Review: Rihanna- Anti

I'm honestly a little shocked I'm even writing about this album. I can't say I've ever been a Rihanna fan, and I've never listened to a Rihanna record all the way through before this one. I've always thought she's had an interesting voice, and I've enjoyed a few singles here and there, but I don't think she's really ever had that distinct of a voice. Starting out in a dance hall capacity, she soon adopted a lot of flavor of the month sounds. As such, a lot of her tracks are a good place marker for pop music trends, but doesn't really do a lot for her in terms of developing her voice. However, on this new project, I was pleasantly surprised, and I think this project is a step in the right direction for establishing Rihanna as a little more than delivering the lowest common denominator pop music.

I was a little thrown off by the promotional singles released before this album, as they are more of the same, especially 'B*tch Better Have My Money', which had Rihanna over typical trap production. So, going into this, I was expecting a lot more trap influenced pop. However, this is just not the case, and as a lot of other people will say, this record has very little in the way of single power. Where as others might see that as a problem, I feel like this is better in building an album than building one around a couple strong songs and throwing filler all around it. Ironically, the only single currently off this album, 'Work', is probably one of the weakest tracks here.

This project dabbles in a lot of different genres, but it does it in a way where the album flows pretty well without a whole lot of hiccups. There actually is a beat on this by DJ Mustard that is somehow listenable. I had to listen to this track a few times just to make sure there were no "ay ay ay" chorus samples on this song. Why can't DJ Mustard do production like this more often? While the songs in the beginning and middle are decent enough, the last half of this record is where the soul really lies. There's a lot of classic soul sound in these songs, and I get a real Etta James and crazily enough, Otis Redding feel from some of these songs. I really want this sound to be a taste of where Rihanna goes next, since I feel like this sound, though done before, is really a breath of fresh air in pop music.

This album is a little uneven, and though there are some weak tracks like 'Work', and the Frank Ocean-esque bumper track 'James Joint', I feel like this direction is really going to help Rihanna carve out her own lane. It's not perfect, but I feel like this project to be a stepping stone to something more.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

What did you think of this album? What do you think of Rihanna's new direction? Check in later, when I share my opinions on the new Current 93 album, The Moons at your Door.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."