Talk That Talk

Background

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, writing that "[the] [Loud era] continues with more new music to add to [your] collection". 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." In an interview with Mixtape Daily, producer 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. 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. 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!"

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. 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. Gordon Smart of The Sun humorously criticized the standard edition artwork by saying that it looks as though the singer is trying to cover up a cold sore with her tongue, writing "It's easy to pick them up at this time of year – especially as she's constantly naked or attached to her new boyfriend Dudley O'Shaughnessy by the lips."

Recording

Recording sessions for Talk That Talk began in February 2011 and ended in November 2011. The album was recorded in various recording studios. Singer-songwriters and producers Jay-Z, Sean Combs, Alex da Kid, Ester Dean, Calvin Harris, Dr. Luke and The-Dream contributed to the album. Kuk Harrell, one of the producers of Talk That Talk, spoke on the recording of the album saying: "In addition to touring, we are recording Rihanna's new album. We have a portable studio that we set up at the different hotels that we are staying at. We set up shop anywhere in the hotel. Before we went on the European leg of Rihanna's Loud tour, we started recording the album in Los Angeles. Rihanna likes to work late hours, so she would come into the studio at 9pm and work until 6am." In May 2012, Rihanna revealed that whilst she was recording the album, she suffered from exhaustion, saying in part: "It was the best [shit] ever, it was some rock star [shit] This is the craziest schedule I've ever been on in my entire life. One morning I woke up and started crying so hard. I finally just got to my bed from the IV [drip] and I was just like, 'Good I can actually get to sleep tonight', because we stayed up all night' and I finished [the album] at 5 pm the day before..."

Music and lyrics

Talk That Talk is a danceable pop/R&B crossover album, comprising uptempo club tracks, raunchy pop songs, and mid-tempo inspirational ballads. It also incorporates elements of dancehall, hip hop, and house. Most of the songs feature heavy bass and coarse sounds, including electro beats and imposing synthesizers. James Lachno of The Daily Telegraph cites Talk That Talk as Rihanna's "most club-ready album to date", 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." 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". The album's lyrics posit Rihanna as a nihilist romantic and lascivious lover. The album also has subtle dancehall influences, with slower songs that have double-snare riddims. 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." Apart from its sexual innuendo, Talk That Talk features odes to dysfunctional love and universal love. 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."

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. "Where Have You Been", produced by Dr. Luke and Ester Dean, runs through an acoustic beat and incorporates elements of trance. The lead single, "We Found Love", is an electro house and dance-pop song. The title track features rapper Jay-Z and samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "I Got a Story to Tell". "Roc Me Out" is set in "chugging" tempo and features heavy synths. The tenth track, "Watch n' Learn", features a flirtatious and playful hip pop melody with grinding synths. The final standard edition track of the album, "Farewell", is a ballad. The song was written by Ester Dean and Alexander Grant, with production helmed by Grant under his production name Alex da Kid. "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. 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 ballad which incorporates acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, and drums, and has received comparisons to Britney Spears' "Criminal".

Critical reception

Talk That Talk received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 64, based on 27 reviews. AllMusic's Andy Kellman dubbed it Rihanna's "third best album to date ... behind Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and Rated R (2009)," and stated, "Minus the fluff, it's close to the latter's equal." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that the album places Rihanna "squarely at the center of the pop genre best suited for a singer of her fundamental evanescence – dance music, which conveniently is the mode du jour of contemporary R&B and pop." James Lachno of The Daily Telegraph called it "an adrenalised behemoth of a record which reasserts her position as one of pop's most compulsive pleasures". Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian called it "a blast of obnoxious, filth-fuelled pop" and felt that "it works best when the music hall bawdiness is left aside in favour of bleak euphoria". In a review of its deluxe edition for MSN Music, Robert Christgau complimented the songs' carnal lyrics and stated, "I prefer it to her earlier albums because I find its many porny moments titillating."

In a mixed review, Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times expressed dissatisfaction with the themes of the album and stated, "The singer works that NC-17 territory, but the sauciness sometimes borders on shtick. With an eye toward Middle America, it's mostly just insinuation." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune panned its "double or single entendres", and felt that it gives the impression of "a chintzy soft-core porn movie." Andy Gill of The Independent said that Rihanna mostly "struggles to assert her vocal character against a sea of effects". Matthew Cole from Slant Magazine panned it as "pretty easily the worst Rihanna album yet". Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz wrote that the album "tries too hard to send a more one-dimensional message" than other pop artists in 2011, adding that it "ends up falling flat". Priya Elan of NME found it "annoyingly safe" and wrote that it "leaves us with the impression Rihanna has spread herself so thinly that she doesn’t have time to record a cohesive album."

Commercial performance

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. 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. The album has been certified Platinum in the United States and has sold 1,150,000 copies as of June 2015.

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. 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. As of June 26, 2012 it has sold 850,000 copies. 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). 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. 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.

Singles

"We Found Love", featuring Calvin Harris, was released as the lead single from the album, premiering on September 22, 2011 in the United Kingdom, and being released the same day. Critical reaction was mixed. They criticized the lack of lyrical content, with many citing the lyrics as second best to the song's production and composition, though they praised Harris's production of the song. The music video, which premiered on October 19, 2011, depicts the singer as a drug abusing thrill seeker in a relationship that quickly spirals downward into addiction and violence. "We Found Love" debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, eventually reaching number one, giving Rihanna the record for a solo artist to have amassed twenty top ten singles in the shortest amount of time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also peaked at number one in Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom, for six weeks.

"You da One" was released as the second single from the album, having its radio premiere on November 11 and being released digitally on November 14, 2011. "You da One" was sent to US mainstream radio on November 29, 2011. The single was a moderate success, reaching the top twenty of the US Billboard Hot 100 peaking at fourteen as well as reaching the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart peaking at sixteen, while also topping the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and attaining top twenty positions in eleven other countries.

"Talk That Talk", was confirmed as the third single from the album by Rihanna on Twitter, following a vote from her fans. The song, which features a rap verse from Jay-Z, was serviced to urban radio in the United States on January 17, 2012. It reached number 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Birthday Cake" was released as a full length remix version featuring former boyfriend Chris Brown on February 20, 2012, coinciding with Rihanna's 24th birthday. It was sent to radio as the fourth single from the album on March 6, 2012. The official remix reached number two on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, subsequently managing a peak of number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, despite no digital release of the remix or music video.

"Where Have You Been" was released as the fifth single from the album, impacting Top 40/Mainstream radio in the US on May 8, 2012. Following the release of the music video, it reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart at number six. When "Where Have You Been" peaked inside of the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, Rihanna became the artist who had gained the most top ten entries in the shortest time span, with 22 top ten singles in 7 years, displacing Lil Wayne.

"Cockiness (Love It)" was released as the sixth and final single on September 7, 2012 in a remixed form of the original version and features rapper ASAP Rocky. Upon the release of Talk That Talk, the song debuted on multiple world charts. The song debuted on the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number 62 on November 26, 2011, with sales of 6,918 digital downloads. In the United Kingdom, "Cockiness (Love It)" debuted at number 33 on the UK R&B Chart on November 27, 2011. It also debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 121 in the chart issue December 3, 2011. In the United States, the song debuted on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 17 in the chart issue December 10, 2011.

Other than "Talk That Talk", each single charted on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End issue. Furthermore, with "We Found Love" ending at No. 8 on the 2012 year-end tally, it marked the first time since 2007 that Rihanna ended the year with a top 10 song as lead artist.

Promotion

"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. On November 17, 2011 Rihanna performed the song on first season of The X Factor USA. On November 20, 2011 Rihanna performed the song on eighth season of The X Factor UK. On February 12, 2012, Rihanna performed "We Found Love" at the 2012 Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, followed by her duet single "Princess of China" with Coldplay for first time. Later that month, the singer performed the song at the 2012 BRIT Awards held on February 21, 2012 at The O2 Arena in London. 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.

Rihanna's first performance of "Talk That Talk" was made on The Jonathan Ross Show, in the United Kingdom, aired on March 3, 2012. The singer performed a solo version of the track, and was also interviewed. Rihanna performed "Where Have You Been" for the first time live at the 2012 Post-Grammy Charity Fundraiser, along with "We Found Love", on February 13, 2012. On April 15, 2012, Rihanna performed the Song at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, along with "We Found Love". She wasn't an official performer at the festival but she joined Calvin Harris on his set. On May 5, 2012, Rihanna performed "Where Have You Been" and a Medley of "Birthday Cake" and "Talk That Talk" on Saturday Night Live in the United States. The performance of "Where Have You Been" featured an aesthetic similar to that of the music video; the SNL set was decorated in an One Thousand and One Nights fashion. Rihanna and her backup dancers performed a highly choreographed dance routine, the same as the music video, and they wore Arabian inspired outfits. The performance of the medley with the original interlude version of "Birthday Cake" and "Talk That Talk" started with the singer performing "Birthday Cake" and featured Rihanna in an all black outfit with a giant spiders web as the backdrop behind her. After she performed a short section of the song, it transitioned into "Talk That Talk", where she performed her part of the song in full, without the rap vocal by Jay-Z.

Documentary

"Road to Talk That Talk" shows Rihanna behind the scenes during the production of the album. The first part of "Road to Talk That Talk" was released onto the internet on February 17, 2012. In the viral video Rihanna takes the cameras back stage on the last day of the Loud Tour, to the studio whilst she talks about the track listing and to Barbados with her family. The second part of "Road to Talk That Talk" was released May 9, 2012 in which Rihanna videoed the rest of her trip to Barbados, to the hotel where she was with Katy Perry, behind the photo shoots and she spoke on her breakdown.

Track listing

Notes

Sample credits

Release formats

Talk That Talk (Standard edition)

Talk That Talk (Deluxe edition)

Talk That Talk (iTunes edition)

Personnel

Credits for Talk That Talk deluxe edition: