snapshot of several current events, including Rihanna’s evolution as a performer and the confluence of tabloid culture and pop art". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
complimented its grim themes and dubbed it "one of the best pop records of the year".
However, Sean Fennessey of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
viewed that the album does not suit Rihanna's ballad-based strengths, stating "[she] has the sort of even-keeled, toneless voice that's rarely expressive enough to convey fury". Emily Tartanella of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
wrote that "its attempts at 'serious', and 'thoughtful' songs just wind up falling flat". Chris Richards of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
commented that the album "bristles with a formless rage" and stated "She dispatches soulful vocal runs with antiseptic precision, making it hard to discern if she's truly seething or just pantomiming ire. Is she grappling with demons? Or projecting the image of a singer grappling with demons?". Michaelangelo Matos of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
found its music "turgid" and compared its lyrics to "excerpts from a therapy session". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Alexis Petridis criticized its allusions to her assault by Chris Brown, stating "there's more to her than the public's prurient interest in her private life. That you can't tell that more often from Rated R is the album's big flaw". Rob Harvilla of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
perceived the subtext relating to her assault by Chris Brown and the incident's media spotlight as having a negative effect on the album, stating "Rated Rs low points are pretty bad. But its high points, thrilling as they are, might make you feel even worse". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Ryan Dombal commented that "Rihanna's artistic aspirations are currently loftier than her abilities".
In his consumer guide for MSN Music
MSN Music
MSN Music was a part of the MSN web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. In 2004, Microsoft created an MSN Music download store to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store, though its sales in comparison were...
, critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album an honorable mention rating, indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy". Christgau noted "Hard" and "Rude Boy" as highlights on the album and commended Rihanna for "concocting a persona of interest out of one dynamite musical trick and a bad patch I wouldn't wish on Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
". Steve Jones of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the album three out of four stars and wrote that its subtext contributed in "pushing her further into the edgier territory she staked out on" Good Girl Gone Bad, while noting "bolder and often explicit lyrics and more assured vocals reflect a growing confidence and artistic maturity". Jon Pareles of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "both brave and skillful". Allmusic writer Andy Kellman stated "Much of this daring album is absolutely over the top, bleak and sleek both lyrically and sonically, but it’s compelling, filled with as many memorably belligerent lines... as a rap album made ripe for dissection". Nick Levine of Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
gave the album five out of five stars and called it "the record – startling in vision, startlingly good in execution – that elevates her from popstar to pop artist". Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
's Eric Henderson compared its confessional nature to that of Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
's The Velvet Rope
The Velvet Rope
The Velvet Rope is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released October 7, 1997 by Virgin Records. Prior to its debut, Jackson had been at the center of a second high-profile bidding war over her recording contract...
(1997), viewing that both albums "radiate an unmistakably, nakedly autobiographical vibe".
In his year-end list of best albums, Entertainment Weeklys Leah Greenblatt named it the best pop album of the year. Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot ranked it number eight on his list of the top albums of 2009.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits for Rated R adapted from Allmusic.- W. Adams – composer
- Mykael Alexander – assistant
- J. Baptiste – composer
- Davis Barnett – viola
- BeardymanBeardyManDarren Foreman , better known as Beardyman, is a musician from London renowned for his beatboxing skills and use of live looping technology, and according to the BBC "King of Sound and Ruler of Beats".-Stage name and musical style:...
– vocals - Jessie Bonds – guitar
- Jay Brown – A&R
- Bobby Campbell – assistant
- Chase & Status – producer, musician
- James J. Cooper III – celli, soloist
- Cédric Culnaërt – assistant engineer
- Tyler Van Dalen – assistant engineer
- Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
- E. Dean – composer
- Steven Dennis – assistant engineer
- Dylan Dresdow – mixing
- M.S. Eriksen – composer
- Mikkel S. Eriksen – composer, engineer, vocal producer, musician
- James Fauntleroy II – composer
- James Fauntleroy – vocals (bckgr)
- Glenn Fischbach – celli
- Paul Foley – engineer
- J. Fountleroy Ii – composer
- Rick Friedrich – assistant engineer
- Future Cut – keyboards
- Mariel Haenn – stylist
- Alex Haldi – design
- Kevin Hanson – assistant
- Chuck Harmony – producer
- Keith Harris – strings
- Ben Harrison – guitar, additional production
- Karl Heilbron – vocal engineer
- Simon Henwood – art direction, design, photography, stylist
- T.E. Hermansen – composer
- Tor Erik Hermansen – musician
- Jean-Marie Horvat – mixing
- Ghazi Hourani – mixing assistant
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing
- J. Jenkins – composer
- Mike Johnson – engineer
- JP Robinson – art direction, design, photography
- W. Kennard – composer
- William Kennard – composer
- B. Kennedy – composer
- Brian Kennedy – keyboards, programming, producer
- Padraic Kerin – engineer
- Olga Konopelsky – violin
- Emma Kummrow – violin
- Giancarlo Lino – mixing assistant
- Pater Martinez – assistant
- Luigi Mazzocchi – violin, soloist
- M. McHenry – composer
- Monte Neuble – keyboards
- Terius Nash – composer, producer
- Luis Navarro – assistant engineer
- Ne-Yo – producer
- Jared Newcomb – mixing assistant
- Peter Nocella – viola
- Chris "Tek" O'Ryan – engineer
- Anthony Palazzole – mixing assistant
- Paper-Boy – additional production
- Ciarra Pardo – art direction, design
- Charles Parker – violin
- Ross 'Dights' Parkin – assistant engineer
- Daniel Parry – assistant
- Kevin Porter – assistant
- Antonio Reid – executive producer
- Antonio Resendiz – assistant
- Makeba Riddick – composer, vocals (bckgr), vocal producer
- Rihanna – composer, executive producer, art direction, design
- Montez Roberts – assistant engineer
- Evan Rogers – executive producer
- Sébastien Salis – assistant engineer
- Jason Sherwood – assistant engineer
- Shaffer Smith – composer
- Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith – A&R
- Caleb Speir – bass
- Stargate – producer
- Status – producer
- Xavier Stephenson – assistant
- C. "Tricky" Stewart – producer, composer
- Tim Stewart – guitar
- Bernt Rune – stray guitar
- Carl Styrken – executive producer
- R. Swire – composer, musician
- Igor Szwec – violin
- R. Tadross – composer
- Sean Tallman – engineer
- Marcos Taylor – engineer
- Gregory Teperman – violin
- Brian "B-Luv" Thomas – engineer
- Pat Thrall – engineer
- Justin Timberlake – composer
- Marcos Tovar – engineer
- Neil Tucker – assistant, guitar engineer
- Ellen Von Unwerth – photography
- Alain Whyte – guitar (acoustic)
- will.i.am – synthesizer, producer, engineer, drum programming
- Andrew Wuepper – engineer
- Ys – producer
Standard edition
| Chart (2009–2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
12 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 7 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Flanders) |
16 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Wallonia) |
16 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
5 |
| Croatian Albums Chart Music of Croatia The music of Croatia, like the divisions of the country itself, has two major influences: the Central European one, present in the central and northern parts of the country, as well as in Slavonia, and the Mediterranean one, particularly present in the coastal regions of Dalmatia and Istria.In... |
10 |
| Czech Republic Albums Chart IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
15 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 32 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
18 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
5 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 14 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
10 |
| German Albums Chart | 4 |
| Greek Albums Chart IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
6 |
| Hungarian Albums Chart Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
31 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
7 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
33 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
10 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 51 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
14 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 1 |
| Polish Albums Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
5 |
| Russian Albums Chart | 9 |
| Scottish Albums Chart | 14 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 23 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 19 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
9 |
| UK R&B Albums Chart UK R&B Chart The Official UK R&B Chart is a forty-position R&B/Hip-Hop chart compiled by The Official UK Charts Company. Although the chart does not receive any airplay, its compilation is viewed on BBC Radio 1's website and publications such as ChartsPlus and Music Week... |
2 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
4 |
| US R&B/Hip Hop Albums | 1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 52 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
28 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
13 |
| UK Albums (The Official Charts Company) | 27 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
21 |
Remixed edition
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
84 |
| Greek Albums Chart IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
4 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
158 |
| US Dance/Electronic Albums | 6 |
| US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 33 |
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Platinum |
| Belgium | IFPI | Gold |
| Canada | CRIA Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... |
Platinum |
| Europe | IFPI | Platinum |
| France | SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
Gold |
| Germany | BVMI Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises.... |
Gold |
| Greece | IFPI | Platinum |
| Ireland | IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
Platinum |
| Norway | IFPI IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
Gold |
| Poland | ZPAV | Gold |
| Russia | NFPP | Gold |
| Switzerland | IFPI | Platinum |
| United Kingdom | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
2× Platinum |
| United States | RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Platinum |
Chart precession and succession
Release history
Standard edition| Region | Date | Label(s) | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | November 20, 2009 | Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
CD, Digital download |
| Germany | |||
| Poland | November 21, 2009 | ||
| United Kingdom | November 23, 2009 | Mercury Records Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal... |
|
| United States | Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group... |
||
| Denmark | Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
||
| Canada | |||
| Brazil | November 24, 2009 | ||
| Spain | |||
| Argentina | November 26, 2009 | ||
| Taiwan | November 27, 2009 | ||
| Chile | December 31, 2009 |
Remixed edition
| Region | Date | Label(s) | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | May 21, 2010 | Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
CD, Digital download |
| Poland | |||
| United States | May 25, 2010 | Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group... |
|
| Brazil | June 1, 2010 | Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
External links
- Rated R at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...