Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 11/14/2011 at 2:41 PM Reviews

The Popdust Files: jay-z, rihanna, talk that talk, track-by-track reviews

Track 4: “Talk That Talk”

Sounds Like: “Rude Boy” with Jay-Z and less vocal range. As in, you can sing “Rude Boy” over this song, which makes sense because it’s practically the same song.

Pros: The bridge is great–more subdued than it has to be, with spooky high-and-low synth plinking in the background, stark harmonies and a percussion breakdown that does more or less what it’s intended. It’s also the only part that doesn’t sound exactly like “Rude Boy.”

Cons: This is seriously one of Jay-Z’s lines: “I’m flying out to Pisa just to get some pizza.” Yeah, it’s a boast, Jay gets around, but a) seriously, Pisa/pizza is a rhyme, and b) Brooklyn probably has better pizza anyway. Jay-Z also says “I gotta pee” and giggles about it. But enough about the words. We already had a “Rude Boy” redo this year: Kelly Rowland’s “Lay It On Me” with Big Sean. Rihanna and Jay-Z are upgrades from both performers, but their track is a downgrade, with cheaper production and a less enthused melody–Rihanna claims to “love it when you talk that talk to me,” but she delivers it like she’s reading from a self-help sex book.

Hard-R Lyric: Taken literally, it’s either Jay-Z’s “I be trying to chill, bitches wanna fuck me” or “I sell out arenas, I call that getting dome.” In the spirit of the category, it’d be “I love it when you talk that talk to me.” Leave it to the “dirtiest album since Erotica (it isn’t, at least not yet) to turn its title into “talk dirty.”

Single-Worthy? Single, yes: it sounds like “Rude Boy” and has Jay-Z on it. Worthy? No.

Previous Reviews: “You Da One,” “Where Have You Been,” “We Found Love”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFH7C6NyzZg

POPDUST SAYS:
[starreview tpl=16]