Demanding to know 'why are you standing over there with your clothes on?' on sultry track Skin, the Barbadian clearly means business.' Ryan Dombell of Pitchfork Media concurred with Stern with regard to 'Skin' being the singer's most mature song to date, writing ' 'Skin' is her sexiest song yet, a haunted, near-dubstep stunner that wouldn't sound totally out of place on Massive Attack's Mezzanine.' Colin Gentry of 4Music noted that Rihanna appears to be transitioning from singing songs about partying and dancing in clubs to singing about her sexual fantasies and desires, writing 'Rihanna swaggers through the album as a woman on the prowl, taking her conquests from the clubs to the bedroom. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that Rihanna's sensuality in the song is evoked though her use of sexually suggestive moaning and heavy breathing, adding to the 'slow, torrid buildup'. Apart from writing about the song's composition, Daw called the ballad 'smoldering' and compared the last minute of the song to Sade 's ' No Ordinary Love' for the song's sensual content, but noted that Adu's song is not as lyrically graphic as 'Skin'. Of the multiple music critics who commented on the song, the majority praised 'Skin ''s musical structure and Rihanna's vocal performance.

Thomas Conner of Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the singer 'teases her man' and 'lets him at her' as she sings the line 'You've waited long enough' before instructing 'Don't hold back/you know I like it rough'. Throughout the song, Rihanna sounds 'suspenseful' and 'sultry' as she sings the lyrics 'I got secrets that I wanna show you'.

As noted by Emily Mackay of NME, her vocals sound 'restrained' and 'controlled'. As commented by Robbie Daw of Idolator, the song's 'real' hook is 'the fuzzy electric guitar' that begins sawing through the melody about three minutes in, and continues building until it reaches 'a, er, climactic solo at the very end.' Rihanna's vocal range in the song spans from the low note of G 3 to the high note of B♭ 4. 'Skin' is a R&B song, that contains elements of dance-pop and dubstep, while the song is composed with bass instruments, synthesizers and an electric guitar.

'Skin' is written in the key of G minor and is set in common time with a moderate groove of 62 beats per minute. The song was recorded at Studio at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. 'Skin' was written by Kenneth Coby and Ursula Yancy, with production helmed by Coby under his stage name Soundz.

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