 Following the assault of Rihanna 's boyfriend Chris Brown on her , there was much speculation as to whether any song featured on the upcoming album would be about him . Producer Chuck Harmony mused that no matter what song Rihanna released as the lead single from the record , it would immediately be looked at as referring to Brown . During an interview with Marc Malkin at the MTV Video Music Awards , American singer @-@ songwriter Ne @-@ Yo stated that listeners should expect an " edgier " and " angrier " Rihanna on the album . He later told In Touch Weekly that the album is definitely more menacing than Rihanna 's prior work , describing the album as " liberated " . The album was released under the title Rated R in November 2009 . 
