On Rihanna's last CD, she was a good girl gone bad. On her latest, Rated R, she's definitely a bad girl - more like a mad girl, and a dangerous one, out for revenge.

Throughout her fourth studio album, the 21-year-old is reasserting her strength through viciousness and vulgarity. And sometimes it works, like on Rude Boy, Hard and Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova).

But enduring surly, bitter Rihanna through 13 songs can be a bit much, and sometimes you want her to tone the attitude down.

Unnecessary bitterness

Whether it's the numerous F-bombs she drops or screaming "guns in the air" and that she's "gangster for life" - it's unnecessary, and more than adding edge to the songs, she takes away from them.

Rihanna says she started recording Rated R one month after she was beaten by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, and her thoughts on that situation and the end of the relationship are all over the CD.

"Don't understand it, blood on your hands, and still you insist on trying to tell me lies," she sings on Stupid in Love, a melancholy tune that finds Rihanna moving on and asking, "Which one of us is really dumb?"

Letting her emotions and feelings calmly come through is when Rihanna is at her best, like on the Justin Timberlake-assisted Cold Case Love, the will.i.am-produced Photographs, and Fire Bomb, a soaring rock song that is stadium-ready.

Check this track out

Rude Boy is a true gem on Rated R. The sexy tune bumps with Island flavour, edge and wit - and Rihanna doesn't even sound like she's trying.

- AP