
Via MTV: Rihanna’s already Gone Bad, been Rated R and gotten Loud (all within the span of about four years, mind you), which sort of raises the question: What’s left?
Well, if her new album, Talk That Talk — in stores November 21 — is any indication, she’s not really sure of the answer. But here’s the brilliant thing about the disc: Rather than go searching for a new public persona, this time around, she’s simply content to sharpen her focus.
And in doing that, she’s created an album that is badder, raunchier and louder than anything she’s ever done before; an endlessly compelling, hit-soaked, high-powered thing that’s not only the best effort of her career, but arguably the best pop album of 2011. Talk That Talk outmuscles Born This Way, outguns Femme Fatale and, while it might never outsell 21 (because, really, what album can at this point?), it certainly outworks it.
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