Talk That Talk
Talk That Talk is the sixth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on November 18, 2011 by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. Talk That Talk was recorded during the Loud Tour between February and November 2011. It was originally planned to be a reissue of her previous studio album Loud (2010). As executive producer, Rihanna enlisted a wide range of producers including Alex da Kid, Calvin Harris, Chase & Status, No I.D., and Stargate to achieve her desired sound. Following in the same vein as Loud, Talk That Talk is a dance-oriented pop/R&B crossover album that incorporates elements of hip hop, dubstep, electronic and house music. The album also contains subtle dancehall influences while its lyrical content and themes revolve around a nihilistic, romantic, and lascivious lover.
This article is about the Rihanna album. For other uses, see Talk That Talk (disambiguation).Talk That Talk
Talk That Talk received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the album's lyrics. Others were less favorable of its themes. Talk That Talk debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 198,000 copies and went on to sell 1.15 million copies in the United States by June 2015. The album also peaked at number one in Austria, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, where it debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 163,000 copies in its first week. As of April 2012, the album has been certified triple Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 900,000 copies. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Talk That Talk was the ninth global best-selling album of 2011.[4] As of March 2013, the album has sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide.
The album produced six singles, including the international hit "We Found Love" which was released as the album's lead single. "We Found Love" became Rihanna's eleventh number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in twenty six additional countries. "You da One", "Talk That Talk" (featuring rapper Jay-Z) and a remix of "Birthday Cake" (featuring Chris Brown) experienced moderate success, while "Where Have You Been" reached the top ten of twenty countries around the world. A remixed form of "Cockiness (Love It)" (featuring rapper ASAP Rocky) was released as the sixth and final single from the album.
Background[edit]
Following the release of Rihanna's previous studio album, Loud (2010), the singer revealed via Twitter that the album would be re-issued with new songs and released in fall 2011.[5][6]
In September 2011, Rihanna took to Twitter to confirm that plans for a re-issue of Loud had been scrapped, with the singer tweeting "I [thought about] a [re-release], but LOUD is its own body of work! Plus [you] guys work so [fucking] hard that [you] deserve to act brand new."[7]
In an interview with Mixtape Daily, songwriter Verse Simmonds, half of the duo The Jugganauts, who wrote and produced the reggae-infused song "Man Down" from Loud, revealed that the singer was nearing completion of her sixth studio album in August 2011.[8] The duo also said that they had penned two tracks for possible inclusion on the album, saying "From what I understand, she is closing the album up now, and we did two records for her that she really, really loved and I'm really excited about them as well" and also expressed interest in writing a third song.[8] On September 15, 2011, Rihanna confirmed via her official Twitter account that recording sessions for the album were indeed underway, tweeting "I can't wait to start filling u guys in on some details!"[9]
Rihanna created a Facebook campaign page entitled "Rihanna: UNLOCKED" [sic], whereby her fans on Facebook are given missions to complete, in the form of games, in order to "unlock" new information about the album.[10][11] Upon the unveiling of the standard edition's artwork, both James Dinh of MTV and a reviewer for NME commented that Rihanna looks "seductive" in the image.[12][13]
Composition[edit]
Music and lyrics[edit]
Talk That Talk is a danceable pop/R&B crossover[3] album,[1] comprising uptempo club tracks, raunchy pop songs, and mid-tempo inspirational ballads.[17] It also incorporates elements of dancehall, hip hop, and house.[18] Most of the songs feature heavy bass and coarse sounds,[18] including electro beats and imposing synthesizers.[19] James Lachno of The Daily Telegraph cites Talk That Talk as Rihanna's "most club-ready album to date",[19] while Robert Christgau calls it "pop without shame—her hookiest and most dance-targeted album, decorated with a thoughtful assortment of suitably titillating blats, noodles, dubs, groans, hiccups, boom-booms, cut-ups, speed-ups, xx samples, and spoken-word bits."[20] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times writes that Rihanna's version of dance music on the album draws on "the club music of the early 1990s".[2]
The album's lyrics posit Rihanna as a nihilist romantic and lascivious lover.[23]
The album also has subtle dancehall influences,[19] with slower songs that have double-snare riddims.[18] Music journalist Greg Kot observes that, along with droning electronic sounds, "Caribbean and Eastern touches from past Rihanna albums get recycled into bombastic dance tunes."[24] Apart from its sexual innuendo, Talk That Talk features odes to dysfunctional love and universal love.[18] Christgau interprets the lyrics to be "associating carnality with love" and writes that the album "celebrates the relationship of sex to love rather than pain," before leaning on "heart songs and theme statements" in the second half."[20]
Songs[edit]
The opening track, "You Da One", which was produced by Dr. Luke, is a bouncy mid-tempo song with a Caribbean flavor, and features a dubstep influenced breakdown towards the middle of the song.[25]
"Where Have You Been", produced by Dr. Luke and Ester Dean, runs through an acoustic beat and incorporates elements of trance.[25]
The lead single, "We Found Love", is an electro house and dance-pop song.[26][27]
The title track features rapper Jay-Z and samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "I Got a Story to Tell".[25] "Roc Me Out" is set in "chugging" tempo and features heavy synths.[28]
The tenth track, "Watch n' Learn", features a flirtatious and playful hip pop melody with grinding synths.[25]
The final standard edition track of the album, "Farewell", is a ballad.[25] The song was written by Ester Dean and Alexander Grant, with production helmed by Grant under his production name Alex da Kid.[29] "Farewell" contains lyrics that revolve around saying goodbye to a lover who is not able to be physically present in the relationship for long periods of time.[30][31] Instrumentation consists of a rolling piano.
Additional tracks released on the deluxe edition of Talk That Talk include the songs "Red Lipstick", "Do Ya Thang", and "Fool in Love". "Red Lipstick" is described as a "dark 'n' twisted" dubstep number which was written by The Dream and Rihanna and produced by the two along with production duo Chase & Status, who first worked with the singer on her fourth studio album, Rated R (2009). "Do Ya Thang" is a contemporary R&B track with a subtle hook and a simple message. It was written and produced by Rihanna and The-Dream. "Fool in Love" is a rhapsodic[32] ballad which incorporates acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, and drums, and has received comparisons to Britney Spears' "Criminal".[33]
Release and promotion[edit]
Live performances[edit]
"We Found Love" was the first performed song from the album, as it was performed for the first time on November 14, 2011 at Rihanna's Loud Tour (2011) in London.[52] On November 17, 2011 Rihanna performed the song on first season of The X Factor USA.[53] On November 20, 2011 Rihanna performed the song on eighth season of The X Factor UK.[54] On February 12, 2012, Rihanna performed "We Found Love" at the 2012 Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles,[55] followed by her duet single "Princess of China" with Coldplay for first time.[55] Later that month, the singer performed the song at the 2012 BRIT Awards held on February 21, 2012 at The O2 Arena in London.[56] Whilst promoting her first feature film appearance in "Battleship", Rihanna made a rare visit to Japan, performing "We Found Love" on the Japanese music television program Music Station. She donned a traditional kimono and concluded the performance by crowd surfing into the audience.[57]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 198,000 copies in the United States, slightly below her last album, which also debuted at number three with 207,000 copies.[78] In its second week, the album sold an additional 68,200 copies in the United States, dropping to number 7 on the charts and bringing its total sales to 266,400 units sold.[79] On March 26, 2018, Talk That Talk was certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[80] marking shipments of over three million album-equivalent units. It has sold over 1,150,000 copies in the United States as of June 2015.[81]
In the United Kingdom, the album was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 300,000 units after six days of sale. Talk That Talk debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling more than 163,000 copies in its first week. With the album and "We Found Love" both at number one, it made Rihanna the only female artist in the UK to simultaneously have a number one single and album twice in the same year with a different album and single. The other double chart topper being "What's My Name?" and Loud in January 2011.[82] On December 9, 2011 the album was certified two-times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 copies in the UK.[83] As of May 2013 it has sold 1,000,000 copies.[84]
It was the second biggest selling R&B / hip hop album of 2011 in the UK, only beaten by Rihanna's previous album, Loud (2010).[85] On August 12, 2012, the album returned to the number one position of the UK Albums Chart, selling 9,578 copies, making it the UK's lowest-selling number one since records began.[86] The record was beaten 4 years later by Blossoms' self-titled album which sold 7,948 copies on August 19, 2016.
As of March 2013, the album has sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide.[87]