What the hell happened with Anti? Rihanna’s eighth album has been doing works for a year or two, and anticipation did start to skyrocket just around last year as she started releasing singles. There was the acoustic campfire sing-along that brought together Kanye West that has a Beatle, the snoozing ballad that sounded as being a reject from Empire, as well as a raucous powerhouse which has a memorable video of Rih covered in blood while murdering her accountant. None of such singles are here. She officially announced the album in November, launching a few increasingly convoluted interactive apps with Samsung, every major holiday was full of rumors it would emerge. It finally arrived on the Wednesday afternoon in late January, seemingly mistakenly posted on TIDAL, the Jay Z-owned streaming service that Rihanna has played a sizable role to promote since its launch recently. It was removed within minutes, and after news which it would be a TIDAL exclusive, was released online, bypassing the existing infrastructure big and delivering it right to a million fans.
After nearly per year of buzz, debate, and speculation, Rihanna’s decision to pretend 2015 never happened could have been the best thing she can have done for Anti. Leaving out those singles keeps Anti from feeling stale, making for a disorienting listen. Similar to Beyoncé’s 4, Anti is undoubtedly an example of most significant pop stars on this planet subverting expectations by releasing an album of disparate styles, including old-school soul and dancehall to funk and psych rock. Few tracks seem tailored towards the radio. There’s nary a “Diamonds” or “Love the Way You Lie”, not to say a “Bitch Better Have My Money”. Instead, Rihanna made an album that has a minute-long approximation of the very most recent Thundercat record plus a cover of an Tame Impala song not few months old.
Some artists try so desperately to act like they don’t supply a fuck who's becomes transparent. Rihanna just isn't one of them. Her flaunting of guidelines got her infamously banned from Instagram not too long ago. She’s a fashion icon, with every choice both baffling and supremely sign of her personality. She’s carried that attitude to her musical work, making decisions in regards to the songs around the album and it is rollout so recklessly that they can almost border on self-sabotage. Because jane is Rihanna, she pulls it well, crafting a work certainly where an Sam Cooke-style ballad can fit alongside a lurching, nocturnal electronic track co-written by The Weeknd and Travis Scott without tonal whiplash. The pieces might not fit together neatly, but Anti is clearly the album Rihanna planned to make.
The absence of pressure to produce radio hits makes Anti a vast improvement over the more formulaic approach of her last two records. While you'll find certainly missteps just like the bland “Never Ending”, the Rihanna of 2010 wouldn’t release a smooth, understated R&B jam like “Yeah, I Said It” or even a down-tempo dancehall cut like “Work” because official lead single. Part of which can be due to shifts within the landscape. If Justin Bieber can score winner single having a watered-down version in the genre, surely the artist who wrote “Pon De Replay” can strike gold off of the public’s recent interest. The approach excels, specifically in moments like “Higher”, a thunderous ballad where she pushes her vocal prowess past its breaking point, packing an album’s in stunning moments into two minutes. Rihanna was not ever indulgent, but four songs underneath the three-minute mark, she can give adequate while leaving ’em wanting more.
It likewise helps that Rihanna is in fact the only voice present on Anti. Drake fits his verse in nicely, conceding the spotlight enough in order that he doesn’t cannibalize the track. The only other feature about the record is SZA, who results in a formidable partner about the lush opener. While hearing Rihanna faithfully reinterpreting Tame Impala on “Same Ol’ Mistakes” is initially jarring, she owns the self-reflection well and truly helps it be her own. Anti is Rihanna’s show, and she or he certainly doesn’t require the help.
Midway through, over an uncharacteristically choppy DJ Mustard beat, Rihanna pens the best kiss-off for an ex around the masterful “Needed Me”. Alternating from the swooning chorus and aggressive flows for the verse (while using quintessential Rihanna lyric: “Didn’t they convince you I was a savage?”), Rihanna helps it be clear the former beau screwed up. The best song around the album, it seems like Rihanna’s revealing the fourth wall. Up to 2012, Rihanna released albums almost annually. Now which it’s been over 3 years without her, she's made it clear how vital jane is to the actual state of pop music. Anti takes risks and disregards convention in ways that only a true superstar like Rihanna could do.
Tracklist
01. Consideration (feat. SZA)
02. James Joint
03. Kiss It Better
04. Work (feat. Drake)
05. Desperado
06. Woo
07. Needed Me
08. Yeah, I Said It
09. Same Ol’ Mistakes
10. Never Ending
11. Love On The Brain
12. Higher
13. Close to You
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