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Album Review: ANTI



The album for which I have been waiting for years has finally been released, and I just couldn't wait to review it. On January 27, 2016, Rihanna released her long awaited album Anti, follow-up to 2012's Unapologetic. This marks Rihanna's first non-yearly album release, as she has released an album or a re-release each year from 2005 to 2012, so the wait from 2013 to early January 2016 has really been dreadful and traumatic even with Rihanna's three singles released in 2015, the top five multiplatinum hit "FourFiveSeconds" featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney, the iconic urban sing-rap "Bitch Better Have My Money", and the inspirational "American Oxygen", which have all been scrapped from Anti, perhaps a part of the also-scrapped R8, which may have been the original concept for Anti. These songs may not be on Anti, but they will always be associated with Anti, and therefore deserve to be acknowledged here. With Anti, the fastest album to ever achieve Platinum in the United States, however, Rihanna has made a statement to the public that she will make the music she wants (complex and artistic) rather than the pop fluff that the public wants such as Good Girl Gone Bad and, to a lesser extent, Loud. Rihanna has worked with producers she's never worked with before, such as DJ Mustard, Jeff Bhasker, and Boi-1da, and helped write fifteen out of the sixteen songs off the album (one being a cover), and this helped create a next-level body of work, like a mix of an even more abstract and mature Rated R and Unapologetic, that epitomizes Rihanna and is timeless and soulful. Some of the songs are duds, despite being aesthetically respectable songs that are anything but generic (other than "Work"). The album is not radio friendly, which is completely fine, and doesn't seem to be worth the over three year wait, but this doesn't detract from the commendable cohesion of the album and its vast array of excellent songs. The standard edition seems to be split in two parts within the tracklist, the first part being industrial pop/urban/R&B where the production shines brightest and the second part being soul or soulful, where the lyrics and melodies shine brightest. My trinity of Anti is "Kiss It Better", "Love on the Brain", and "Same Ol' Mistakes". "Kiss It Better" is a pop/R&B song that revolves around this central, synthy electric guitar, giving it feel-good throwback vibe. It's so simple, yet so effective, fueling the timeless element that Rihanna was aiming for. Rihanna coos seductively over the guitar: "Oh, tell me what you’re willing to do / Kiss it, kiss it better, baby", in response to an ex who's still on mind. "Love on the Brain", which was originally intended to be the lead single off Anti with a debut performance at The Brits, features Rihanna's best vocals ever. The melodies in the powerful chorus and the breathiness and phrasing of the lines, particularly in the verses, in the form of a power ballad is what elevates the song, complemented by a subtle folk/rock beat from guitar and organ. I think either "Kiss It Better" or "Love on the Brain" would be the perfect choice for the lead single. "Same Ol' Mistakes", a cover of Tame Impala, features complex synthesized production: dark pop beats in harmony with higher frequency ones. The complexity fits perfectly into Anti, a perfect song to cover. Rihanna's breathy, urban-influenced vocals sends the audience in a daze over the instrumentals. The powerful chorus and the falsetto in the bridge are also noteworthy. As a six minute song, "Same Ol' Mistakes" is a musical journey with extended instrumentals and buildups. Another favorite is the folk "Never Ending", which certainly stands out on the album for its lack of complexity in either production or vocal interpretation; nevertheless, sometimes less is more. Its simple guitar plucks and "ooo"'s give the song its special touch. The minor sampling of Dido's "Thank You" is very beautifully executed as well. "Higher" is another specia


l song, a timeless, traditional throwback like "Love on the Brain" rather than an industrial throwback like "Kiss It Better". The vintage organ helps the song be instantaneously recognized, very light as opposed to the dark sound of the organ in Rated R's "Cold Case Love". Rihanna embraces and even amplifies the raspiness of her belts. The song reminds me of The Great Depression period re-popularized by The Great Gatsby thanks to the timelessness of the production and the lyric matter pertaining to alcohol. "Close to You", an ideal album closer, is a stripped down piano ballad similar to Rihanna's previous work such as "Stay" and "As Real As You and Me", without the complexities of the majority of the album. Rihanna's voice and emotion is front and center, and the chorus is the most captivating, where Rihanna sings, "Nothing but a tear, that's all for breakfast / Watching you pretend you're unaffected". "Consideration", a electronic/reggae song featuring Sza is fueled by a dark drum-and-bass production and one of its signatures is Rihanna's high-pitch to low-pitch sudden transitions. Rihanna and Sza blend perfectly in the song to make a match made in heaven. This is not the first time Rihanna has added an underrated artist to her album to help convey the musical excellence of the artist to a wide audience and for Rihanna to add her own spin on the given song, the other time was the one-of-a-kind "Stay" featuring Mikky Ekko, a piano ballad above all others. "Desperado" has a similar dark pop production as "Consideration", perhaps with more of an R&B twist, with an emphasis on low-pitch vocals. She sings to a desperado about how she doesn't want to be alone, and they could join forces and run away together. The mysterious backing vocals add to the eeriness of the song, and the prechorus is exceptional: the way Rihanna sings "leaving me behind". The song is a bit one-dimensional, lacking dynamics, but it does what it does quite well. Now for the interludes. "James Joint" is a smooth jazz/R&B song that doesn't really fit the album, but would be better off in the second half of the album if kept on the album, between "Love on the Brain" and "Higher". Rihanna's vocals are equally smooth and rhythmic, and the song is split into two identical (other than the lyrics) thirty-second sections each with a verse and mini chorus section, followed by a Sims-like instrumental closing. The other interlude "Goodnight Gotham", originally called "A Night" samples Florence + the Machine's "Only If for a Night". I think the song is unnecessary because it doesn't embrace Rihanna's vocals since all she does is sing along in some parts. The song, which solely features the lyric "Only if for a night" in different pitches, is completely a sample and thus disposable. The sampled song doesn't even match the album like the cover "Same Ol' Mistakes". The original song is perfect the way it is on Florence's album Ceremonials. "Sex With Me" is a mellow-pop/R&B track, sharing indirect similarities with "Birthday Sex" by Jeremih. The song is nothing too innovative or next-level, but it's a refreshing touch on the album, very urban contemporary with upbeat undertones. The rest of the album neither offers anything innovative nor refreshing. "Work", a dancehall urban pop song featuring Drake, is a relatively contrived attempt at a hit, although not as blatant as Unapologetic's "Right Now". The chorus features some incomprehensible lyrics and the melody is weak. Drake and Rihanna tried to capitalize on their previous two excellent collaborations, "What's My Name" and "Take Care", but failed. "Woo" is an absolute trap-pop mess, mostly thanks to Travis Scott. Half the song is mindless, meaningless falsetto ("Woo") and the song doesn't go anywhere and doesn't have any structure, which makes it unmemorable. "Yeah I Said It" is just boring, downtempo and lacking, the "Get It Over With" of Anti. The lyrics are equally uninspiring and not noteworthy, with Rihanna repeating the title, which doesn't really mean anything. "Needed Me" and "Pose" are just okay, "Needed Me" just sounds like a typical DJ Mustard downtempo-electro song, and "Pose", although with impressive production, is a bit all over the place, the inferior version of Unapologetic's "Phresh Out the Runway", so it's not as hard-hitting. All in all, Anti is a cohesive, emotive, well-developed, mature album that despite its duds has impressively in some part honored and homaged the music of the past through throwback in terms of instruments such as the organ and vocal techniques. This is mixed with the powerful dark electro production featured in the first half of the album and the infectious guitar licks of "Kiss It Better", where production is fundamental and central. Anti shows Rihanna as an artist and shouts a powerful statement.


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