Album review: Rihanna - Talk that talk (Standard edition)

Seems like this goat is blue-printing Koda Kumi and Ayumi's careers, when it comes to album-cycles. It might come as a shock (not really) but this IMAX-wallboard has a new album out, called "Talk that talk".
Everybody who's looking for a deep meaning in a Rihanna album, will be disappointed. You will be looking until your eyes start bleeding and eventually find some whip-cream, lace, hand-cuffs and if you're lucky lubricant.

Girl ain't deep, and even if there's some songs on it, it's not like you can take her serious cuz lines such as "I love it when you eat it" or "I wanna f*ck you right now" are just one skip away. One thing you can be sure is, she likes to sell the sex and she loves the penis. She's not scared to admit it, and that's where she's believable. You know homegirl likes to get eaten out, if she's inviting everyone at a open buffet to "Lick her persuasion". There's only two hoes out there, where I actually believe they want the peen inside their coochie and that's Rihanna and Koda Kumi. All the others, can't be taken serious.

Let's go straight to business and take a gyneacologistic look into Rihanna's vagina, also known as "Talk that talk".


To begin with, this album does nothing really new. It's basically the same ol' same she's been serving up for the last couple of albums. Nothing to amazing, nothing to terrible and here or there some really good songs.
Whereas "Loud" showed a clear genre change and sort of an evolution from "Rated R", here it rather comes off as if she somehow got stuck between those two albums. Nothing sounds really innovative, actually at some point I ended up thinking this might be "Loud 2.0" with small hints of "Rated" thrown in to give it an edgier look/feel. Which isn't really to far from reality. You can clearly feel that this was supposed to be a re-release of "Loud" that was finally scratched and upgraded to a full-fledged album.

This album does nothing else, as simply reconfirming what we know already. To some it may come as a shock, others might shake their head in disbelief, some might already know it, some might be happy about this and others might want to kill them selves. But after having 11 number #1's, almost 47 million friends on Facebook, another 9.5 million followers on twitter, standing on par with Whitney Houston...I guess this forehead is here to stay.

One thing I have to give her is; she can make every musical direction her own without losing her own touch. That's something not every singer can say from themselves. There's just this distinct way of singing she has, that no other can reproduce and she keeps evoling it in every single style she's tapped into; from hip hop, to pop ballads, over to electro pop, rnb, raggae, dancehall even in edgier directions such as dubstep and rock. She usually owns the songs, something Britney can't say or was able to say.

The album starts off with "You Da One", the song is not an instant smash, and isn't really "in ya face" but it is definitely a grower. It's definitely not what I've expected from Rihanna at this point but I gotta give her credit for thinking out of the box and giving us something that us "the public", though were used to but, will have to readjust again. This song is followed by probably the best moment on "Talk that Talk", which is "Where Have You Been". A very anxious song, acompanied by a progressive beat, with a lot of typical Rihanna chants, that built up into this explosive chorus. It builds up, and keeps building up, and you know something big's about to happen but you're not sure of the magnitude and all of a sudden the beat drops, and the song is all over the place. That's when you realize this chorus is friggin' bananas. It's one of those songs, where I had to be reminded to shut my mouth, because I simply couldn't chew my gum.

Our journey continues with "We found love". At first glance, a song you kinda just wanna skip or actually think: "Okay, Ms. Fenty what u tryna do here?". But after several listens, and overcoming the fact that there's not really a lyrical content you start to enjoying it more and more. You come to the conclusion that it's monotonous and you don't need more than just a drink in your hand, some gay-friends on your side, strobe lights and yourself dancing like a crazy bastard. The song is genious for it's simplicity and the video simply adds up to it.

"Talk that Talk feat. Jay-Z" is not really a hurricane, rather a cold breeze. Let's face it the album is called after it, it should at least implement some rain showers. But it realy doens't. It actutally makes you wonder why Rihanna even bothered to call up this pair of gigantic macro lips. His last offical collaboration on a Rihanna album was four years ago and all he came up with, was this? Umbrella shits all over this song.

Bangladesh produced "Cockiness (I love it)", literally the pussy-popper of the album. Trust me you might love it the first 10 listens, but after the 13th and probably the 15th listen you start thinking that it's so forgettable and it gets annoying. I give her credit for trying something new, direction-wise but it's really going nowhere. Plus her, demanding a guy to "eat her vagina" isn't really saving the song. At this point it's when I started to get pissed at Rihanna. How the hell did she reduce "Birthday Cake" to 1:18min, let is fade out with no bang and how dare she not give us the whole thing? Instead we get crap like "We All Want Love", which is forgetable, puts nothing new to the table and is a rehash of older songs she's had, and done better.

This leads me to the fact that this album has zero cohesion. How can you take an album serious, if one song earlier, she wants to get penetrated and only one song later she's singing about peace and acceptance, followed by the next song where she wants you to kiss her genitalia. Whoever did this track order, needs to be sacked right now! It completely destroys the flow of the album, making it feel unpolished, random and rushed. (I guess that happens when you're recoding an album two weeks prior to its release).

Another of "Talk that Talk"'s downfalls is the fact that everything sounds like it was done before and better. Even worse sometimes they feel like leftovers from "Rated R" and "Loud". Best examples: "Drunk on Love" sounds like "Te Amo" and "Roc me out" is a obvious rehash of "Rude Boy". Here I was thinking that Ester Dean had her production and songwriting on lock, but her and Stargate really came of short on this album. It's like they completely didn't know what to do, and simply did what they knew best at the expense of letting all their songs sound the same. I get it; If it ain't broke don't fix it. Seriously people, do we really need another "Rude Boy" on three different albums, with a different pace, slightly differnet productions and lyrics about wanting to get laid, rough, with passion and with love? Hell no, I loved "Rude Boy" but it's time to move on.

"Talk that Talk" has it's high moments, followed by passable moments and total copy/paste moments. It's not a bad album, but it's definitly not perfect. I wouldn't have complained if they simply wanted to do what Rihanna did best over the last couple of years, but the outcome leaves a lot to be desired. I guess if you'd combine all the best songs from "Rated R", "Loud" and "Talk that Talk" you would have the prefect album.

Rihanna's fans will love this album, because it incorporates everything she is now, it's pretty much a reconfirmation of her personality and who she is as an entertainer. Will it be remembered? I don't think so.
Is it the best album to date? Not really, but it sits quite nicely with her two predecessors. At some point, I simply wish I might get to know one day Rihanna, the "singer" who's known for her body of works and not for her hits.

Ero's faves:

-You Da one
-Where have you been
-We found love
-Cockiness (I love it)
-Birthday Cake
-Watch n' Learn