Rihanna has finally made a solid album, almost void of her nasal tick of notes and need to have herself above the sound mix. Now with the right production, hello -- echo effect in play during "Umbrella" (a song Mary J. Blige turned down, yeah, kick yourself hard for that one, girl). Rihanna has dropped the too-sweet Island sun music that she never quite American-ized to have a run away hit and is able to avoid working with Teairra Marie at the food court.

With the exception of the horrible slow jams that try to cater to her as if she had a strong voice, Rihanna does well with the sassy jams like "Lemme Get That" with its call to take every dime a man has on furniture instead of spending her own cash to do so ... why not have him buy the house too then? Even "Don't Stop the Music" which samples Michael Jackson's chant/call from "Wanna Be Startin' somethin'" is dipped in a little of reggae while still allowing her to cross over. It's nice to see her growing into her own, even though it is with massive help from studio production.

In the past, it seems as if she had been searching for an image, this sassy, sweet vibe suits her well. Even the film-noir album cover works. The only riff: when she fails, she fails hard! Slow jams just aren't her strong note, when its too much of a vocal push for her. Its like telling Ciara to go out there and belt -- not gonna happen. Rihanna has made an excellent summer album that'll stick on the charts for a long time or until Beyonce gets Jealous and tells her to sit down.

Rihanna isn't really a great singer, and you realize this quickly after watching her sing live again and again. I've never been a big fan of her music, but this album really just isn't cutting it. She is Pop/R&B for the moment, until someone else comes along as she came along on Christina Millian, Amerie, Kelly Rowland, & other singers. They all have the same bad break-up songs & happy make-up songs. I don't know what makes Rihanna so different or better than Kelly, Amerie, Christinia Millian or Ashanti.

The state of today's "music" is pitiful! Rihanna and every other young girl/guy today SOUNDS ALIKE! It's a whiny, monotonous kind of sound with banal, kid-like lyrics being repeated over and over with a definite hip/hop beat that is truly annoying.

This stuff is being nominated for Grammy Awards! For years, the Grammys have sworn that they nominate "the best" which is not based on record sales. But, if you'll notice, all of the nominees are best sellers. I cannot imagine "artists" like Rihanna, Justin Timerlake and Beyonce marching up to receive the highest HONOR music has to offer. Is THIS the BEST America has to offer? It cheapens the award, reducing it to the same level as the Billboard and American Music Awards, which are honest about their awards being for sales only.The awful part is that artists with REAL singing talent sit at home watching this disaster, as one no-talent after another treks up to accept these awards.

What Happened To Great Music? Will it ever return? How do we run these hip/hop phonies out of town!!!!!!??????

Oh Dear,

What will she release next year??? A country Album? Will she be Bad girl gone Good??? She has to strip and change her style(if she has one) to keep the public interested...

She is an image created to be so popular, but her album isnt selling as good as they are making us think, for an artist that has been on the charts for 9/wo week, her album hasn't even gone gold yet, but Maroon 5, Pink with U & ur hand, Justin Timberlake with Summer Love which didn't even go to #1 on Billboard have all gone gold??? I dunno I think it is like One person buying or downloading a song/album a million times so people will think everyone is buying it and then they start to buy it too...

An image created because talent & this girl don't go together... If not 4 Jay pushing her with those endorsement deals, she wud be forgotten like that Tierra Marie. But if i was her i wouldn't feel too bad, at least u never took ur clothes off to sell an album, keep flippin those burgers girl ;-)...

this is a joke , right... I mean this really is a joke this person and the rest of it all. Oh my god this really is the end of civilization when someone that sounds like this gets recognized for being, good?!?