Product Reviews
Despite sounding rushed to capitalize on fourth quarter sales, 2010 s Loud proved that Rihanna s reign indeed would not let up. The album s first three singles topped the Hot 100. A fourth one merely went Top Ten. Just as Loud was losing its grip, during the fourth quarter of 2011, Rihanna fired again with another number one single, We Found Love -- its success more likely due to the singer s ecstatic vocal than Calvin Harris' shrill, plinky production. While Talk That Talk is built like another singles-chart-devouring machine, it s both more rounded and less random than Loud. We Found Love and Where Have You Been -- the latter with a quote from Geoff Mack's I ve Been Everywhere and echoes of the chorus from Adele's Rolling in the Deep -- function as place-holding dance tracks, and there are a couple empty anthems and ballads in the drippy We All Want Love and the bombastic Farewell. It s the darker and dirty-minded material that tends to be most effective -- where Rihanna is more alive and believable, where her collaborators provide the most adventurous productions. In the Bangladesh-produced Cockiness (Love It), one of the most hypnotic and wicked beats of the last decade, Rihanna absolutely relishes the chance to sing-taunt Suck my cockiness, swallow my persuasion. Two of Stargate and Esther Dean's three contributions -- the desperate, xx-sampling Drunk on Love ( Nothing can sober me up ) and the prowling Roc Me Out -- pack more sleek menace than Rated R's G4L and Loud s S&M. The album s best track, however, is the wholly sweet and flirtatious Watch n Learn, featuring a dizzying Hit-Boy beat -- rat-a-tat snares, swirling/swelling synthesizers, irresistible plucked melodies -- that is even more unique in the context of 2011 pop radio than his work on Kanye West and Jay-Z's Ni**as in Paris. Behind Good Girl Gone Bad and Rated R, this is Rihanna's third best album to date. Minus the fluff, it's close to the latter's equal. [This edition includes three bonus tracks, featuring "Red Lipstick."] ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi
Product Notes
Deluxe edition features alternate artwork and four bonus tracks. 2011 release, the sixth studio album from the R&B superstar. Talk That Talk once again sees the singer working with producer Verse Simmonds, half of the duo The Jugganauts. Features guest appearances from Jay-Z ('Talk That Talk') and Calvin Harris ('We Found Love') amongst others.