1. 'Rated R' (2009)
Rihanna's relationship with R&B singer Chris Brown provided more than its fair share of industry fodder when Brown was arrested for viciously assaulting the singer following the 2009 Grammys and so the idea of this dream-team R&B couple was forever tainted despite future reunions and collaborations. Rihanna took time out and returned months later with 'Russian Roulette', a fiercely dark, bitter rock ballad that was as captivating as it was arresting. This was the start of the 'Rated R' era and the most cohesive, sonically impressive and thematically challenging and mature album Rihanna's ever produced. 'Rated R', quite obviously, came out of a dark place in Rihanna's personal life and so seems to be both a reflection or her thoughts, ideas and internal reactions following the incident, and a catharsis of how she was able to assess, recognise and cope with said incident. Rihanna transforms from the sexy singer of 'Disturbia' and 'Umbrella' into a gun-toting, vengeance-seeking valkyrie with songs such as the positively sinister 'Wait Your Turn' and aggressive 'Hard' establishing Rihanna as the most fearsome of opponents, her vocals oozing an angry menace and fury that is not only palpable, but uncomfortably so. Despite the rage fuelling through her veins, the album also contains themes of restoration 'Rockstar 101' is a cocky and brash self-empowerment anthem that is the dark flipside to positive and similarly-themed tunes as Rihanna tells both the listener and herself that she is able to overcome her current situation. This same empowerment becomes physical in 'G4L' where she leads a troop of similarly downtrodden and battled women who begin to seek their revenge against the people who wronged them. Even the brighter cuts like the only danceable single, 'Rude Boy', is a snarling call-out to the males, challenging their conceptions of gender roles and masculinity in which Rihanna becomes both siren and emasculating scythe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2nCGawrSY Paradoxically, this album is simultaneously Rihanna's most aggressive and equally most vulnerable as she trades turns of being the enraged heroine with much more emotional and heartbroken songs that display the woman beneath the leather and spikes that made up the 'Rated R' image. For every 'Hard', there is a 'Fire Bomb', a dramatic R&B-rock ballad that is full of sad regret and anger in equal measure, and the songs such as 'Stupid in Love' and 'Cold Case Love' are full of loathing and sadness. Album closer 'The Last Song' is a suicide-themed ode which is the culmination of the emotional arc Rihanna goes onto during the album, allowing herself armor and vulnerability in order to work through a horrific and traumatic event. But, 'Rated R' offers some hope the album is much more than the dramatically bleak showcase of a woman going through a horror with the eyes of the world on her, it is a cathartic expression which allows Rihanna to channel her negative experiences and overcome them, however slowly it might take. Boasting a slick production and lyrics as profound and heartfelt as we've ever heard from her, 'Rated R' is certainly Rihanna's best album and one that deserves your time and attention, no matter how dark going down the rabbit hole may be. So, do you agree with my ranking of Rihanna's albums? Think one of them should have shuffled higher than any of the others? Let me know in the comments below...