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The official Rihanna thread
Topic Started: Dec 31 2007, 08:02 PM (16,739 Views)
bulgar
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Rihanna - Talk That Talk (Official Full Album Preview + Japanese Bonus Track/Exclusive)


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Riverwide
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MTV is calling it "the best pop album of 2011".

:rolleyes:
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The next single:

http://soundcloud.com/headphonesupiii/rihanna-you-da-one
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The Guardian's first listen...

First listen: Rihanna – Talk That Talk

Vibrant, aggressive, sometimes laughably sexual. Rihanna takes raunch'n'b to new heights in our sneak preview of her album

Subtle it isn't, but she gets away with it… Rihanna's Talk That Talk.


It probably wasn't the best environment to enjoy the new Rihanna album, huddled into a west London studio with an atmosphere so sterile an offer of Cherry Cola is enough to make someone yelp in delight. But Talk That Talk – her sixth since 2005 and the follow-up to 2010's multi-million selling Loud – is a big deal and the danger of it leaking is not one a major label wants to risk. So, we hand in our phones and the album is played from an iPod in the next room.

Presented to us by her manager Jay Brown, we're informed it should be taken as "a cousin of the last album" (it is rumoured some songs were meant for a re-release of Loud) and that all of it was recorded on tour, with a makeshift studio at each venue and Rihanna laying down vocals after shows. Still, that's not to say it sounds tired or it's a mopey conceptual album about the trials and tribulations of touring. No, it's a vibrant, sometimes aggressive, almost laughably sexual record, that manages to take the darker elements of 2009's Rated R album and mix it with the more playful Loud.

You Da One

The next single, to be premiered on Friday, this Dr Luke-produced mid-tempo number finds Rihanna in the more relaxed and playful mode that defined songs such as What's My Name and Rude Boy. It's perhaps less immediate, but there's a lovely pre-chorus of "My love is your love, your love is my love" that leads into a refrain about how great it is to have found someone decent ("I'm so happy that you came into my life"). Seeing as it's a pop song and it's 2011 there's an obligatory dubstep breakdown where the beats seem to disintegrate but then the chorus kicks back in and we're on more solid ground.

Where Have You Been

Produced by Calvin Harris, this is an obvious future single. Taking We Found Love as a template and ramping up every aspect, it's a four-to-the-floor dance track, with slow-build verses, massive drops and a section that properly kicks off via huge squelchy beats and a synth reverberating like a klaxon. There's so much going on it doesn't matter that the chorus repeats "where have you been all my life" over and over.

We Found Love

Everyone must have heard this now. No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, this Calvin Harris-produced ode to finding love where you least expect it is, like most Rihanna singles, ubiquitous.

Talk That Talk feat. Jay-Z

As on Umbrella, label boss Jay-Z pops up at the beginning of the album's title track, mainly to boast ("Everything I do is big") over a Stargate-produced beat that makes more than a nod to Rude Boy. The chorus finds Rihanna cooing "Talk that talk to me all night" and it is, in case you hadn't realised, about sex.

Cockiness (Love It)

A real highlight. Produced by Bangladesh – whose work includes Lil Wayne's A Milli and Beyoncé's Diva – it's unlike anything else on the album. Built around a looped male vocal and Bangladesh's trademark drum claps, it's all over the place; the lead into the chorus is Rihanna singing "I want …" before a male vocal comes in with an elongated "youuuuuuu" and the whole thing shifts again. Lyrically it takes the sex-talk blueprint from S&M ("sex in the air I don't care I love the smell of it") and makes it even more raunchy. The song opens with her cooing "suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion", before moving on to "I want you to be my sex slave" and finally "I love it when you eat it". Subtle it isn't, but the production is so inventive she gets away with it.

Birthday Cake

That's not really the case with this 90-second interlude, produced by newcomers Da Internz. Opening with a synth line that sounds like a hoover, the song takes a tired sex/food metaphor ("Can't wait to blow my candles out … he want that cake, cake, cake") and runs with it down a double entendre cul de sac.

We All Want Love

By this point the sound of an acoustic guitar leaps out of the speakers. Thankfully this isn't a sacharrine sobfest, it's a ballad in the style of Beyonce's Halo where guitars are joined by massive, echoey drums that build to epic proportions. It's a nice change, with Rihanna showing a softer side to contrast all the sex chat.

Drunk on Love

Built around the xx's Intro, Drunk on Love feels familiar and perhaps not in the way producers Stargate anticipated. The myriad BBC Three documentaries the song soundtracked last year resurface as that echoey beat kicks in. Still, it's all been reworked slightly, with some ravey synths added for good measure and the original sighing backing vocals arrive midway as Rihanna sings "Take me away, I'll wear my heart on my sleeve".

Roc Me Out

Probably the least interesting track, this generic R&B banger relies on headline-grabbing lines about how sexual she is – "I've been a bad girl daddy" – to the detriment of the song. It's not bad – the middle eight has a vocal lift that is pure Rihanna – it's just she can sometimes sound a bit bored when singing lines such as: "You've taken too long to get my head on the ground and my feet in the clouds."

Watch N' Learn

A return to the more Caribbean-influenced sound that started the album, again with a nod or two to Rude Boy, this is built around a skipping, laidback beat and seems to be a sex manual made into a song: "Oh baby baby, just like that … oh baby baby it's your turn now."

Farewell

The standard edition of the album closes with the brilliantly OTT Farewell, which finds Rihanna teaming up again with Love the Way You Lie producer Alex Da Kid. His techniques are in full view, from the fragile piano mixed with massive, echoey drums to the gargantuan chorus that drops like an anvil. Still, it's bluster is strangely endearing, mainly because of Rihanna's voice that, though criticised at times for being flat or emotionless, works well on these songs. It's about letting someone go, but for the best.

BONUS TRACKS

Red Lipstick

Originally titled Saxon and produced by British duo Chase and Status, this sounds like an off-cut from Rated R, which is exactly what it is. Not that it's not a good song, it's just the big gloomy beats and the drip-feed tempo is reminiscent of G4L or Wait Your Turn. It's much more aggressive than the other tracks and there's one bit where Rihanna growls: "Let me grab my dick while you sit on top." Oh my.

Do Your Thing

Produced by the-Dream, it's clear why this didn't fit on the main album. Lighter and with a 90s R&B feel to it, it's a cute song that rhymes "chicks" with "hips" and seems to be about how Rihanna won't mind if her man looks at other women because that's just part of who he is.

Fool in Love

"Mama I've found a man who loves me and understands/ Papa he's quite the man, he adores me, he's my biggest fan," opens this stately, downtempo track about how Rihanna's in love with someone other people might not like (I wouldn't mind betting some reviews will mention Chris Brown at this point). Again, it has a big, echoey drum sound and once again she sounds much better when she gets to really open out that voice. For the first 90 seconds it's just Rihanna and some synths, before the drums kick in and the whole thing takes off. There's a great moment when the music drops slightly and she sings, "Papa, are you ashamed of how your little girl turned out?", sounding quite vulnerable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/nov/11/first-listen-rihanna-album
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FuckBuddy
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Riverwide
Nov 11 2011, 12:20 AM
It's pretty easy to release an album a year when a whole team of people write and produce the songs for you...
tell that to madge. it's taken her 4 years to accomplish the exact same task
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bulgar
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FuckBuddy
Nov 11 2011, 11:52 PM
Riverwide
Nov 11 2011, 12:20 AM
It's pretty easy to release an album a year when a whole team of people write and produce the songs for you...
tell that to madge. it's taken her 4 years to accomplish the exact same task
:lmao:
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quoideneuf
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I Agree with most of what he says - in the 60s 70s 80s many artists released albums every year - it was better value for the fans.

Also I dont like overly long bloated albums. I think it dilutes the music.
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quoideneuf
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VH1 review


Album Preview: Rihanna’s Talk That Talk Is The Dirtiest Pop Record Since Madonna’s Erotica
by Mark Graham


Actually, scratch that. Rihanna‘s new record, Talk That Talk, is the dirtiest “pop” record we have ever heard. We listened to the entirety of the 11-song album, which will hit stores on Monday, November 21, earlier this afternoon here at our Times Square headquarters and can confirm that everyone in attendance left the room with flushed cheeks after experiencing extensive periods of blushing.
Now, this is not to say that Rihanna has gone out and recorded the female As Nasty As They Wanna Be; it’s not simply a sexually-explicit affair (although, at one point during The-Dream produced track “Birthday Cake,” she does proclaim “I wanna f*** you right now”). Rather, Talk That Talk continues the conversation that Rihanna began with her single “S&M” (off Loud) and, if you’ll pardon the Spinal Tap reference, turns it up to 11. Rihanna and her chief partner-in-crime, songwriter Ester Dean (who either wrote or co-wrote at least six songs on the LP), have put together a record that not only oozes sex, but also revolves almost exclusively around it.
Take the album’s fifth track, “Cockiness,” for example. The Bangladesh-produced banger, which sounds like a vintage-era Neptunes jam, begins with Rihanna telling her lover that “I want you to be my sex slave” and contains the refrain “I love it when you eat it.” It doesn’t stop there; in perhaps the album’s most memorable line, Rihanna demands her subject to “Suck my cockiness / Lick my persuasion.” This line, which got all of the attendees in the room we were in to nervously chuckle, is the kind of line that would’ve got Rihanna called in front of Congress if Tipper Gore were still running the PMRC, and the kind of song that would make even Prince‘s famed protagonist “Darling Nikki” squeal.
It’s not just that track, either. On the Stargate-produced “Roc Me Out,” RiRi complains that “You’re taking too long to get my head on the ground / And my feet in the clouds,” before cooing, “I’ve been a bad girl, daddy.” And during “Watch n’ Learn,” produced by up-and-comer Hit-Boy, she goes to great lengths to detail how she wants it on the bed, the floor, and the couch, before turning the tables and not-so-subtly instructing that “It’s your turn now / Watch and learn now / Watch and learn how.” Trust us, the things she’s teaching in this song certainly aren’t taught in schools (at least not without a permission slip signed by your parents).
All that being said, this album sounds positively MAMMOTH and will no doubt continue Rihanna’s dominance on the pop charts for at least the next year and change. “Where Have You Been,” which was written by Top 40 formula crackers Dr. Luke and Ester Dean and produced by the hit maker du jour Calvin Harris, will almost certainly be Rihanna’s biggest club smash since “Don’t Stop The Music.” The chorus features a sweeping, trance-ish transition that will bowl over dancefloor denizens in clubs all over the world, and the bass in the song is so monstrous (in a good way!) that it will make you want to trade in your factory-installed car speakers for a top-of-the-line sound system. And we’ve gotten six paragraphs deep into this preview without even mentioning Jay-Z’s guest vocals on the album’s fourth song and title track, “Talk That Talk,” which isn’t quite on the level of “Umbrella,” but is a lock for the Billboard Top Ten whenever Def Jam decides to release it as a single.
And “Drunk On Love”? Oh boy, this one is going to please Williamsburg hipsters to their core. It’s built on a foundation of The XX‘s “Intro,” which gives it instant indie cred, but Stargate smartly takes Jamie XX‘s melody line and transforms the beat into something so massive that your iPod earbuds are almost guaranteed to explode.
While Rihanna’s Talk That Talk isn’t a record that you’re going to want to listen to with the kiddies in the room (at least not sans EARMUFFS!), it’s far and away the most cohesive album that she’s recorded to date. It’s not a concept record, per se, but the thematic consistency of this album’s lyrical content—shout out to Ester Dean, a true freak if we’ve ever heard one!— and the epic soundscapes that Stargate, Calvin Harris and crew have created make this, from start to finish, the most aurally satisfying record of the six full-length albums she has released. It’s got at least five or six singles that have a shot at making a huge impact on the charts (“We Found Love” has already hit #1), and when it’s all said and done, should put Rihanna neck-and-neck in the running with Beyoncé for the most successful female solo artist of her era (not to mention, earning her a plaque next to Madonna in the Hall of Fame for All-Time Most Sexually Provocative Female Solo artists).


TALK THAT TALK TRACKLIST (and partial list of credits)
1. “You Da One” (produced by Dr. Luke)
2. “Where Have You Been?” (produced by Calvin Harris, written by Dr. Luke & Ester Dean)
3. “We Found Love” (produced by Calvin Harris)
4. “Talk That Talk (featuring Jay-Z)” (produced by Stargate, written by Ester Dean)
5. “Cockiness” (produced by Bangladesh)
6. “Birthday Cake” (produced by The-Dream)
7. “We All Want Love” (written by Ester Dean)
8. “Drunk On Love” (produced by Stargate, written by Ester Dean)
9. “Roc Me Out” (produced by Stargate, written by Ester Dean)
10. “Watch n’ Learn” (produced by Hit-Boy, written by Priscilla Renea)
11. “Farewell” (produced by Big Juice, written by Ester Dean)
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GimmeSomeRiver
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You Da One is by Dr. Luke? But it's so... uncatchy.
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GimmeSomeRiver
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I don't agree with releasing an album EVERY year. But I think 18-24 months is a good schedule. It would give someone time to properly make an 'ALBUM' and promote it but keep a steady stream of material coming. I hope Lady Gaga follows that with her next album. I won't even talk about Madonna, she's done. She took 4 years to make that shitty panned film and came back with a track the jobbing writers of today (Dr. Luke etc.) would laugh off the face of the earth. She failed on BOTH counts of making a good Madonna track or a good pre-baked track.
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TheBitterEnd
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What a completely insane article... how much money is he on I wonder.
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GimmeSomeRiver
Nov 12 2011, 09:30 AM
I don't agree with releasing an album EVERY year. But I think 18-24 months is a good schedule. It would give someone time to properly make an 'ALBUM' and promote it but keep a steady stream of material coming. I hope Lady Gaga follows that with her next album. I won't even talk about Madonna, she's done. She took 4 years to make that shitty panned film and came back with a track the jobbing writers of today (Dr. Luke etc.) would laugh off the face of the earth. She failed on BOTH counts of making a good Madonna track or a good pre-baked track.
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johnnox
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In the 1980s Prince seemed to release an album a year without letting quality control
Slip.

Mind u, didn't Warners hate it which lead to his Slave spat?
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quoideneuf
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eurythmics did too

it was only in late 80's that the releases between bigger artists became longer and longer - especially when the returns were so high and tne cost of recoding was no expensive.

Its much much cheaper to record albums now (relatively) whereas the financial returns are much lower.

There is no reason for artists not to release 10 new tracks a year other than apathy or laziness.

It's certainly better for music fans to get new music on a more regular basis.
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I don't think much of the album so far. The Calvin Harris stuff is by far the best. The rest is a mixture of uneventful mid-tempo chuggers and cringeworthy sex songs. I'm astonished that MTV had the gall to call this the best pop album of the year.
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Manu Alexz
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Artistwere more talented in the 80s though. I think 18 months is reasonable. Though, releasing every year works for Rihanna.
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Beautiful Stranger
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Nov 11 2011, 12:06 AM
The music industry routine of releasing a new album every three to four years is no longer viable, Rihanna's manager has argued.
"Kids want new material all the time," said Jay Brown, who has overseen the singer's career since she signed as a teenager.
"I think you become disposable when you put out an album every three years."


So for example Beyonce is disposable but Rihanna isn't?
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Deelightful Bitch
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It's more of a "what came first, the chicken or the egg" scenario. Do artists need to put out albums every year because people have short attention spans or need instant gratification, or, did the publics short attention span and need for instant gratification start because the industry lacks quality and became desperate?

To me, as long as it is quality work, and the artist is being an artist, any method an artist takes to distribute their work, is OK.
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TickTock
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FuckBuddy
Nov 11 2011, 11:52 PM
Riverwide
Nov 11 2011, 12:20 AM
It's pretty easy to release an album a year when a whole team of people write and produce the songs for you...
tell that to madge. it's taken her 4 years to accomplish the exact same task
:rotfl:

No, but this guy is right. Artists 20+ years ago who wrote their own shit, released new albums every year. Look at the Eurythmics and Everything but the girl.
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stumble upon
Nov 15 2011, 04:52 AM
It's more of a "what came first, the chicken or the egg" scenario. Do artists need to put out albums every year because people have short attention spans or need instant gratification, or, did the publics short attention span and need for instant gratification start because the industry lacks quality and became desperate?

To me, as long as it is quality work, and the artist is being an artist, any method an artist takes to distribute their work, is OK.
Technology has just gotten music out faster. There's no need for an album to grow anymore. We get music, film, images, everything in less than a second. The shit gets old fast. Because of this, the public wants MORE! Look at Madonna. We know her every move. We don't have to jump through hoops to get stuff anymore. We get tired of celebs quickly because tabloid culture is up on the web and in our homes every second of everyday. It wasn't like that in the past. People would go into hiding, and then suddenly their management would begin to roll everything out. These people are entertaining us (or not), every single second, every single day with their boring lives. We learn the entire process behind a track or an album that isn't even released yet. Clips leak. By the time the album drops, we've already heard it.

Albums are leaked fully way ahead of schedule. The album gets old in no time. This is why Lady Gaga is releasing a new one next year.
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