You know an artist is in a major label league of their own when they nonchalantly release a new studio album on the eve of the Christmas rush.
In five short years, Robyn Rihanna Fenty has gone from pop star to megastar. Her second album, Good Girl Gone Bad, made her a household name, thanks initially to the ubiquity of ‘Umbrella’, a song that remains one of the best pop singles of the last decade. Her subsequent sales stats are truly staggering. In an age of dwindling sales, she’s done 60 million digital units alone.
A certain Antrim farmer and concerned parents worldwide have further raised her notoriety. But brouhaha and celebrity notwithstanding, is Unapologetic any good?
For starters, the production is often wonderfully exhilarating. Opening track ‘Phresh Out the Runway’ is one of the most daring and innovative mainstream tracks of the year, joining the dots between pop, R&B and the omnipresent influence of dubstep.
There are monster singles aplenty, led by the self-described “happy and hippy” ‘Diamonds’, a smash that astonishingly sees her tie with Madonna and The Supremes in the all-time female charts battle. 
But there are moments too that are bland and predictable. And the problem is that, of all people, we don’t want Rihanna to play it safe. There appears to be a strong inclination to nab as many big hitters as possible: unfortunately neither Eminem nor David Guetta add anything scintillating to the party. Meanwhile, former lover Chris Brown brings a dark cloud of controversy.
In sum, exactly a year after Talk That Talk and the blockbuster anthem ‘We Found Love’, Rihanna has turned in what is broadly an impressive offering. Only problem is that what we want from her is unmitigated greatness...
Eamon Sweeney