Originally posted by RihLORD's #1 Stan

Originally posted by MrBillyBrhtd

Originally posted by Mastamaind

Flop stan?

Not a 10 for these guys but not deserving of the worst ever.

"Rihanna - Loud 7.6/10

Rejoice: Rihanna is having fun again. If she's not spilling milk with Drake in a (impressively spotless) bodega in her "What's My Name?" video, she's playfully grabbing Nicki Minaj's ass at the American Music Awards or living out millions of karaoke dreams by singing "Livin' on a Prayer" with Bon Jovi during a recent show in Madrid. All the while whipping her neon-stop-sign hair and smiling and throwing up ridiculous devil's horns. All this just a year after Rated R, her spiked-out reaction to staggering emotional and physical trauma. And while that cathartic album provided an outlet for her frustrations and allowed her to claim some artistic bona fides, the actual songs were often plodding and weighed down by overwrought melodrama. Not so on Loud, which has the 22-year-old Barbados-born star picking up where 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad left off, doling out effervescent pop like it was her birthright.

"Life's too short to be sittin' around miserable," sings Rihanna with a shrug on future 2 a.m. staple "Cheers (Drink to That)". "People are gonna talk whether you're doin' bad or good." The lines sum up the general sentiment of Loud nicely. There's no grand statement here, no tabloid back story. And while Rihanna had a hand in writing most of the songs on Rated R, she's not credited with writing anything here. But she's more experienced, and unlike some of her early material, you feel like she's actually connecting with these tunes on more than a purely melodic level. In his review of Good Girl, Pitchfork's Tom Breihan wrote that Rihanna "comes off sounding like a robot programmed to impersonate Alanis Morissette." And the acoustic strums and mid-tempo drum beat-- not to mention the vocal sample of Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You"-- on "Cheers" are particularly Alanis-esque. But now Rihanna is capable of adding her own West Indian lilt and charisma to the tipsy track-- you can almost hear her smirk as she brings hashtag rap to pop&B: "It's gettin' Coyote Ugly up in here/ No Tyra!"

After releasing five albums in as many years, the singer is closer than ever to becoming the complete pop package Jay-Z envisioned when he signed her the same day she walked into Def Jam during his tenure as president. Though gifted with runway-ready looks, Rihanna has improved in other areas through sheer perseverance. Her voice-- once fragile and shrill-- is now robust enough to take on songs like the delightfully Eurotrash pounder "Only Girl (In the World)" not only on record but at high profile awards-show performances. Her semi-scripted dance moves are sultry and spontaneous. She can be kinda funny (or at least genuinely excitable) in interviews. She'll never be as boldly talented as Beyoncé or freakishly engaging as Gaga, but there's still charm to be found in her (relatively) everyday affability. She recently said Loud was the first album she wasn't nervous about releasing, which makes a lot of sense. She's worked hard to get to this point.

If anything, the record sounds too easy at times. "California King Bed" is a "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"-type power ballad genetically engineered to soundtrack a bi-coastal Kate Hudson rom-com. "Raining Men" is a shameless Beyoncé rip-off that would be quickly dismissed if not for the fact that it's a pretty-damn-good Beyoncé rip off with a characteristically scene-stealing guest verse from Nicki Minaj. Meanwhile, "Fading" copies Rihanna's own lightweight R&B formula so much it's redundant.

On the flip, "Man Down" takes her violent side to its logical conclusion as it finds her on the run after killing a poor guy dead, its reggae bounce matching perfectly with Rihanna's mesmerizing cadence. And "Skin" is her sexiest song yet, a haunted, near-dubstep stunner that wouldn't sound totally out of place on Massive Attack's Mezzanine. Her laissez-faire attitude toward hit-making on Loud can result in too-safe moves or semi-experiments that come off surprisingly great, but, at this rate, by the time she runs out of singles from this record there will be another one ready to go. More than a stocking stuffer but less than an idol, Rihanna has grown into one of the most reliable pop stars we've got."

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14897-loud

Originally posted by musicfan09

I don't understand Loud! I love that album. But Born This Way is almost trash save a few songs and The Fame is like 60% yay and 40% nay!

Originally posted by Mariano

Teenage Dream
21 - okay maybe the worst winner I am fine with It being atleast nominated.

Originally posted by RihLORD's #1 Stan

Originally posted by Mike91

If you Gaga fans don't think 21 was the album of the year in 2011 then god bless you.

Most of the obvious ones have already been stated.