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Good Girl, Gone Bad, the third studio album from Barbados sensation Rihanna is currently a staple of FM radio. The first single, “Umbrella”, sets the tone for the album, with its heavy beat, synced tone and catchy, although some may say annoying, chorus of “ella, ella, eh, eh, eh” It became the most successful song of 2007, racking up in excess of 8 million plays worldwide.
This being the first track on the album it leads you into a string of heavily produced dance tracks reminiscent of 80’s pop/electronica, think New Order, Soft Cell and Joy Division, and it is no surprise to read the song credits and see that Joy Division’s founding member Bernard Summer and New Order’s Stephen Morris are both credited with writing multiple songs. The song credits in general reads like a “who’s who” of the current music scene – Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo and Timbaland all having penned their talents.
Even some industry icons make an appearance on this list, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson having his 1983 hit “Wanna be Startin’ Something” sampled on “Don’t Stop the Music”. The album takes a different turn with an appearance from the new R’N’B star Ne-Yo on the mellow balled “Hate that I love You”, before moving right back into more dance tracks, this time with a softer R’n’B feel. Released in 2007, Good Girl Gone Bad has now been repackaged, now titled Good Girl, Gone Bad – Reloaded. The odd title of the album “Good Girl, Gone Bad” tries to have you believe that this squeaky clean 20 yr old has a dark side, even having a track titled “Rehab”, now most people would believe Amy Winehouse when she sings about going to rehab, but do we honestly think that Rihanna has been anywhere near a Betty Ford Clinic recently?
The new repackaged album has three new tracks including the new single “Take a Bow”, as well as the standout track of the album “If I never see your face again”, a collaboration with Maroon 5. This album has clearly done its job, sold around 5 million copies world wide, produced five worldwide hit singles (Umbrella, Shut Up and Drive, Please Don’t Stop the Music, Hate that I Love you and Take a Bow), picked up a swag of awards and allowed Rihanna to cement herself as a favorite for MTV. Where it fail’s is that you get the feeling that this has all been done before and Rihanna is simply one of the many pawns of the current pop music scene, being dictated to from industry bosses more concerned with selling a few CD’s.
The single’s off this current album, sound almost identical to her previous singles, the 2005 hit “Pon De Replay” and the 2006 single “SOS” showing that the powers that be have discovered a formula that works and don’t intend to change it. Now don’t get me wrong, the songs are well produced for the market they are intended for, you will be singing them long after you turn the radio off and Rihanna makes MTV viewing much more appealing, however this CD is not going to push any musical boundary’s……….but did we really think it would?
Review by Andrew Short |
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