Unapologetic
Rihanna
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Sorry is for sissies …
It is hard to believe that Unapologetic is Rihanna’s seventh studio album, given that it seems she only started her music career yesterday. Then again, the Babardian singer seemingly releases an album every year, and we are not complaining. This album is almost a jab at all the haters out there that have something to say about Rihanna.
Titled Unapologetic, you already get a sense of where the five-time Grammy Award winner’s mind was. She is obviously fed-up with being judged and making tabloid covers for the wrong reasons. So instead of her saying that she is repenting, the singer is adamant that she will continue to live the way she sees fit.
A sore point in many of her fans’ assessment of her life is her relationship with Chris Brown. After he pleaded guilty for physically abusing her a few years ago, a lot of people, including Oprah, wrote him off in her life.
But as it turned out the two made up and few people were happy about it. Their response is on this album and it is titled Nobody’s Business. Here is hoping the judgmental folks take the hint and move on to Justin Bieber or someone else.
As usual Rihanna sets the pace for the club scene and Right Now, which features the great David Guetta, takes care of that. On the ballad front we have the well-written Get It Over With which draws parallels between emotions and storms. Stay, which features Mikky Ekko is another ballad to look out for as this lesser-known singer sounds a lot better than Brown.
Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary is a double bill that shows Rihanna’s complex life where one half of the song speaks of the fast life and the second a craving to get back to a place where she is spiritually at ease.
Fans of Future will love his contribution to Loveeeeeee Song which is self-explanatory. His husky voice has been in demand in the past year and he turns this one into a club anthem – the kind played closer to closing time.
Then there is Diamonds, the summer hit, which we heard before the album came out. The energy around it is reminiscent of her hits over the years and that’s to be expected because the StarGate hitmakers Mikkel S Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen had a hand in writing it. This is another Rihanna must-have classic. – Munya Vomo