Rihanna, the pop world's most prolific star, has released an astonishing six full-length albums over the past seven years. Her most recent one, Talk That Talk, is an uneven but cohesive collection of songs that center on love and sex, two topics that have been present throughout her discography.

I didn't even listen to the previews before buying this album—it's Coldplay, so you know it'll be good. The question is, will it be curl up and read a book with a mug of tea good, or soaring heart-seizing cosmic choirs of inspiration good? As it turns out, some of both. It's vintage Coldplay, personal and moving, shifting between a racing, thrumming tapestry of guitars and synths with Chris Martin's characteristic whoa-ohhh's on "Hurts Like Heaven,"to a rough, low break-your-heart croon on the more subdued track "Us Against the World."