To quote a track from her just-released album, Rated R, the wait is over for Rihanna.
The singer was feted at her album-release party in Manhattan on Tuesday night as Jay-Z, Diddy and Fabolous, among others, turned out at Juliet's Supper Club to celebrate Rihanna's first project since her February assault earlier this year by Chris Brown.
The Barbadian beauty arrived at the festivities fashionably late, just after 1 a.m., but the cameras were at the ready, capturing Rihanna's red-carpet strut. The fashion icon sported a shimmering gold micro-dress with long spikes sporadically jutting out all over and matching shoes.
Rihanna was quickly escorted inside where DJ D-Nice was spinning tunes ranging from Jay-Z's "Run This Town" (featuring the guest of honor) to Maino's "Million Bucks" and, of course, RiRi's Young Jeezy collaboration, "Hard."
Frequent Rihanna collaborator Sean Garrett said he was happy to support the Def Jam star. He said she took more control of this album, her fourth, and showed that she is not only resilient but also, at 21, she's more of a woman at this point in her career.
"She was very, very picky [with this album]," Garrett told MTV News. "She was going through a lot, so I think her emotions were leaning to things that were closer to her heart as opposed to closer to the radio, to be real honest. And that's the sign of a real, true artist."
The atmosphere remained festive both inside and outside the venue.
Jay-Z, a longtime Rihanna advocate and supporter, arrived with Diddy in a black Maybach. Tyson Beckford, Rick Ross, DJ Clue, DJ Envy and New York Jets star Thomas Jones were also in attendance.
Monday's Rated R release came on the heels of a media blitz that began with some very personal interviews with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Glamour magazine, Hot 97 and MTV News. The media appearances were her first since her assault as she broke her silence and explained in detail the attack and her desire to move on. She told MTV News that her album is the summation of her emotions in the aftermath of that fateful night.
"This album is an expression of all those feelings that I went through in the last eight months, just different emotions," she explained. "All of it isn't angry, all of it isn't dark and sad, 'cause I didn't go through that the whole time. That was part of it. It was really a roller-coaster, and you get that when you're listening to the album."
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