Loud, the 22-year-old Barbados native's fifth disc, comes almost a year to the day after R, and only scant traces of that wounded warrior remain. In her place is a rebooted pop vixen, a Caribbean-accented kitten with a whip. What begins with late-night-Cinemax naughtiness (see: explicitly carnal opener ”S&M” and playful Drake collab ”What's My Name?”) soon yields to the walk-away ballad ”Fading,” a gorgeously synthesized moment of sweet defiance. The Jameson-swilling, TGIF-toasting ”Cheers (Drink to That)” folds a left-field Avril Lavigne sample into a crunked party anthem, while the rum-pa-pum ragga ”Man Down” burrows neck-deep in island rhythms. Lead single ”Only Girl (In the World)” finds her playing the spiraling dance-floor siren, a role she carries through the airy ”Complicated.” Even while telling a recalcitrant man how hard he is to love, she sounds almost buoyant, her newly expanded vocals eager to scale the song?s high-altitude house beat.
| A1 | S&M |
| A2 | What's My Name? |
| A3 | Cheers (Drink To That) |
| B1 | Fading |
| B2 | Only Girl (In The World) |
| B3 | California King Bed |
| C1 | Man Down |
| C2 | Raining Men |
| C3 | Complicated |
| D1 | Skin |
| D2 | Love The Way You Lie (Part II) |
