Rihanna's a Good Girl Gone Bad

Rihanna is one of pop music's rising starlets: Her song "Umbrella" currently tops the charts (and has for more than a month). Hip-hop impresario Jay-Z seems determined to make her Def Jam's unmitigated glitter diva. And her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, has been hailed by critics as the second coming—of Beyoncé.

"Three cheers for her declaration that 'once a good girl goes bad, she's gone forever,'" raves a reviewer on the BBC's Web site. "If being bad does this for Rihanna, then being good, is like, totally overrated."

Which nicely sums up the thumping appeal of Rihanna's newest CD. In a departure from her two (relatively) more innocent offerings, the 19-year-old singer from Barbados now wants to be "bad" in the worst sort of way.

Breakin' Dishes, and Maybe CDs, Too
In a not-so-subtle effort to get in the way of Rihanna's race toward the racy, I'll start this review with the statement that, from a content point of view, Good Girl Gone Bad isn't all bad. Some of the lyrics even rise to the level of tepid morality. The breakout hit "Umbrella" is (at least on the surface) a delicate, danceable ode to foul-weather friendship and eternal support. "Told you I'll be here forever," Rihanna sings. "That I'll always be your friend/... Now that it's raining more than ever/Know that we can still have each other."

Though "Breakin' Dishes" is angry and slightly off-color, the song deals with the real heartache and anger brought about by an unfaithful partner. And along those same lines, the title track begins as a bitter pushback against the corruption and dehumanization of women ("Now she in the club with a freaky dress on/Cats goin' at her, keep that dress on/Tryna get enough drinks in her system/Take her to the telly and make her a victim"). As the BBC noted, Rihanna believes it's "easy for a good girl to go bad/And once we gone/Best believe we gone for good." It's a chorus that, at first, sounds like a call for abstinence.

But the rest of the album—and even the song—runs wildly counter. The biggest and most obvious culprit is "Push Up on Me," which is just as sexual as it sounds. In the bridge, the songstress coos, "Come up to my room you sexy little thing/And let's play a game, I won't be a tease/I'll show you the boom, my sexy little thing." One verse has Rihanna telling her unseen partner, "I want to see how you move it" and asks, "You wanna come get me outta my dress?"

"Sell Me Candy" travels that same path ("You selling me your fantasy that I wanna explore"), while "Shut Up and Drive" turns Rihanna's body into a "fine-tuned supersonic speed machine" looking for a qualified "driver." "Say It" starts out as a promising plea for better communication, but, as it turns out, the subject's deepest thoughts begin and end with sex, and Rihanna knows it: "Tell me what it is you like/Baby, baby don't be shy/Maybe you can spend the night."

Songs that don't directly refer to sex still talk about love twisted one way or another. On "Breakin' Dishes" Rihanna tears apart the house as she waits for her unfaithful man to return, telling listeners she's not going to stop until she sees "police lights." (She spouts mild profanities as part of her tirade.) And "Lemme Get That" is an anthem to leveraging sex and love to procure cool stuff.

Dancing With the Stars
"Bad is not sleazy," Rihanna said during a recent radio interview in Great Britain, explaining the album's title. "Bad has its own term to every individual and in my case it just means I've gotten a little rebellious on the album, broken out of my shell and I'm taking risks."

Bad may not always mean sleazy. But Good Girl Gone Bad is a sleazy album. Every rhythm-and-dance-laden groove oozes sex, it seems, and Rihanna's voice does little to dispel the sensuality.

Let's be honest: Dance music is inherently about animal magnetism and seduction. Purity and piety are hard things to convey on the modern dance floor, which is why so many Christian families don't care much for dancing and there are so few Christian disco artists out there.

Rihanna cements the perceptions and she fits the mold like soft clay in the hands of, well, Jay-Z. And that says a lot right there. Her message is further heightened by her album's art, which features her in a variety of seductive, cleavage-revealing poses and outfits.

So forget about splitting hairs over exactly how bad the meaning of bad is. Good Girl Gone Bad informs fans right up front where Rihanna's headed and where's she leading them.