Rihanna – Talk That Talk | Album Review

Starting her career off as the Bajan sweetheart, Rihanna hasn’t fallen short of singles but has never seen the top spot with an album. To the surprise of many, the promotion driven 18 time Billboard Award winner sees her sixth studio album this year with Talk That Talk.

The songstress sets off the project at a slow pace with “You Da One,” set to be the next single to be released before the year ends. The catchy pop single with a light Caribbean feel leads the way for what’s to come. Not falling short of top ten hits with her Calvin Harris produced current single “We Found Love” still holding the fort in the charts, the singer plays it smart by placing the hit at the forefront of the album.

Steering deeper into the dance scene, “Where Have You Been” will surely appeal to her European fans. With its Dubstep/Electronic elements, the track is very reminiscent of previous singles to come from Rihanna (“Don’t Stop The Music” and “S&M”). When something works once, you may as well go for it again right?

With a good set of producers on-board (Stargate, Alex Da Kid, Mr Bangladesh, No I.D. and more), Radio/Club Air play is for certain especially for tracks “Roc Me Out” and the sole guest feature Jay-Z on title track “Talk That Talk,” another smart trick of the trade; having only one feature to avoid the risk of being outshined by featured artists.

Rihanna feat. Jay-Z – “Talk That Talk”:

This sixth attempt for a number one album will undoubtedly be a guilty pleasure for non-believers and another piece to add to the Rihanna puzzle for loyal fans. Dominated with repetitive chant-like choruses (cue the ‘eh eh’ and ‘la la’), Talk That Talk is nothing new to her studio album collection so we will see what will come with the next project (which I’m sure is already on the minds of executive producers).

Rihanna has proven that she can attain several chart-topping singles now being named as one of the fastest solo artists but the big question is whether or not she will finally grasp onto the number one spot with more than one track. Regardless of lacklustre lyrical content, the album does show the singer’s (minimal) musical progression since starting her career in 2005. We can only leave it up to the sales figures to seal the deal.

Rihanna – Talk That Talk
Released: November 18, 2011
Label: Island Def Jam
Buy: iTunes UK / iTunes US / Amazon UK / Amazon US