Rihanna has definitely risen to the top of the charts once again with her latest album. The entire album is a mixture of the pop music she is famous for but also the Bad Gal RiRi she has come to be known as.
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Rihanna with Anti album artist Roy Nachum.
The pop star had so many delays and didn’t have a solid date on her album release, Anti, that it almost seemed as if there would be no album at all. Since we now know it is real, Rihanna’s eighth LP is now known as a sprawling masterpiece.
The build up for the album was extraordinary. Since it’s been a full three years since her last album, Unapologetic, she definitely came back with a bang and had a lot to say in her latest album. Her previous albums have normally been formulated and built around peaks.
This album is different simply because all of her songs flow together due to smooth transitions. For example, the transitions from “Desperado” to “Woo” to “Needed Me” all sound like a collection of fun, carefree music; a great description for the island girl. “James Joint” is a song that pretty much describes the marijuana-smoking bad girl as she portrays herself on social media.
The album screams independence. “I got to do things my own way, darling,” she announced over a shuttering, distorted beat in the opening of “Consideration,” collaboration with R&B singer, Sza. The most popular and most played song is the dance hall song “Work” featuring the singer, Drake. It just proves that the pop star is still a hit-maker and still makes her way to the charts. “Kiss It Better” is a song that puts you in the mind of “Purple Rain” with a funky beat of its own. “Woo” is a 70s rock interpretation of a bad trip under backlight.
“I been feening on the yayo,” “ain’t nothin’ left to talk about.” In the hit “Higher,” she describes how she had been holding it together until she eventually broke.
“I just wanna go back to my old ways,” “but I’m drunk and still with a full ashtray, with a little bit too much to say.” The song ends unresolved and leaves listeners clueless. “Yeah I Said It,” is a co-written and co-produced song with producer Timbaland that brings out the promiscuous side of proclaimed “good girl gone bad.”
Over these past few years Rihanna’s style and taste of music has definitely evolved with each album. She started out as this adorable, innocent Island girl from Barbados trying to make her way in the American music industry. Throughout her music career she left behind her “SOS” sound which gave a young, enthusiastic vibe to being a good girl that turned bad.
After dealing with heartbreak and life in general, Ri began to show a little emotion and her sexy side as she became this “bad girl.” It even shows how the super star has changed throughout the decade she’s been in the game! From all of the public relationships and breakups, publicly smoking marijuana and even singing about it throughout her newest album Anti, and even her sexual side even more as well.