Rihanna’s new album cover features a black and white severe head shot of her, with her hand covering her right eye while her left eye has a ring of mascara around it as it glares at the viewer. It’s no secret what the context is here. It’s impossible looking at the eyes and not remembering images of the bruised face of Rihanna after being beaten by Chris Brown, her former boyfriend, in February. The singer until recently had remained silent over the incident. Now we know why. She’s been busy working in the studio on songs such as “Russian Roulette,” the confession of a domestic violence victim that whips into a soaring melodrama.

Whether by record company cynicism or accident, Chris Brown’s new album has been released at the same time as Rihanna’s. It’s tempting to talk about moral victories here. However the triumph here is really artistic. While Chris Brown’s new album is occasionally obnoxious and a bland R&B album, Rihanna’s sound has been transformed and she has produced one of the year’s best pop albums.

For the most part Brown ignores the elephant that’s in the room. He churns out dance-pop punchy songs that are full of Casanova gestures and club ready beats. He gloats over “cars and the girls and the cribs,” while promising ecstasy to a girl in the song “Take My Time.” Brown delivers lost love ballads with his nasal, wispy singing. However unfair it may sound, the incident with Rihanna has made it nearly impossible to hear Brown as we did before. His sweetness animating from songs like “Forever” from 2008 is a hard sell now.

When it comes to singing, there hasn’t ever been a doubt with Rihanna. Her personality has always been the question. Is there a real woman of flesh and blood behind the model looks and big voice? She answers emphatically on “Rated R.” There are a few tunes with engaging up tempos. The smutty fun “Rude Boy,” produced by StarGate, has a Caribbean bounce to it. However this album’s theme is grim: love that has gone horribly wrong. In “Cold Case Love” Rihanna sings “what you did to me was a crime.” She is bent for vengeance elsewhere. In “G4L” she sings “I lick the gun when I’m done… I know revenge is sweet.”" Here songs have etchings of minor chords and somber shades. Rihanna belts over the booming beats and synths. Goth R&B is the musical match of her CD black on black cover.

None of the songs here approach “Umbrella,” the 2007 mega hit from Rihanna. However, even the power sprawling ballads have the quality of intimacy here. In “Stupid in Love,” the blame is turned inward by Rihanna. Brown, on the other hand, appears to be incapable of such introspection. In his tune “Lucky Me” Brown transforms his problems into an opportunity of self congratulation. He sings “even when my world is falling down, I still wear a smile.” Brown could have offered a simple apology. It would have made for a much better song or made Brown at least a slightly better man.