Countdown to "Talk That Talk" 2/6
This was the first Rihanna record where I get to become a fan. Rihanna, as the name sounds like, was exotic to my ears. And whenever I find something exotic, there's a mystical aura that comes over to me when I encounter it. Although that's not really the case here looking back, there was just something mysterious (and she still was at this era) about listening to a young girl singing about what it is to be loved as one over island riddims and tropical sounding songs. This was at the time where she was at her nature on reggae tracks such as "Crazy Thing Called Love", "Kisses Don't Lie", and my favorite reggae song from her "Dem Haters". But what this album means to me is its being a landmark on what was soon to become known as the StarGate sound by T. E. Hermansen and M. S. Eriksen on songs such as "Unfaithful" and, the one that made me join the Rihanna bandwagon, "We Ride".
