Rihanna - Talk That Talk

Spin“Pop's freaky alpha chick raves mightily, leaves dudes in dust...” Where last year's Loud had a hefty helping of unshakable singles, this album's arc, however simple — sex, love, sex, repeat — is cohesive and sweet...

The A.V. Club“What she sings is less relevant than what she sells...” Talk That Talk is a nearly perfect album for Rihanna—even more so, really, for her gainfully employed, carefully picked production team...

BBC“One has to wonder if she'll ever find herself again...” Drearily sexual lyricism over showy but shallow production dominates RiRi’s sixth LP...

The Independent“She sounds as bored as a sex-line worker filing her nails...” As off-the-peg as Primark, the Rihan-droid returns with more dancefloor fodder which has all the right bleeps in all the right places, but nothing to make you go "wow"...

Pitchfork“Tries too hard to send a one-dimensional image and ends up falling flat...” Rihanna's obviously going for sexy here, but her music's at its most alluring when she's blissed out in her own reverie, not taking the time to spell it all out for us...

NME“Annoyingly safe with just glimpses of what might have been...” As it stands we get a so-so album which suggests it may be time for Ms Fenty to take a holiday...

The Observer“Rihanna is reborn as a nihilist and lover of sexual themes...” The emphasis on loud, clubby production means it lacks the progression of Rated R or the bombast of Loud...

allmusic“This is Rihanna's third best album to date...” While Talk That Talk is built like another singles-chart-devouring machine, it’s both more rounded and less random than Loud...