After another successful year and only a year since her 'Loud' album dropped, the Barbadian beauty has now released her sixth studio album ‘Talk That Talk’. There is still a buzz and a sense of hype from ‘Loud’, so the big question is why rush a new release? Well, the girl sure knows how to talk that talk, we cannot deny her talent but it seems like she’s took a step backwards musically this time.
We all remember ‘Rated R’ which took a darker route in 2009 after the whole Chris Brown incident, but then in 2010 RiRi began an unstoppable force with the energetic, flirty release of ‘Loud’. So how can she outdo herself? Nothing can surely get raunchier than a slice of S&M ‘chains and whips excite me’, we have to praise the songwriter for those perfectly constructed lyrics. Unfortunately majority of you will be disappointed that this album is not all sexualised, it seems Rihanna has brought out the hopeless romantic in her.
‘We Found Love’ produced by Calvin Harris which has already taken the charts by storm, in my opinion defines the album and is personally my favourite, it’s the introduction to the concept of the album: Love. The up-tempo, dance vibe is what Talk That Talk is all about, it will be playing in clubs till the break of dawn. However lyrically it’s devastating as it is demonstrating the power of love. ‘You Da One’ the second single and the opening number seems to continue from ‘We Found Love’, digging deep to her reggae roots. It’s hard to believe this is her second single, two words: Reggae and Dubstep. There was no need for the 15 seconds of Dubstep, let’s not make this into ‘Hold it Against Me’. The next track isn’t as promising, ‘Where have you been’ is a electric club track which you cannot listen to without fist pumping, better get down to the shore.
Hip hop’s king Jay Z returns to collaborate with RiRi on the track ‘Talk That Talk’, first thoughts it’s no umbrella. But the track seems to unleash the raunchy side of Rihanna as it is followed by ‘Cockiness (I love it)’, (“Suck my Cockiness, lick my persuasion”). By far it does not touch ‘S&M’ as she’s previously used the sex card and nothing makes a song more controversial than sado machismo, although it would be interesting to see how she performs ‘Cockiness (I love it)’ live. Sticking with the same vibe is ‘Birthday Cake’, it is the woman’s version of ‘Birthday Sex’ (Jeremih), the track is short and repetitive, only lasting 78 seconds song which will make the guys wanting more. Now completely shifting from the crave of sex to the need of love is ‘Drunk on love’ which displays her full range of vocals, being very emotionally driven (“I wear my heart my sleeve. Always let love take the lead”). Anyone thinking a single is needed?
Returning back to Rated R, remember that number hit ‘Rude Boy’? Well, ‘Roc Me Out’ attempts to be the revamped version (“Roc me out back and forth/Roc me out on the floor”), basically I’m already praying this will not become a single. Eventually she hits the mark I’ve been waiting for in the flirty, fun track ‘Watch N’ Learn’, it truly reminds me of ‘If it’s lovin’ That You Want’ back in the days of early Rihanna when all we saw was a girl as sweet and innocent as Britney Spears in the 90s. All good girls go bad, right? Anyway it’s a playful, sassy track giving the men a ‘how to’ lesson (“Just cos’ I can’t kiss back, doesn’t mean you can’t kiss that”), it’s pretty hard to forget this song is meant to be dirty.
The last number ‘Farewell’ says it all. Farewell. On the whole it rounds off the narrative of the album, (“I’m gonna try to hold it all in, try to hold back my tears”), letting go of love she has found. Over the course of the album it has been building up to this emotional finale of saying farewell.
Let’s admit this is definitely not in the same league as ‘Loud’, maybe it’s due to the fact she has consecutively released 3 albums in a matter of 3 years each in November. Vacation time? I recommend she does a Beyonce and take a year off for inspiration. Who runs the world? Who knows she might even end up pregnant. Back to the point, I’m pretty positive RiRi fans will not be disappointed as ‘Talk That Talk’ does have huge potential and will most likely achieve success.
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We all remember ‘Rated R’ which took a darker route in 2009 after the whole Chris Brown incident, but then in 2010 RiRi began an unstoppable force with the energetic, flirty release of ‘Loud’. So how can she outdo herself? Nothing can surely get raunchier than a slice of S&M ‘chains and whips excite me’, we have to praise the songwriter for those perfectly constructed lyrics. Unfortunately majority of you will be disappointed that this album is not all sexualised, it seems Rihanna has brought out the hopeless romantic in her.
