POP/ROCK: Rihanna, "Talk That Talk" (Def Jam)
On "Watch n' Learn," the closing song on her new album, Rihanna outlines the myriad ways in which she'll have her way with a lover. She reels off her carnal intentions with an impressive though not entirely believable candor.
The 23-year-old star, who's been gliding toward the edges of pop propriety since her first hit in 2005, has progressively pushed toward NC-17 territory. But the sauciness sometimes borders on shtick. That said, "Talk That Talk" is not entirely sex-obsessed. For balance's sake, and because she's making music in the pop realm and beholden to relatively conservative mores, Rihanna also harnesses her producers and songwriters -- including Dr. Luke, StarGate, The-Dream and others -- to focus love above the waist and how passion affects both the body and the mind.
She eases into her bed over the course of the album, first with a loving confession ("You Da One"). There are odes to bad love ("We Found Love") and universal love ("We All Want Love"). "Drunk on Love" finds Rihanna confessing that love is the only thing she needs.
She delivers her sentiments inside a pan-American pop sound with a hint of the long musical conversation between the Caribbean and Americas. Most important, Rihanna wants her music to bang, and she does so by continuing to mine the connection between R&B, hip-hop and house. A few of these tracks, most obviously "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been," wouldn't be out of place at an electronica festival.
By the second half of the record, Rihanna's intentions are decidedly, unapologetically hornier. But ultimately, she's making only superficially dangerous music. For all the innuendo and introspection, "Talk That Talk" contains little sweat, slobber or fluids and a lot of plasticized, inflatable insinuation.
- RANDALL ROBERTS, LOS ANGELES TIMES
COUNTRY: David Nail, "The Sound of a Million Dreams" (MCA Nashville)
At the outset, it's easy to write off newcomer Nail as little more than a Keith Urban wannabe. In fact, he's recorded "Desiree," an early song that Urban cut before launching his solo career. But after the first few tracks on Nail's second album, things start to get interesting.
