The album starts off with a mid-tempo reggae-inspired number, You Da One. The track sets a low start for the album, with generic love-themed lyrics and her excessive use of her signature staccato vocal hooks, which come off as annoying rather than catchy. Furthermore, an unnecessary dubstep breakdown had been forcibly added in a weak attempt to follow 2011’s pop trends. The song reminisces of What’s My Name? and Man Down from Rihanna’s back catalogue, with both singles featuring reggae compositions, but failing to capture the relaxed feel that those two tracks beautifully encapsulated.

The following two tracks from Talk That Talk take it up a notch with UK-club king, Calvin Harris, manning production duties. Both songs have all the elements to become great dance hits, with Where Have You Been being the most upbeat song on the album. Composition-wise, the song has spots perfectly timed build-ups as well as drops in a track that otherwise has a constant tempo. Showcasing a strong, pulsating bass drum beat with catchy synth overtones that will make you move your feet involuntarily, it makes one feel that Rihanna is doing tons more than just repeating the phrase “Where have you been, all my life” throughout the chorus. The 23-year-old songbird emits an immense amount of energy in this song, especially in the pre-chorus when she intensely shouts the phrase “Are you hiding from me/Somewhere in the crowd”.

Calvin Harris not only produces the first single, We Found Love, but features him as well, guaranteeing us with a dance hit, no doubt. Similar to Where Have You Been, it showcases a catchy synth layer accompanied with a grooving drum and bass beat, but also boasts intense electro buildups and breakdowns. Despite the song being a hit and achieving Number One on the US Billboard Hot 100 Charts amongst many other international charts, Harris’s work strongly overshadows Rihanna’s vocals, which seemingly feel more as fillers to what Harris does next in the track.

For the third single of the album, also titled Talk That Talk, features Jay-Z on his second appearance on a Rihanna track since Umbrella. Unfortunately, neither the song nor Mr. Z were memorable this time. Jay-Z’s rap segment spotting lyrics such as “I be trying to chill, b**ches wanna f**k me/Every little city I go, f**k me” and “Everything that I do is big/We’ll talk big money, I talk big homes/I sell out arenas, I call that getting dome”, seemed more like a distasteful attempt to boast his wealth and that the whole world would like to sleep with him. Rihanna’s contributions were just as colourful with “One and two and a three and four/Come on let me know if you want some more/ You know what I Like, now get right/ Boy talk that talk to me all night”, and yes, in case you were wondering, she isn’t really talking about talking.

4 years since Good Girl Gone Bad and Rihanna hasn’t turned back.

Photos courtesy of Universal Music Singapore and Focka.

This spillover effect from S&M carries over to many of her songs, with the lyrics getting raunchier and raunchier to a point where it becomes unpleasant and unimaginative. Cockiness (Love it), insinuates much about coitus, with lyrics such as “Suck my cockiness/Lick my persuasion” and comes off as a poor attempt to imitate Britney Spears’ hit, If You Seek Amy. This continues with many of the other tracks in the album, such as in Birthday Cake, where she uses food to create sexual innuendos such as “It’s not even my birthday but they want to lick the icing off” and “Can’t wait to blow my candles out/He want that cake cake cake…” and in Watch N’ Learn, which is basically a lyrical guide to intercourse.

The album although largely themed on sex, does have a few songs about falling in love, such as Drunk On Love, which samples The xx’s song, Intro. The song talks about how Rihanna is “Drunk on love…/Nothing can sober me up” and asks to “Take me away, I’ll wear my heart on my sleeve”. While We All Want Love, comes off as a love anthem that is also the only song in the album to take an acoustic approach. “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 there lying to myself” tells us how the singer seeks companionship and love amongst all. The song provides a nice change from the sex-driven tracks and sounds eerily similar, vocally, to something that Beyonce would whip up.

The standard edition closes off with Farewell, which shows collaboration once again with Alex Da Kid, who helped produce one of Rihanna’s biggest hit to date, Love the Way You Lie. The song, unlike the other tracks, has Rihanna singing along a soft piano track, accompanied with a reverberating drum track. Her voice in Farewell’s chorus is easily the most definitive piece of vocal work she does for this album and once again she shows much resemblance to Beyonce’s hit single, Halo, and definitely sends the album off to a much stronger end than how it started.

In entirety, with mediocre and often tasteless lyrics, Talk That Talk comes off as a very weak effort, being unable to catch the defining essence that albums such as Rated R and Loud had, be it for a slow, acoustic piece or a full-blown dance hit. Furthermore, majority of her vocal efforts seem lethargic and emotionless in many of the tracks, especially the raunchier ones such as Cockiness (Like It) and Watch N’ Learn. Also, the extreme contrast in themes shows a very schizophrenic personality to the album and even perhaps on the singer, with it seemingly like a teenage love story at one moment, and a full-blown sexual encounter the next. This formula definitely does not bode well for the album. Unfortunately for Rihanna, the highlights of the album were either when Calvin Harris produced them or when she sounded similar to Beyonce. It would have most probably worked better if she had let Loud set in for the fans before dropping Talk This Talk on them.

Album Details

• Artiste: Rihanna
• Album Name: Talk That Talk
• Rating (out of 5): 2/5
• Language: English
• Genre: R&B
• Record Label: Def Jam Records
• Release date: Nov 21

Tracklist

1. You Da One
2. Where Have You Been
3. We Found Love feat. Calvin Harris
4. Talk That Talk feat. Jay-Z
5. Cockiness (Love It)
6. Birthday Cake
7. We All Want Love
8. Drunk On Love
9. Roc Me Out
10. Watch N’ Learn
11. Farewell
12. Red Lipstick (Bonus Track)
13. Do Ya Than (Bonus Track)
14. Fool In Love (Bonus Track)

Rihanna has been a busy, busy woman.

The presses are still hot from printing her self-titled coffee table book, which released last month and already, the 22-year-old Barbadian beauty is releasing her fifth album in as many years.

Plucked from obscurity by Def Jam Record’s then-president Jay-Z at the tender age of 17, the singer most famous for the catchy ditty “Umbrella” has been forced to grow up in Fame’s harsh glare – everything from the domestic abuse inflicted on her by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown to her decision to get stick-straight red hair extensions gets plastered all over the headlines.

Seeing that her last effort, the gritty and dark Rated R was framed by the whole Brown abuse debacle, surely the lady deserves the chance to have some fun on Loud, which Rihanna describes as showing more of her West Indian roots.

The first 2 singles, the flirty duet with rapper/singer Drake “What’s My Name?” and 80’s-synth-heavy “Only Girl (In The World)”, have already shot up the US Billboard Hot 100 charts to peak at top 2 spots respectively.

“S&M”, the opening track, is evidence that Rihanna is seriously keen on working the dominant, bad girl angle to the ground. Growling “Sticks and stones may break my bones/ But chains and whips excite me” over big, thumping beats, Rihanna conjures a decidedly naughty picture for her listeners. However, lyrics like this, if they’re honest, also win sympathy for abusive boyfriends, as a true masochist enjoys physical torment. Poised to be Loud’s third single, one can only wonder how the accompanying music video will pan out, and if it will ever make it onto our screens.

Her drinking anthem “Cheers (Drink to That)” samples, rather surprisingly, Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You”, with the Canadian singer’s ‘yeah, yeah’s punctuating every chorus of “There’s a party at the bar/ Everybody put your glasses up/and I’ll drink to that”, with the guitars cutting out momentarily for a brief drunken sing-along by the bar’s patrons. It sounds like an odd mix, but the weird thing is that it actually works.

The first 5 songs are, without a doubt, her strongest, creating a ‘woman-in-control’ build-up that’s shattered by the obligatory ballad “California King Bed”. It’s definitely the weakest track, having no place on this playfully sensual album, and sounds like an afterthought.

Rihanna, between keeping a running commentary of  the body parts of her lover and her– “chest to chest/ nose to nose/ palm to palm/ we were always just that close/ wrist to wrist/ toe to toe” – haplessly bemoans their emotional distance in reference to their seemingly huge bed. Honestly, isn’t there a better metaphor for this? She misses the sweet and tender mark by a long shot. This track smacks of neediness and being whiny.

Luckily the groove picks back up immediately on the very next track, the Caribbean-flavoured “Man Down”, reminiscent of Rihanna’s “Pon De Replay” days, with a bit of reggae theme set by the snare drum opening and staccato synth-keyboard riff running throughout.

“Raining Men”, featuring newcomer Nicki Minaj, is one of the more interesting songs. It has plenty of sass and attitude, with Rihanna brushing off an unworthy male admirer with the words

set your standards lower baby/ you’re aiming too high.

Her declaration of freedom and independence serves as hilarious way of stating that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Wailing sirens and bouncy beats make this one for the clubs.

Of course, the last track is what everyone’s been waiting to hear – Part Two of the Rihanna-Eminem collaboration, “Love The Way You Lie”. There’s a sort of finality in the way she sings on this track, like this is the close of a certain chapter in her life that she may never revisit.

Loud is keen to differentiate itself from its predecessors Good Girl Gone Bad and Rated R, but it still retains a sense of various costumes and personas being tried on, just for the sake of appearing versatile. Rihanna needs to stop going through the motions and find a strength that she’d like to stick to.

Artiste: Rihanna
Album: Loud
Rating: ✭★✭✩✩

Language: English
Genre: R&B/Dance-pop
Record Label: Def Jam
Release Date: 12 November 2010

Track List:

1. S&M
2. What’s My Name? (feat. Drake)
3. Cheers (Drink to That)
4. Fading
5. Only Girl (In the World)
6. California King Bed
7. Man Down
8. Raining Men (feat. Nicki Minaj)
9. Complicated
10. Skin
11. Love the Way You Lie (Part II) (feat. Eminem)

To say that Rihanna is back again is an overstatement because she’s not back with a whole new album, but a remix of her album, Rated R that was released in 2009 and was her 3^rd consecutive platinum album in America.

The original Rated R was created based on the whole Chris Brown saga featuring lyrics that she wrote herself, getting inspiration from her abusive relationship with him. This winning formula proved to be so successful that 10 of its songs has just gotten remixed by Chew Fu Phat, the man who has built himself a successful career, having worked with Her Majesty Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, to name a few.

While it may come across like a feeble attempt to conquer the mainstream music industry which is currently dominated by Queen Lady Gaga at the moment, the newly remixed tracks could be good news to fans who couldn’t get enough of her fast-paced, dancing tracks like “Pon De Replay”, “S.O.S”, “Umbrella”, and “Disturbia”.

There are songs that are generally worth  listening to in this album, which may be unnecessary if you have the original Remix R album. Songs like “Russian Roulette” and “Rude Boy” sounded better remixed, so kudos to Chew Fu.

“Russian Roulette” was remixed from a slow ballad to a track that has dancey-upbeat elements, making it highly addictive.

According to Pitchfork, “Rude Boy” peaked at number 1 in America, making it Rihanna’s 6^th single to hit number 1 on the Hot 100. The remixed version of “Rude Boy” is fresh and refreshing, quite different from the original one, with an infectious melody and electro-beats that gets stuck in your head.

Don’t get me wrong. Remixes are interesting because of the twist they give to the original music. However, this remixed album could be potentially a miss on Chew Fu’s part because the tracks sound so consistent it’s almost identical to one another with no distinct feature. It’s good if you want a song to dance to in the club, but not good if you just want a song to listen to.

Chew Fu is a good remixer. Rihanna is a talented singer. However, fusing these two together may not be the best thing that Def Jam Recordings, which has in its stable Kanye West and Ludacris, has done.

The UrbanWire gives Rated R /// Remixed 2/5 stars.

Artist: Rihanna

Language: English
Record Label: Def Jam
Release Date: 25 May 2010

Track list:

1. Mad House (Chew Fu Straight Jacket Fix)
2. Russian Roulette (Chew Fu Black Russian Fix)
3. ROCKSTAR 101 (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix)
4. Wait Your Turn (Chew Fu Can’t Wait No More Fix)
5. Photographs feat. will.i.am (Chew Fu 35mm Fix)
6. Rude Boy (Chew Fu Bumbaclot Fix)
7. Hard feat. Jeezy (Chew Fu Granite Fix)
8. G4L (Chew Fu Guns In The Air Fix)
9. Fire Bomb (Chew Fu Molotov Fix)
10. Stupid In Love (Chew Fu Small Room Fix)

With the release of the multi-platinum selling Good Girl Gone Bad in 2008, the world crowned its newest pop princess. Robyn Rihanna Fenty seemed destined to rule the fickle kingdom of mainstream music.

The album was a career-defining moment for the Umbrella hit-maker, one that thrust her into the international spotlight thereafter. But just when the coronation ceremony was about done, ex-boyfriend and dethroned R&B prince Chris Brown quite literally knocked the mojo out of Rihanna with his primitive and violent behaviour.

Rated R, the album that comes hot on the polished heels of her abusive relationship, is unmistakably the 21-year-old’s response to the dramatic episode. Thematically, the concept isn’t unheard of, (think Janet Jackson with The Velvet Rope) except that the lyrical and production value of Ms Jackson’s critically-acclaimed CD are far stronger than what’s heard on almost-princess Riri’s new album.

These days, all that Jay-Z’s protégée looks and sounds like is a good girl gone really, really angry.

Granted, music is supposed to be an outlet of expression where the musician tells her side of the story. But for all 13 tracks on a commercial studio album to be dedicated to an outpouring of overdramatic grievances (“Photographs”, “The Last Song”), mad revenge fantasies (“G4l”, “Fire Bomb”) and unnecessary self-reprimand (“Stupid In Love”) is just plain pathetic to the point of self indulgence. When pop icon-turned-pop trash Britney Spears was more known for her wardrobe malfunctions and hair-shaving craziness, her record label knew better and channelled all of Spear’s personal troubles into the makings of the slick electro-pop Blackout, arguably her best album, both sonically and critically, to date. The singer’s emotional burden was carefully and cleverly layered into the modern sounds of the album that made all the difference. (Are you taking notes, Def Jam?)

Such a pity for the Barbados diva who used to command the club, urban, pop and Top 20 formats like no other – her chart-topping prowess rivalling even that of R&B queen Beyonce Knowles. With chart heavyweights like Britney’s dancefloor romp of “3”, Lady Gaga’s kickass single “Bad Romance” and Jay-Z’s hot collaboration with Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind”, Rihanna’s lacklustre efforts simply don’t stand a chance – Not even with her label going full force in backing her up.

Before all you Rihanna-diehards condemn UrbanWire to the rat holes and dungeons of hell, there are a few tracks on Rated R that are worth a listen. “Russian Roulette” should be given credit for its shock value and artistic maturity. From its first note, the unsettling number doesn’t hit you like her previous hits of “Disturbia” or “Take A Bow”, but put the song on repeat and you’ll find yourself drawn to the hypnotic and broody imagery that it conjures.  If you ask us, either “Rude Boy” or “Wait Your Turn” should’ve been the lead single to precede the release of the album. The hard rock and club beats of the former stay in your head like a bad cold that won’t go away. We can’t say this enough, but on the latter track, the anthemic chorus is pure ecstasy when the lady purrs, “It’s getting crowded over here / But babe the wait is ova / Sometimes it takes a thousand tries to win / The wait is ova / Fumble don’t you fumble / That’s a flag on the play / Babe if you don’t wanna / Then you don’t have to wait / But together we gon’ be taking over”. Justin Timberlake appears and contributes lyrics to the curious “Cold Case Love”, which features a highly intriguing soundscape made up of groaning organs, melodramatic beats and orchestral-type strings.

And for all it’s worth, her immaculate sense of style and fashion remains on top of the game. For the cover art of “Russian Roulette”, Rihanna can be seen topless and provocatively wrapped in barbed wire that strategically hides her lady bits. She is even sporting a Mohawk-styled hair for her album promotional appearances.

Other than that, the overdramatic Rated R doesn’t quite fit in the current market that Lady Gaga seems to have dominated with her club-friendly melodies and eye-popping music videos. Even by her own standards, Rihanna disappoints with her fourth album, that’s better off in the discount bins.

The UrbanWire gives Rated R 2.5/5 stars.

Release Date: November 20, 2009

Artiste: Rihanna

Album Title: Rated R

Track List:

1. Mad House

2. Wait Your Turn

3. Hard (featuring Young Jeezy)

4. Stupid In Love

5. Rockstar 101 (featuring Slash)

6. Russian Roulette

7. Fire Bomb

8. Rude Boy

9. Photographs (featuring will.i.am)

10. G4L

11. Te Amo

12. Cold Case Love

13. The Last Song

With less than 25 hours from glorious 2009, it’s only fitting to leave you with Billboard’s Magazine‘s Top 25 music hits in this exciting 4-and-a-half-minute mash up by DJ Earworm: “United State of Pop 2008“.

The 25 songs:

• Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain – “Low”
• Leona Lewis – “Bleeding Love”
• Alicia Keys – “No One”
• Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major – “Lollipop“
• Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – “Apologize“
• Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown – “No Air“
• Sara Bareilles – “Love Song“
• Usher Featuring Young Jeezy - ”Love in This Club“
• Chris Brown - ”With You“
• Chris Brown - ”Forever“
• Ray J & Yung Berg - ”Sexy Can I“
• Rihanna - ”Take a Bow“
• Coldplay - ”Viva La Vida“
• Katy Perry - ”I Kissed a Girl“
• T.I. - ”Whatever You Like“
• Rihanna - ”Disturbia“
• Rihanna - ”Don’t Stop the Music“
• Natasha Bedingfield - ”Pocketful of Sunshine“
• Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain - ”Kiss Kiss“
• Ne-Yo - ”Closer“
• Colbie Caillat - ”Bubbly“
• Mariah Carey - ”Touch My Body“
• Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake - ”4 Minutes“
• Pink - ”So What“
• Finger Eleven - ”Paralyzer“

“United State of Pop 2008″ is created in response to the resounding success his previous mash up received. Earworm said on his website that Mediabase reported that ”United State of Pop 2007” stayed as “one of the 100 most played songs” on many radio stations.

This year, Earworm said that he has chosen songs that are “sexy and defiant, less macho than in previous years”.

“I’ve selected Coldplay as the instrumental track, giving the whole year a sort of symphonic feel,” he adds.

This version is tentatively named  ”Viva La Pop”.

View a higher quality version at Facebook. Or download the MP3 version (.mp3, 10.4 MB)

All pictures and music courtesy of DJ Earworm.

If there’s someone who owes her meteoric rise to YouTube, it’s Marié Digby. Her self-made videos of her own interpretations of mainstream pop songs have peppered computer screens across the globe, and this has aided her commercial success as a result.

Her covers include Maroon5’s “Make Me Wonder ” as well as Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, which she also included in her debut album, Unfold.

The Singer, Songwriter, Instrumentalist

But it hasn’t just been the online medium that has been kind to her. Blessed with a myriad of musical talents, 25-year-old Marié Christina Digby not only wrote 12 out of 13 songs on her debut album, but is also adept in the piano and both the electric and acoustic guitars.

Before she was noticed on YouTube, the gifted singer was already signed on to Hollywood Records and had much performing experience, as she sang at numerous nightclubs before. However, even with a recording contract, Digby couldn’t advance her music career “without the support that [she] needed”, as she was quoted saying in her interview with MTV Buzzworthy .

Out of desperation, Digby turned to YouTube. This caused much controversy because it seemed as if she was appealing to people’s support by marketing herself as an amateur. She, however, fought this allegation by stating that it was her decision to use YouTube to increase visibility. She also said that she never denied or hid the fact that she was signed onto Hollywood Records.

A Closer Listen

Having heard Marié Digby’s exceptional singing talent on YouTube, UrbanWire was excited to hear the studio versions of her original acoustic songs in her album Unfold.

The album kickstarted with “Fool”, a strong upbeat number with the guitar as the main instrument. She does sound like Michelle Branch here, with a tinge of Avril Lavignesque rock.

Several tracks like “Girlfriend” and “Traffic” , “Voice On The Radio” , “Beauty In Walking Away” had similar execution, mostly because the piano was used as the lead instrument. These piano tunes kept UrbanWire listening attentively.

“Miss Invisible” and “Spell” , both equally haunting songs, proved to be pleasant ear candy.

In the former, she could almost be labelled the next Delta Goodrem, another singer-songwriter who’s extremely deft in love ballads. She possessed Goodrem’s strong vocal delivery and the kind of honesty that comes through her music. The beautiful lyrics of this song – “There’s a girl who sits under the bleachers just another day eating alone. And though she smiles, there is something just hiding.” spoke of a girl who felt unnoticed.

Digby ends this song by singing, “And one day just the same as the last just the days been in counting the time, came a boy that sat under the bleachers just a little bit further behind,” giving listeners a promise of happily-ever-after and a warm fuzzy feeling.

Her hit single “Say It Again” is catchy and perfect for couples in love. Digby sings, ”And it feels like it’s the first time that anybody’s ever brought the sun without the rain. And never in my whole life have I heard words as beautiful as when you say my name.” portraying the affection between lovers. She also included an acoustic version of the song as a bonus track.

The acoustic tracks are exclusive to all Asian listeners as Digby only included the 5 bonus acoustic tracks in her Asian edition of the album. The other 4 include “Better Off Alone” , “Stupid For You” , “Paint Me In Your Sunshine” , and “Umbrella” . This proved to be a delight because this means that there is no longer the need to log on YouTube to listen to those fantastic acoustic numbers!

Digby’s cover of the famous, played-to-death Rihanna’s single ‘Umbrella’ is one such example. Her voice carries the words easily and doesn’t need to hard sell the sex that Rihanna’s version did. By singing in such a refreshing manner, Digby’s cover for “Umbrella” shook off Rihanna’s shadows, resulting in a song that’s truly hers.

More than YouTube worthy?

UrbanWire was a sucker for all the acoustic numbers on the album. In a case of less is more, the studio ones seem to have unnecessary percussion that only distracts listeners from the beauty of Digby’s voice.

Having said that, the full versions of her studio recordings in the album did satisfy UrbanWire’s longing for more. With this, we say that her million hits on her YouTube site aren’t just a bluff – Marié Digby’s really got something. If you don’t believe us, just buy her album and listen to her for yourself.

UrbanWire gives Unfold 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Unfold is available in all good record stores, such as HMV, at $19.90.