Good girl gone bad goes three better! Little Miss Sunshine goes to Disturbia.

In 2007 Rihanna wasn’t seeing any rain on her career when she released her third album Good Girl Gone Bad. Releasing a fantastic little pop album filled with shiny production, her distinctive slightly harsh voice and one catchy song after another she graduated from the minor leagues to the major becoming one of the defining forces in pop music. In 2008, she released this album once again but added three tracks. This is a huge pet peeve of mine as I really don’t want to shell out money for an album twice but I’m not going to judge this collection based on record’s company to drain my pockets for basically the same product. The big question is do the three songs make this album worth buying again. (This is assuming you’re not hooked up with an online music service where you could just buy the three tracks.)

First, let’s give an overview of the original tracks on the album. While I have already reviewed the album I can give a take of the songs after a year has passed. Does the album hold up? For the most part, yes. “Umbrella” is just as addictively and almost annoyingly catchy as it was last year. It’s a little cold, a little distant but the sparse production some how makes this song even more memorable. It’s basically a little beat not all that different from Sir Mix A Lot’s “Posee On Broadway”. Jay-Z does a brief cameo before Little Miss Sunshine pledges loyalty peaking from behind the aloof synthesizers and fairly austere production. “Shut Up And Drive” finds Rihanna once again hits from New Wave past and finding something sample worthy from New Order and their hit “Blue Monday”. It’s catchy, filled with attitude and still fun to listen to. “Don’t Stop The Music” is pretty much a sample of Michael Jackson’s famous jibberish from the infectious “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” looped continuously and fading in and out against a backdrop of handclaps and pulsing synthesizers. For Rihanna it’s made over into a throbbing slice of dance music. All three of these songs were made to be singles and performed well.

If the hits were the only thing that were good this album wouldn’t have done so well. Although some of the song aren’t quite as good as I felt they were last year there is still more than enough for this album to deserve a five star rating. “Hate That I Love You”, a duet with another man who made a great album last year Ne-yo, this song is still getting heavy rotation on my MP3 player. They sound great together and have a lot of chemistry. The acoustic guitar against the beat from “Sexy Love” makes for a nice little love song.
Actually now that I think about it this was a hit as well. Flirty songs like “Sell Me Candy” and “Say It” are sugary, sweet and fun and that hasn’t changed.

A few songs I’ve lost interest in though. “Question Existing” was an interesting song with its chilly production and philosophical bent but it doesn’t make for good listening on a regular basis. The school yard stomp and thundering synthesizers of “Breakin’ Dishes” is a nice contrast to the other songs on the album and it works in the context of the album but just to have on your MP3 player it doesn’t hold up as well. “Rehab”, the first cousin of Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around” is a good song but I haven’t been listening to it as much as the more peppy, upbeat songs that make up the bulk of this album.

So now let’s chat about the new songs. “Take A Bow” went number one and at first I wasn’t crazy about it. That changed pretty quick. It’s a pretty basic song but she delivers it well. “Disturbia” on the other hand, with its freaky video and fantastic sound was love at first listen. This song is insanely catchy and she makes Beyonce’s crazy chick persona in “Ring The Alarm” look like Pollyanna! Both of these songs are very good additions and although I vehemently detest the practice, at least she gave us something worth our time. I will buy the extra tracks for sure. She teams up with Adam Levine on a song from Maroon 5’s last album “If I Never See Your Face Again” and this is one of the few songs I liked on their album and surprisingly they sound good together. I’m not sure this is on the same caliber as the other two songs but it’s not bad at all.

If you haven’t bought Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad yet then you should definitely get this version of the album. The added tracks are not just bonuses, they are hits. If you already bought the album I still think it’s worth thinking about if you’ve got some money to burn and it’s a slow new release week. Rihanna’s album was definitely one of the best pop albums of last year and still keeping my attention a year later.