Rihanna To Lighten Up Her Sound On Next Album

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Rihanna surprised many fans with the darker direction she took — sonically and visually — on her fourth album, Rated R. Nicknamed “Little Miss Sunshine” by her mentor Jay-Z, the pop star pretty much killed any remnants of light when the gloomy and metaphoric lead single “Russian Roulette” debuted and signaled what was to come on the rest of the set.

Rated R‘s intense sound wasn’t just an out-of-nowhere switch for the 22-year-old hitmaker. It was her avenue to vent about the aftermath of the assault and breakup with her former boyfriend Chris Brown.

Now that she’s in a happier place personally, she plans to lighten it up a bit on her next effort with a more “energetic” sound while keeping a little of the grime she fell in love with on Rated R.

“Rated R, I love the sound of it, in terms of the bass,” she told MTV Korea during a recent trip. “I really like the bottom, the grime of it. But if I were to combine that with more energetic, up-tempo pop records, then I think that will be a happy marriage. And that’s where we’ll probably go next.”

There’s no word yet on when Rihanna will release her fifth album. For now, she’s still promoting Rated R and its island-tinged current single, “Rude Boy.”