Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Nov 15, 2010Loud would not sound quite so slapdash if it did not follow Good Girl Gone Bad, one of the best pop albums of its decade, and Rated R, one of the most fascinating pop albums of the same time frame.
-
Nov 24, 2010More than a stocking stuffer but less than an idol, Rihanna has grown into one of the most reliable pop stars we've got.
-
Dec 13, 2010At a brief 47 minutes, though, it's hard to see Rihanna fans walking away from Loud thinking she's anything other than the coolest girl in her field.
-
Nov 15, 2010That voice, when she exploits the grit of that Barbadian burr to the max, is more unique and richly textured than ever, and that and her crack production team are all the personality.
-
Nov 30, 2010Maybe the good girl gone bad is getting better?
-
Nov 15, 2010Rihanna's latest collection Loud is another sure fire assault on the charts and airwaves. It highlights exactly the best and worst of today's pop aesthetic.
-
Nov 16, 2010It's a mixed bag all right. At times brilliant, at others unlike anyone else out there and occasionally frankly a bit rubbish.
-
Nov 23, 2010With Rated R, she waded further into the co-writing pool, and the album's resulting darkness could be attributed to her public personal struggles. She goes the exact opposite route on Loud, eschewing any co-writing credits, acting as a conduit for club and radio jams about sex, parties, and sexy parties.
-
Nov 15, 2010This is a more mature nod to the bubbly pop that established her fame. And it's a statement from a woman who's come into her own, and who won't be going anywhere that isn't worth her while. We could all do worse than to follow her lead.
-
Nov 11, 2010At times the album's lurid sexuality can feel forced: kink as oversold diva commodity. What Loud showcases best, though, is a star undefeated by her worst circumstances - and finding redemption in exactly the kind of pop nirvana that made her famous in the first place.
-
Nov 12, 2010Like Janet's last hit album, Loud is a decided step away from its über-personal, melodrama-drenched predecessor.
-
Nov 23, 2010Pop chanteuse lets the sunshine back in.
-
Nov 30, 2010The record's best moments aim low rather than loud, with spacious, skittery beats that let loose Rihanna's Caribbean cadence.
-
Nov 24, 2010There is a clear aspiration for this album to be ubiquitous, and well, overbearing with tunes. Rather than follow the typical pop formula, Rihanna gives an album specifically catered to where she is now with her career, music, and life. And blaring seems to be the point.
-
Nov 15, 2010More than her previous records, Loud is all about Rihanna's fighting side.
-
Nov 16, 2010Loud works the pop gizmos as neatly as any album this year, maintaining the Rihanna brand. But the album has a hermetic, cool calculation until it gets to "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)," her take on the tortured hit she shared with Eminem.
-
Nov 16, 2010It is Rihanna's vocal--at once commanding, soulful and vulnerable--that anchors the song, and Loud itself, elevating it from a hit-and-miss collection into something oddly arresting.
-
Nov 16, 2010Loud is, at points, a powerful reminder of Rihanna's skills before the 2009 Grammys incident changed how we read her songs.
-
Nov 15, 2010After coming out fighting last time round off the back of a messy, violent break-up with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, it's nice to hear Rihanna getting back to something approaching normality on Loud.
-
Nov 11, 2010Part of the problem is Rihanna's essential blandness in a post-Gaga/post-Idol pop market, but mostly it comes down to the siren-song nature of her amazingly recognizable voice.
-
Jan 13, 2011While each track on Loud is an audio Polaroid of past work, there's little evolution. It's evident Rihanna is working her way to the top, but she's been doing that for three albums now.
-
Nov 23, 2010Pop chanteuse lets the sunshine back in.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 465 out of 588
-
Mixed: 66 out of 588
-
Negative: 57 out of 588
-
Nov 17, 2010
-
Nov 23, 2010
-
Nov 17, 2010