From: www.nydailynews.com
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On her first album since she became our premier poster girl for battered women, the singer goes all out to prove the "hell hath no fury" stuff was no joke.
"I'll never play victim/I'd rather be a stalker," she asserts in "Rockstar 101," while during "Stupid in Love," she states bluntly, "I saw your potential/that was dumb."
As ugly and depressing as all this may seem, it gives Rihanna a necessary spin. Many fans and observers reacted with either pity or contempt when she raced back to Chris Brown right after he smacked her silly. Later, she dumped him — a smart move for both her personal life and her professional one, at least in a PR sense.
Musically speaking, the angry new Rihanna we hear on "Rated R" can get out of hand. She's released a denser, darker work than what was on her previous three CDs, fired by a rougher take on the Caribbean dance-hall beats that began her career.