1.
Rihanna - Loud
What a loud year this have been. Party music ruled the charts! The return of Pop-Rihanna we all know and love, but Loud is much more than that. Yes, Loud doesn't have a lot of depth, emotion and substance like Rated R - But it stands it ground with amazing songs like 'Fading' and "California King Bed" which are typical Rihanna Pop-Ballads, which aren't any less part of her successful career, ballads such as 'Unfaithful', 'Take A Bow', 'Russian Roulette' were global smashes and defined "Rihanna" at the time. Rihanna also goes back to her Island roots with 'Man Down', which she sings with heavy accent. There are also
loud songs on the album like "S&M", "Only Girl" and "Complicated", which are European-Pop-Dance inspired tracks, great songs to dance and party to, and belt in your car once it comes on the radio. I think these 3 songs define "Loud", since they are really loud, Rihanna's vocals in them are very strong and
loud, while the heavy beats support her amazing vocals. The second single "What's My Name" is also a reminisce of her previous works that made her famous. "Skin" is calming hypnotic-sensual love song, a nice track to play while having sex. "Cheers" is a feel-good track, which basically says, "**** the haters, live your life!", it's my favorite song of the album since it makes me feel better when I'm down every time I listen to it. She didn't ditch her Urban appeal, with the third single which features Nicki Minaj, "Raining Men". "Love the Way You Lie Part II" featuring Eminem is the closing-track of the album. It's the only eerie song on the album which Rihanna accompanies with emotional, spine-tingling vocals. The lyrics are very deep and both of them have went through the incident they are singing of; so it comes from the heart and soul, and you can feel it when Rihanna sings.
Loud is a combination of flavors we all know and love from Rihanna, every body can find a piece of Rihanna he likes in this album which is what makes it so good. She didn't stick to one style but mingled all of her styles and improved new ones into Loud. Her vocals remarkably improved, too. And that, what makes Loud, my Album of the Year.
Standouts:
None, all of the album can be released as singles and be successful.
