"We Found Love" topped the charts in over 25 countries and sold over 9 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

[citation needed] In March 2012, Rihanna revealed that although she had not yet begun recording, she started "working on the new sound" for her seventh studio album.

"[24][25] The album's first half is made up of EDM and "syrupy" Southern hip hop minimalism[26] songs, which feature abrasive sound effects and eccentric beats.

[27] Like most of the album, they generally draw on dubstep, a bass-heavy subgenre typified by wobbly synthetic noises and blaring bass drops, as well as dance-pop and chopped and screwed sounds.

[30] According to Alexis Petridis, the different producers who worked on Unapologetic appeared to make an effort away from Rihanna's previous "pop-dance template ... or at least to rearrange voguish sounds into less familiar shapes".

[2] Much of the album's lyrics are presumably concerned with Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown,[31] with a second half of lighter songs that have references to a dysfunctional love life.

[3] James Reed of The Boston Globe called Unapologetic "a defiant middle finger to her critics, particularly the ones who don't approve of her relationship with Brown.

[35] The album's opening track, "Phresh Out the Runway", is a "gritty club banger" that features hip hop and EDM styles.

[36] The song is a "noisy, trap-tastic twerker" that is reminiscent of Rihanna's 2012 single "Birthday Cake", and contains "blazin' beats, brags aplenty" and an "unapologetic attitude".

[45] Lyrically, it finds Rihanna turning a strip-club anthem into a declaration of independence,[46] pulling out her dollar bills at the strip club, getting drunk, and bragging loudly.

[45] "Loveeeeeee Song" is a duet with rapper and singer Future, with soft vocals by Rihanna and lyrics that posit love as an adversarial game.

[55][56] The lyrics revolve around "failing to resist true love", according to Dan Martin for NME[57] "Nobody's Business" mixes Chicago stepping and house styles, featuring strings, piano, and a four-on-the-floor kick drum.

[36] Lyrically, it speaks about a love stronger than a gun shot,[63] "Half of Me" is a chamber pop song which lasts for a duration of three minutes and twelve seconds.

[76] The song also topped the charts in eighteen other countries worldwide including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

"Stay", which features guest vocals by American recording artist Mikky Ekko was released as the second international single from the album, first impacting radio stations in France on 13 December 2012.

[77][78] Dan Martin for NME thought that the lyrical content of "Stay" puts a "vulnerable spin" on her relationship with Chris Brown.

[94] Rihanna performed "Diamonds" and "Phresh Out the Runway" at the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on 7 November 2012, which aired on CBS on 4 December 2012.

[citation needed] On 9 December 2012, Rihanna performed "Stay" in a medley with her 2011 single "We Found Love" on the final of series nine of British The X Factor.

"[31] Fact magazine's Alex Macpherson felt that it has some of Rihanna's most compelling songs since Rated R (2009) and that, "even when Unapologetic fails, it often does so in interesting ways" musically.

[110] AllMusic's Andy Kellman opined that "the only way to enjoy a significant portion of it is by taking it as pure entertainment" and called it "another timely refresh of contemporary pop music".

[61] Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone asserted that "Unapologetic's stark, shadowy R&B is confrontationally honest and sung within an inch of its life".

[46] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times felt that it "makes the most of [Rihanna's] talent" and stated, "even on the most vulnerable songs, she maintains her cool, never once verging on the maudlin.

"[29] Smokey Fontaine of The Huffington Post called it "kinetic and musically varied", and wrote that it "blasts the sounds of global, post-mod youth culture through every track".

"[105] Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times felt that its commercial "lyrical turns poison" the album, "even while musically, Rihanna has evolved into one of the more forward-thinking pop divas.

"[28] Simon Price of The Independent panned Rihanna's singing as "flatter than Norfolk" and its material "dull as dishwater", observing "the usual half-hearted, sexual single-entendres".

[107] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "in the context of an album dominated by ballads and at least superficially introspective lyrics", the dubstep songs "feel like respites".

[2] Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson commented that the album sounds "cobbled together" and quipped, "If only the music were compelling enough to back up the supreme bad faith" of the lyrics.

[33] Pitchfork's Jessica Hopper dismissed its music as "synth-pop slog" and said that the songs "make for dull labor, not worth our time and not befitting Rihanna's talent".

He cited "Phresh Out the Runway", "Diamonds", and "Numb" as highlights, and gave the album a three-star honorable mention,[112] which indicates "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure".

[126] In February 2018 the album was certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over 3 million album-equivalent units in the US.