Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The A.V. Club	C+
Chicago Tribune
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	6.1/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Spin	5/10

Rated R is the fourth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on November 20, 2009 by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album began in April 2009 and took place at several recording studios throughout United States and Europe. Rihanna together with Antonio "L.A." Reid and The Carter Administration was the executive producer of the album and worked with many record producers, including Chase & Status, StarGate, The-Dream, Ne-Yo, and Brian Kennedy. The record featured several vocalists and instrumentalists, including Young Jeezy, will.i.am, Justin Timberlake and Slash who played the guitars in "Rockstar 101".

Musically, the album represents a departure from her 2007 effort Good Girl Gone Bad, which contained up-tempo and ballad-oriented songs. Conceived after Rihanna's assault by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, Rated R features a foreboding and atmospheric tone in terms of musical and lyrical direction. It incorporated elements of hip hop, rock, and dubstep. It also explores other genres, such as dancehall in "Rude Boy" and Latin in "Te Amo". Rated R received positive reviews from music critics, who commended Rihanna's mature performance and called the album her most layered and heartfelt effort. In the United States, the album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. It also attained top ten positions in over twelve other countries.

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Wikipedia