Rihanna — Anti (2016) | Album Review
It took her 8 tries, but Rihanna finally has a great album.
2016 saw the return of multiple household artists, but to different degrees of success. Sisters Beyoncé and Solange outdid themselves with two instant classics. Frank Ocean, Radiohead, and Bon Iver remained consistent with great albums. Kanye West fell short of expectations. Drake’s Views is straight up a disappointment. Rihanna, on the other hand, left us head-scratching: Anti did not make much sense on first hear. However, after over one year, it has become clear that the album has aged surprisingly well, marking RiRi’s first great album.
Anti is anti-commercial. There was much attention before its release, with three singles that were ultimately scraped off the track list. The material on the album is unlike any other in her catalogue, or any popular hits at the time. Mainstream music was filled with EDM and dance-pop tracks, the leftovers of an era whose heights found Rihanna herself with “Only Girl (In the World)” and “We Found Love.” “I got to do things/ My own way darling,” she claims on the opening track, and goes on to do just that: “Work” became the first dancehall song to top the Billboard Hot 100 since 2006, kicking off a new era of dancehall and tropical-inspired hits such as “One Dance”, “Cheap Thrills”, “Shape of You” (coincidentally, the latter two are written for Rihanna), and others alike.
Contrary to the homogeneity of mainstream music, Anti is the epitome of R&B heterogeneity, combining R&B with a different genre on almost every track and doing so perfectly most of the time. The opener “Consideration” is a plucky hip-hop song with broken beats, which quickly transitions into the slick, sensual pop/synth-rock guitar riff reminiscent of “California King Bed” in “Kiss It Better.” “Work” is a surprise hit, with apparently non-sensical lyrics that makes a perfect earworm by repeating a certain syllables over and over, à la “Umbrella”’s infamous ella hook. The trick works even more effectively here: repeat any one syllable more than twice, and the melody will instantly pop into your head. “Needed Me” puts a twist on the trick, using tuplets throughout the hook, resulting in an even more catchy tune placed over a mellow, down-tempo electro beat.
The album takes another unexpected turn near the end. Rihanna surely did not just tack all the ballads at the end of the album: the previous part has its fair share of slow jams and ballads, but the last four tracks is still vastly different sonically. “Love on the Brain” transports Rihanna back to the 50s, making sure that she actually covers every genre under the sun. It also lays out a blueprint crafted with deftness, making sure she cannot fail with such beautiful arrangement backing up her soulful, flexible vocal performance. “Higher” is definitely the best track off of the album, with gorgeous, distilled production and raw vocal performance. The unusually short length turns out perfectly, emphasizing the emotion it’s supposed to convey while keeping the performance idiosyncratic and intimate. “Close To You” makes a great closing track, keeping the emotion from the previous tracks, sounding dreary but still ending on a bright note with the ascending piano riff in major key. These last four tracks are the pinnacle of the album.
Still, the album has some questionable moments. “Woo” is undoubtedly the worst track on the album, with a strident beat and obnoxious vocals. Unlike any other track on the album, every detail on the track sounds unnerving and uncomfortable, making an unpleasant experience. “Same Ol’ Mistakes” is another dubious choice, with Rihanna simply karaoke-ing over the exact instrumentation from the Tame Impala track. Its position in the album is also unreasonable, with its dark psychedelic pop sound contradicting the light acoustic sound on “Never Ending.” “Yeah, I Said It” would have transitioned much better with its coolness and indifference. On a minor note, the bonus tracks, while thoroughly enjoyable, would have found themselves more at home if placed in Unapologetic.
While Anti is a conflicting record with diverse sounds, there are certain elements throughout the tracks to keep it consistent. First, there is no uptempo tracks. All the tracks have sparse beat with understated bass lines, creating a steady flow throughout. Second, Rihanna’s vocal lies in the center, backed up with live instruments in multiple layers. Her vocals on the album are also the best so far. Lastly, staying true with its title, the sound on the album is mostly lo-fi, creating its own distinctive ambience, while also creating an illusion of verse-and-chorus mechanic defiance.
Rating: A-
Essential tracks: “Higher”, “Love on the Brain”, “Kiss It Better”, “Needed Me”.
Worst track: “Woo”
