Recording artist Rihanna’s sixth album Talk That Talk is at its core a work about the struggle of finding love, and the ups and downs that occur once that love is found. It is a far departure from her last two albums Rated R and Loud, which depicted her dark side. Understandably, seeing that those albums were released after her very publicized break up with artist Chris Brown. Talk That Talk infuses a lot of feel good pop and dance tunes, which is so prevalent in today’s music, and even some ballads.
Talk That Talk was released on November 18, 2011 and debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling over 197,000 copies in its opening week. To that fact, this reviewer says, “Kudos.” It is nearly impossible to turn on the radio and not here the album’s first single “We Found Love,” on hip-hop and pop stations alike. With this song’s upbeat, dance sounds the listener has no choice but to either dance in their seats or get up and fist pump. The lyrics also gets listeners singing along quite easily, the chorus simply repeats, “We found love in a hopeless place,” easy to remember and very catchy.
A second single from the album, which features rap artist Jay-Z, is named after the album, “Talk That Talk” is more of a hip-hop song, and the lyrics are borderline obscene. Jay-Z starts off the song saying, “I be trying to chill, bitches wanna f—ck me. Every little city I go, f—ck me. Shawty must’ve heard, got the word, I move that D. Had it by a bladder, she like “oh I gotta pee.” Rihanna isn’t so innocent on this song herself she states, “What you saying now, give it to me baby. I want it all night, give it to me baby.” She goes on in the chorus asking the listener to “talk that talk” to her. This reviewer will leave it to the reader’s imagination to interpret what Rihanna is referring to. If you’re aching for a little more raunchiness from Rihanna there are two other songs on the album that will satisfy, “Cockiness (Love It)” and “Birthday Cake.”
Rihanna also shows her softer side on this album with the songs, “We All Want Love,” “Drunk On Love,” and “Farewell.” These power ballads put all of Rihanna’s emotions on the table, and shows her strengths as a singer. On the song “We All Want Love” she gives listeners a glimpse into her heart she states, “I can pretend that I’m not lonely, but I’ll be constantly fooling myself. I can pretend that it don’t matter, but I’ll be sitting here lying to myself. Some say love ain’t worth the buck, but I’ll give every dime I have left to have what I’ve only been dreaming about.” Anyone falling in love or already in love can relate, and that is where this album triumphs, it connects with all of its listeners emotions.
Heartfelt, emotional, empowering, upbeat, and fun; Rihanna’s Talk That Talk is all of these things and so much more. it encompasses all the beats and sounds that are popular presently in the music industry. Then, it gives listeners soulful and beautiful ballads of love. All and all this reviewer gives Talk That Talk an A+.