Rating: 4/10

Track Amount: 16

Running Time: 50 minutes and 58 seconds

Genre: Pop/R&B

Personnel: Rihanna plus guests, as indicated

Producer: Boi-1da, Brian Kennedy, Chad Sabo, Daniel Jones, DJ Mustard, Fade Majah, Fred Ball, Hit-Boy, Jeff Bhasker, Kevin Parker, Mick Schultz, Mitus, No I.D., Robert Shea Taylor, Scum, Timbaland

Recording Studio Locations: Westlake (Los Angeles), Jungle City (New York), Twin (Paris), Windmark (Santa Monica), SOTA (Toronto)

Record Label: Roc Nation Records

Art Direction: Roy Nachum

Best Tracks: Close To You, Sex With Me

Quick Verdict: A bad example of where Popular Music is heading in the 21st century

Leaving Def Jam Records, which had delivered all Rihanna releases in the main part of her music career, was the beginning of the end for Rihanna’s album releases. As a result, Rihanna released this album, which has not been followed up with another album to date. However, this release in 2016 was an album release that was much more varied than her earlier album releases, even though some music critics noted that this had its strengths and weaknesses overall. Despite all this, this album release is one of her most popular and longest charting releases to date. As per usual, this album features a huge amount of contributors to original songs and guest stars galore. Let’s take a listen to this release, and we shall hear if it is any good.

1. Consideration features SZA. It begins with some awful bass and beats to begin with, and launches into a sort of song that is closer to Rihanna’s music roots rather than her output throughout the 2010s. This is fairly rubbish, to be frank, although Rihanna sings in a very unique and excellent way. Autotune is very audible on this song as well, which is a pity. In any case, this is Pop Music for the masses that falls apart on serious listening. The guest is a breath of fresh air, which is a good spot for the two main singers. This is a disappointing and, quite frankly, dreary song to listen to. You can likely skip this one; nothing really special is here at all. It ends with the lame backing track playing on repeat.

2. James Joint begins with some rather trippy sounds and is a song about smoking weed at any opportunity at hand. This is barely a minute long, but it is a song about drug-influenced love. Weird, but okay. Again, a rather dreary piece to listen to.

3. Kiss It Better begins with some interesting cut-up beats, electric guitar and another rather awful backing track. This marches on into a song that is about love and being in love throughout. The music is interesting but gloomy and not really decent listening. Sadly, this is the sound of Rihanna falling on her own sword, and although the music is more out there and Psychedelic, this has about a shelf life of about two minutes, not years. The profanities throughout don’t help, either. Rihanna obviously knew her time as an album artist was up, and this is clear evidence of that. This music is not symbolic, catchy or great. It sounds like electronic sludge. Surely the producers could have done better than this? Obviously not. A very disappointing listen overall, and no doubt fans of both contemporary music and Rihanna would not like this sort of song. Skip ahead, this is ordinary. The sound of Rihanna’s demise on an album.

4. Work features Drake. It is one of the main singles from this album. It sounds like an off piece of music from the start, and has repetitive lyrics featured in this song. This is a slightly better listen than the songs before it, but to little effect overall on the quality of this album. It is as though the producers only gave half a thought to consistency on this album, rather than hard work. The melodies are awful, and this music highlights likely why Rihanna has not recorded an album since this one. Her singing is beautiful, but there is no real merit to this nonsensical junk song. Drake’s appearance is covered in autotune, and although he adds a difference throughout as a guest, this is not really a good or special listen. The lyric matter is neither original nor desirable. A piece that falls apart at the seams. Difficult to listen to and enjoy.

5. Desperado begins with some awful sonic textures and enters into a really bad song at hand. The title and concept overall are extremely poor and musically unoriginal. Rihanna sings well, but that is the only good point about her music. Her singing voice shines, but this dreary and dirge-like piece is genuinely poor. This is a rolled gold example of a record that sells units, but ultimately disappoints. Rihanna dreams of running away with a lover, which she very much did afterwards. The second half has some trippy mixing, but that does not make this tune any better. A depressing and off-sounding song that disappoints. No good, skip ahead if you can, once again.

6. Woo begins with some awful melodies that are screeching. Seriously, this is how bad this is. Rihanna sings with too much autotune and no sense of musical direction overall. Lyrically, it is about missing an ex-partner, and this is pure junk. The sound of Rihanna shooting herself in the foot musically, this is definitely not the hit sounds of earlier in her music. This is like the sound of an awful sample stuck in a scratch. A very awful song that deserves no credit to the producers of Rihanna. Goodness knows how this was ever green-lighted in the first place. This is not recommended to fans of her earlier music, nor to contemporary music fans. It sounds ugly, and yes, it is more experimental musically, but definitely a failure upon listening. By this point, the album’s purpose is very dead. Hit stop and do something better than hearing this trash. Bad.

7. Needed Me begins with some swirling electronic sounds, which sound fairly unimpressive. Rihanna sings gorgeously on this song, and she sounds a lot like Ariana Grande. Still, Rihanna delivers a sharp and profane tune, which is somewhat better than the songs that came before it. It is a good effort, not a great one, which sounds quirky and different. This album illuminates the problem with music today, a lack of consistent music quality and effort to enjoy. Still, this song is okay to sit through, especially in this album’s context. This song is only okay, and it points out that Rihanna was falling behind her competitors at this point in time. The long outro is unnecessary as well.

8. Yeah, I Said It is a short piece that is not good or listenable, with more dark and dull instrumentation. This is a song of romantic expression that sounds warped and full of desire. This music is far from good, although this isn’t even the worst track on this album. It is still largely forgettable and unoriginal throughout. This is exactly what is wrong with most popular musicians today. It just sounds trashy and sour. A poor listen throughout. The extended outro with uninspiring piano is also bad.

9. Same Ol’ Mistakes is a six-minute-long piece. It sounds, once again, dark and has an off vibe. Some repetitive electronic melodies enter, and this drags on into nowhere. Rihanna sings well, but this is projectile vomit set to Pop Music structures. Rihanna quite clearly made a major mistake by releasing this album, and this song title should have been the album title. Despite Rihanna’s voice, this is so off-putting musically that one can point a finger at the multiple producers on this album as such for the poor music on this release. The music continues on, with a sense that this is just filler. That is simply not good enough. The Middle Eastern instrumentation is different, but it is still the sound of Rihanna giving up on her fans. There is a key change in the midsection, which is worth it, but only just. This makes things honestly quite better overall. An interesting, if not forgettable song. This is followed by some reversed melodies that sound like a digital harp, followed by the return of the dark and dank music from before. A really trashy listen then follows. Rihanna definitely deserves a better music backdrop than this. This tune is also a bit lengthy and should have been much more consistent. A poor and disappointing listen. This song should have and could have been better. The outro is way too long as well.

10. Never Ending begins with acoustic guitars and hummed harmonies by Rihanna. This is okay, but it is deeply moody and depressing music to listen to throughout. This is not great, all the same. Rihanna sounds like she wants to be Coldplay on this particular song. She sings about wanting love and desire, but this song is like a poor take on Adele. It is a fairly depressing listen as well, and not in a good way. This is definitely not worth hearing, sadly. This does have some emotionally naked singing, but overall, you would likely want to skip this one as well. A mixed-up, disappointing song that sounds like Rihanna was out of ideas and inspiration on this album. She had done much better than before this, even on a song like this one. Ordinary.

11. Love On The Brain begins with some straightforward beats and a looped guitar riff. This is another single from the album that sounds okay. If anything, this song is a standout on this trashy album that sounds quite good. Rihanna sounds a bit like her voice is shot to bits here, although she sings well. This is a good song with a raw and emotional listening experience throughout. It sounds cheesy and strange throughout, although this is mostly good as a Rihanna piece. Rihanna sings deeply and pleasantly about being in real love, despite the profanities ruining this somewhat. A good listen with some heartfelt and emotional singing overall. A very magical, upbeat, and enjoyable song to hear. A relatively good love song by Rihanna.

12. Higher begins with some awkward strings and other electronic instrumentation. It is a shorter piece of music with Rihanna singing about drinking and loving a man. The lyrics are absolutely bad, and it is a major flaw of this album at hand. In any case, this is love from the female perspective that is good in that sense, but it is not really matched musically. An okay tune, but sadly, it is on a fairly disappointing album. It ends with a good fade-out.

13. Close To You begins with some melodic piano, and it sounds quite dreary. Rihanna sings quite deeply on this song about dealing with relationship issues and insecurities throughout. A sad and moving song that is actually somewhat appealing. This is a very good and powerful song by Rihanna about having romance with a person of her fancy, and it is very deep and emotional throughout. A moody and moving tune that gives this album a better chance as it goes on. More of this sort of music should have been done on this release, and it truly sounds sweet. The song itself is a moving and tear-jerking listening experience. It has a long outro with piano and other soft instrumentation, which is very lovely indeed. Gorgeous. It wraps up with a neat piano motif.

14. Goodnight Gotham begins with some digitally processed vocals and some really poor choices of music instrumentation. This is a really ordinary and weird song with snippets of sounds and samples throughout, which make little sense at all. A really ordinary addition to this album, regardless of the intention behind it. Just plain bad, and it only goes for a minute and a half.

15. Pose begins with some strange percussive sounds and has Rihanna singing about random desires of her fancy. This is very much like the worst of K-Pop can be, except with Rihanna singing. An absolute piece of nonsensical garbage that really falls apart, and has random profanities throughout. A sad and disappointing tune at hand, which simply does not deliver throughout. It is neither catchy nor necessary, and many will want to skip ahead. Definitely not at all good. Very, very poor. The outro is absolute garbage.

16. Sex With Me is the final track on this album. It has some lush electronic sounds nicely layered. It points ahead to Rihanna’s hiatus from album work and her relationship that followed. This is actually quite good, even for its profanities and direct attitude throughout. Rihanna sings nicely about the deep and emotional desire for a lady to get it on. It is a good tune that finishes up a very ordinary album. If you have reached this far, you will love the sounds and beauty of this song. Sure, the music is rather junk, but it does have a genuine magic to it all. A better song that is perfect for those ladies born after the year 2000 to enjoy when in the mood. It ends with some neat instrumentation and looped vocals. A decent listen, shame that cannot be said for the rest of the album before it.

This album is a disappointing listening experience overall. It is the sound of Rihanna clinging desperately to her music and failing even at that. The ridiculous amount of guests and contributors points out that Rihanna was not to blame solely for this trashy album, which is a sad fact of most popular album releases nowadays. It is worse now that Rihanna has not delivered a new album after this one as well, which is no doubt disappointing to fans. Still, is this worth listening to? No, other contemporary musicians have released albums that are far better than this album.

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