(December 14, 2012) — From her first single “Pon de Replay” on her recently released album Unapologetic , five-time Grammy award winner Rihanna has continued to show off her bold voice. Every album she comes out with seems to top the previous one. Unapologetic is my favorite album thus far, and I can’t stop running it on shuffle. It’s almost painful to skip any one of the tracks. Rihanna’s hit single “Diamonds” was the perfect teaser for her new album Unapologetic. As soon as the song went public, it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. After the release of her album, it was no surprise that it hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Although there are negative and positive reviews on the album, Unapologetic continues to stay at the top. Her Instagram and Twitter posts were getting all of her fans hyped for the release of her album. She constantly posted about her 777 tour, which was a press tour to debut her seventh album in seven cities in seven days. The plane was filled with reporters who traveled with her to get exclusive information on her upcoming album. Rihanna’s album cover is an sexually exposed photo with words like “faith,” “chalice” and “fearless” scribbled on herself. The words back up the album’s title, Unapologetic. Her diva-hustler persona is really shown in a lot of her songs. Her tracks, “Phresh Out the Runway”, “Pour It Up” and “Numb” featuring Eminem are definitely worth listening to. It’s easy to imagine how much fun she must’ve had recording these tracks because of her attitude in them. Her attitude sort of flows through your body. These songs make me feel like I have a ton of swag that I want to show off. A really obvious factor of her album is that she has really amazing producers and writers. The beats on her tracks have a really good variety. Oftentimes a song with a good beat overshadows the artist’s voice, but not in Rihanna’s case. Just as the beats compliment her voice, her voice compliments the beats. Rihanna and French DJ David Guetta have united again to create two amazing pieces. I fell in love with Guetta’s “Who’s That Chick?” with vocals by Rihanna because it is a really good party and dance song. I am crazy for a song that I can dance to, so when I saw Guetta’s name featured on Rihanna’s song “Right Now,” it was the first song I listened to. I was far from disappointed. “Stay” featuring Mikky Ekko is also a truly beautiful piece. It showcases Rihanna’s strong voice with the piano. It’s easy to tell how lovely a song is when YouTube has pages of video tutorials and covers for it. This song is definitely a favorite of mine. One thing I’m tired of are the publicity stunts that Rihanna has been pulling off. The big jaw dropper was Rihanna’s hit “Birthday Cake” featuring Chris Brown, her ex-boyfriend and previous abuser. Obviously it was done to get more publicity and it worked because it was all the media could talk about for weeks. After the two artists’ little encounter in a club bathroom, I thought that would be it for the rest of their publicity stunts. However, Chris Brown is featured again in “Nobody’s Business”. Although the song doesn’t even compare to “Birthday Cake”, I don’t hate it. The song is a recreation of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” and is probably one of the best recreations of Jackson’s songs that I’ve heard. Chris Brown has a sensual voice and together the artists make Jackson’s style come to life with a smooth and edgy sound. This album as a whole is really good, however some of Rihanna’s tracks disappointed me. I thought that her track “Loveeeeeee Song” featuring rapper Future was a complete joke. First of all, if you’ve ever listened to Future he’s definitely far from a good artist. Of course Rihanna’s voice is nice, but Future’s auto-tuned voice sounds like he’s dying. Good thing the lyrics are well written or else the song would have been a complete mess. It’s a more explicit version of the typical love song. The cute love lyrics are there but with a more sexual meaning added to it. My favorite track on this album is “Jump” featuring Skrillex. Although Skrillex’s last album lowered my expectations for Rihanna’s song, the dubstep beat that is in this song is awesome. Dubstep is often described as nasty or dirty when it’s really good, and I must say that this was a pretty filthy beat. The mix of Rihanna’s sexy voice and Skrillex’s crazy drop in the song makes this song a perfect party mix. Also, some lyrics in the song are taken straight from the song “Pony” by Ginuwine, which is an old favorite of mine. So the song gives a throwback feeling with a fresh style added. I rated Unapologetic based on the things she did really well. Her voice, attitude and beats really come through in this album, more than in any of her previous ones. Rihanna’s music unfolds and shares a part of herself to her fans. I give Rihanna’s album a 4.5 out of 5, because she really did “shine bright like a diamond” in this one.