Here are three things we’ve learned this week about Rihanna’s Talk That Talk, to be released on November 21: It has a track list; Jay-Z and the xx will both be featured; and it is, to quote one listening session report, “the dirtiest pop record we have ever heard.” Some sample lyrics, to give you an idea: “You’re taking too long to get my head on the ground / And my feet in the clouds” and the slightly more direct “I wanna fuck you right now.” There’s also a song titled “Cockiness” — you can imagine where that goes. (It goes to sexytime.) In this context, “You Da One,” the second single off Talk That Talk, is relatively (disappointingly?) tame; there’s one reference to “hard loving,” something about how the dude had her “yelling,” and then a line about “coming alive” that definitely means what you think it means. But those PG (for Rihanna) lyrics are folded into an otherwise sunny mid-tempo number about how awesome it is to be in love, and you forget about the banging when the “day-ay-ay” chorus comes in. “You Da One” is the low-key, island-y equivalent of “We Found Love,” essentially, plus the requisite dubstep breakdown, and it’s very pleasant. But where are the clever sex puns? We were promised sex puns.
