Unapologetic (CD) [Explicit]


Rihanna

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Amoeba Review

11/18/2012

Rihanna runs at a breakneck pace, releasing an album a year, recording while touring and plying her voice and body to top-of-the-line collaborators to the point where she defines current. In this context, it’s nearly pointless to call Unapologetic an improvement over the somewhat airless Talk That Talk though not quite up to the high-water mark of Loud in terms of memorability — though that’s true. What it is is a taut statement of nowness in which she works with only the best, from The-Dream to No ID, with minimal distraction from the dancefloor. “Fresh Out the Runway” starts the album on a nicely hedonistic note, even if it sounds like a glossed-up version of Nicki Minaj’s “Come on a Cone.” Several tracks display a movement toward EDM that has mixed results but works well on tracks that don’t minimize Rihanna’s vocals, which have grown more impressive over the years, such as on the hard-hitting “Right Now.” Eminem shows up for the strangely alluring “Numb,” whose perfectly stacked layers can be credited to 10 producers and writers (including Kanye West) who luckily don’t lose Rihanna amid their stack of ideas. “Stay” is one of Rihanna’s best ballads to date, a gorgeously spare respite from the album’s dizzying beats and variety, marked by a simple piano arrangement and a great companion in Mikky Ekko. Their duet could have devolved into theatricality, but the song’s producers keep things uncluttered and raw enough so that it works. “Diamonds” shines brightest on the album, a classy power-ballad that rides high on a subtle earworm of a hook and a simple simile about everlasting love. Sure, it’s a bummer when Chris Brown shows up on the otherwise fun early House exercise “Nobodies Business,” and the album drags a bit at 15 songs, but overall Unapologetic’s unpredictability is part of Rihanna’s raison d’être: she’s current, she’s daring and she doesn’t care what you think.



Track Listing



Disc 1 Titles
Artist
Length
1.
Fresh Off The Runway
Rihanna 03:42
2.
Diamonds
Rihanna 03:45
3.
Numb
Rihanna 03:25
4.
Pour It Up
Rihanna 02:41
5.
Loveeeeeee Song
Rihanna 04:16
6.
Jump
Rihanna 04:24
7.
Right Now
Rihanna 03:02
8.
What Now
Rihanna 04:03
9.
Stay
Rihanna 04:01
10.
Nobody's Business
Rihanna 03:36
11.
Love Without Tragedy / Mother Mary
Rihanna 04:07
12.
Get It Over With
Rihanna 03:32
13.
No Love Allowed
Rihanna 04:09
14.
Lost In Paradise
Rihanna 03:36

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