No more drama for Mary J. Blige (WireImage)
Album of the week
RIHANNA
“Talk That Talk”
***
Despite her sugar ’n’ spice good looks, Rihanna’s song “S&M” taught us she’s really a whips ’n’ chains kind of girl. On her sixth studio album, “Talk That Talk,’’ she dishes up even raunchier pop, where her sex drive is revving to the max.
There’s nothing better than a clever double entendre such as Bessie Smith’s classic 1931 lyric: “I need a little sugar in my bowl, a little hot dog on my roll.” RiRi ups the ante with wordplay that’s more like foreplay.
In the fast electro-pop of the song “Where Have You Been,” Rihanna tests a Stevie Nicks tone in her vocals as she fluffs the pillow talk with “I’ve been everywhere, man, looking for someone, someone who can please me, love me all night long.” It’s G-rated lust.
Things get a whole lot steamier in the dancehall reggae of “Cockiness (Love It),” where she’s playing with words in ways Webster never intended, singing, “I love it when you eat it, suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion.” Then, on “Birthday Cake,” there’s the Bessie Smith-style “It’s not even my birthday, but he wanna lick the icing off.” Unfortunately, the songs ends crudely with the not-so-subtle declaration “Oooh, I wanna f – – k you right now.”
Too much sex and not enough romance makes Rihanna a lonely girl. That couldn’t be clearer than in the record’s prettiest song “We All Want Love,” an up-tempo ballad that opens with an acoustic guitar riff and showcases her ability to sing without any electronic enhancement. The one oddity of the record is that she takes a back seat vocally to Jay-Z on the title track, letting Brooklyn’s rapmaster general brag about his too-much-isn’t-enough lifestyle.
While this risqué record isn’t music to stuff the kiddies’ stockings with (unless you hang fishnets and garters from the mantle), the beats are strong dance rhythms and the melodies are all catchy enough to make any one of the 11 individual tracks a hit single.
Download of the week
MARY J. BLIGE
“Need Someone”
****
Even with an all-star list of guest singers on Mary J. Blige’s latest record, “My Life II . . . The Journey Continues (Act 1),” which includes Beyoncé, Nas, Rick Ross and Drake, it’s when MJB is flying solo that the record achieves greatness. The best of those solos is “Need Someone,” a goosebump-raising hymn, on which Blige lays the groundwork as the rightful heir to Aretha’s crown as queen of soul. This unusual guitar, piano and voice plea for love has the same heart and lyrical depth that composers like Randy Newman and Valerie Simpson bring to their compositions.