Not just anybody can make a hit, and no one can make hits all the time.'Lemon' is a 2017 collaboration involving N.E.R.D., aka Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley. Now her story is overflowing, but her songs aren't sticking as they once did. For a while, Rihanna lacked a compelling narrative but couldn't yawn without hitting the Top 10. Then again, her tenacity in the face of the unimaginable public humiliation this year is beyond brave. Based on Rated R, Rihanna's artistic aspirations are currently loftier than her abilities.

While the singer is trying to accentuate her individuality and independence with this album, the 'dark' and/or 'mature' LP is nothing new- from Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope to Christina Aguilera's Stripped to Kelly Clarkson's My December, the rebel record is now a de rigeur coming-of-age maneuver. Talking about Rated R in a promo interview, Rihanna said, 'Anybody can make a hit, but I wanted a real album.' Such is the flawed logic of a newly legal drinker who has known only skyrocketing commercial success. It also trumps much of the album's 'riskier' material. The Stargate-produced 'Rude Boy' is the flightiest thing here, a club trifle that would fit snugly on 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad. Canned rock flourishes turn 'Rockstar 101', 'Russian Roulette', and 'The Last Song' into instantly-dated missteps from a bygone era when a Slash feature was cool. Specifically, the undercooked-yet-alluring 'Wait Your Turn' shows promise for future dubstep crossovers, and the loping style matches Rihanna's dourness for better and worse (see: the cartoonish tough-chick clunker 'G4L'). pop breakthrough for the bass-riddled genre. Like its lyrical themes, Rated R's tones are decidedly darker than anything Rihanna's done notably, UK dubstep producers Chase & Status provide production on a few tracks, marking a U.S. It's a frustrating moment from an album pockmarked with them. Then, just as her sorrow peaks, the track is sunk by an infuriatingly tone-deaf and goofy verse from producer will.i.am, who can be a real asshole. On the track, Rihanna is more wounded than ever, her voice offering as-yet-unheard levels of tenderness. The strumming 'Photographs' comes replete with teary-eyed remembrances ('all I've got are these photographs') and a hint of poignant anachronism- after all, most photos are a 'delete' button away from nothingness nowadays. The ballads also suffer due to the fact that they require singing- which still isn't Rihanna's forte (tellingly, aforementioned highlight 'Hard' is a near-rap with single-syllable 'yeahs' for a hook). For every 'Fire Bomb'- a stunningly overzealous power ballad Pink would blow shit up for- there's something like the actually-quite-dim 'Stupid in Love' or the lost-in-translation lesbian farce 'Te Amo', both of which aim for Almodóvar but end up closer to Telemundo. The more melodramatic fare is also mixed. The similarly chest-thumping 'Rockstar 101' and 'G4L' are harder to justify considering their mindless boasts and torpid production. 'Brilliant/ Resilient/ Fan mail from 27 million,' huffs Rihanna, slyly acknowledging the need for such an anthem while justifying its existence. The bulletproof guise is good for the record's high point on 'Hard', a strutting statement of power bolstered by a roiling undertow of a beat from 'Umbrella' producer Tricky Stewart. The brutality comes in two modes: sentimentally self-lacerating and superhero defiance. In a recent interview, Rihanna described the Rated R recording sessions as 'theraputic,' and the vitriolic, rough, raw end product is about as brutal as you'd expect.

Over the course of the album, Rihanna puts a revolver to her temple on 'Russian Roulette', recalls 'white outlines' on 'Cold Case Love', and even threatens to crash head-on into a boyfriend on 'Fire Bomb'- not exactly the most politically correct metaphor in the age of IEDs, but it does get her point across. Fallouts mark Rated R as well, though they are decidedly heavier. (Her newly severe, emo-boy-esque haircut seen in the song's video did not hurt, either.) 'Take a Bow' was witty, funny, and as full of attitude as kiss offs come, and Rihanna definitely sounded like she was having fun with the imagined breakup.

When she scoffed ' please' at the whimpering chump 43 seconds into the track, she officially put the ice queen routine behind her and entered the realm of full-blooded pop stars. 1 single 'Take a Bow', Rihanna blew off a philandering numbskull and delivered her most realistic performance to date.

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