Rihanna

Listeners hoping to get a better sense of Rihanna's personality will likely come away from her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, feeling either disappointed or deeply confused. Though each of the record's 12 cuts boast catchy tunes and/or well-crafted beats, Rihanna consistently comes across as a cipher—she seems just as cold and distant when singing about romantic anxiety as when she's calculating ways of scamming men for cash and expensive gifts.

Rihanna's aloofness makes it difficult to buy her more tender moments (such as "Hate That I Love You," her sappy collaboration with Ne-Yo), but it works well in the context of the harsh, electronic sound of uptempo club numbers such as "Umbrella," "Breakin' Dishes," and "Lemme Get That," which benefit from her understated delivery.

Whereas her rival Beyoncé sings convincingly about the emotional toll of being an alpha female in an intensely competive, hyper-materialistic world, Rihanna's most successful tracks are those that focus on her aspirations to become the alpha. At her best, Rihanna expresses a desire to gain sex, money and status in a way that seems relatable and empowering, if mildly ruthless.

—Matthew Perpetua
05.31.07

When you've released a pair of albums containing a few monster singles and a considerable amount of unsteady, unassured material, why mess around the third time out? From beginning to end, Good Girl Gone Bad is as pop as pop gets in 2007, each one of its 12 songs a potential hit in some territory. Unlike Music of the Sun or A Girl Like Me, neither Caribbean flavorings nor ballad ODs are part of the script, and there isn't an attempt to make something as theatrical as "Unfaithful." There is, however, another '80s hit involved: just as "SOS" appropriated Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love," "Shut Up and Drive" turns New Order's "Blue Monday" into a sleek, forthcoming proposition, one that is as undeniable and rocking as Sugababes' 2002 U.K. smash "Freak Like Me" (a cover of Adina Howard's 1995 hit that swiped from another '80s single, Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?"). "Shut Up and Drive" is part of an all-upbeat opening sequence that carries through five songs. Rihanna knows exactly what she wants and is in total control at all times, even when she's throwing things and proclaiming "I'm a fight a man" amid marching percussion and synthesizers set on "scare" during "Breakin' Dishes." The album's lead song and lead single, "Umbrella," is her best to date, delivering mammoth if spacious drums, a towering backdrop during the chorus, and vocals that are somehow totally convincing without sounding all that impassioned -- an ideal spot between trying too hard and boredom, like she might've been on her 20th take, which only adds to the song's charm. The album's second half is relatively varied and a little heavier on acoustic guitar use, but it's not lacking additional standouts. Three consecutive Timbaland productions, including one suited for a black college marching band and another that effectively pulls the romantically codependent heartstrings, enhance the album rather than make it more scattered. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi