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Hip-hop and mall rock have all but replaced dance pop, but every once in a while a euro-style club mash-up breaks through. Barbados-born Rihanna’s huge dancehall pop hit last year, “Pon de Replay,” was a sexy snaky melody proving the world still appreciates clever pop music.
Besides ripping traditional reggae tracks like a seasoned dancehall queen, the stunning 17-year old Rihanna possesses a powerful singing voice that conjures up feeling and experiences way beyond her years. It’s no wonder that all it took was a quick audition with Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, president and CEO of Def Jam recordings, for the green-eyed beauty which toured South Africa quite recently ,to solidify a recording contract with the multi-million dollar record company.
Rihanna gracefully avoids the sophomore slump with “A Girl Like Me, a less tropical flavoured, more urban effort than her sun and fun debut. Then again, it’s hard to be effervescent twenty four hours, seven days, when your love life has suffered a crushing blow, something inferred by the numerous heartbreaking ballads, all of them elegant, mature and displaying artistic growth. Fans of her “Pon De Replay” need not to worry, because the album kicks off with the very pump-up-the-volume and blow-the-speakers single “S.O.S.” cleverly using riffs from Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.” The crunchy reggae version of “Kisses Don’t Lie” offers a less revolutionary alternative compared to the original done by Damian Marley. Then the album gets bolder and seamlessly bounces from genre to genre. Attempting that would make a lesser artist crumble.
Rihanna elegantly uses murder as a metaphor on “Unfaithful” and creates a drive-with-the-top-down feel with easy flowing weekend cruiser “We Ride”. Even more stunning is the jump from “Final Goodbye” to a totally juiced up “Break Off”, where she gives guest star and dancehall king Sean Paul some serious competition. The good, but not great “If It’s Lovin That You Want” featuring Corey Gunz, her fellow record label mate, is the only track approaching filler, but it is a clearly marked bonus track.
All in all and unsurprisingly, a very polished, yet richer experience than you’d expect from a singer responsible for the summer jam of 2005.
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