'Anti' Wasn't We Were Expecting From Rihanna, But Maybe It Was What We Needed

It's been a long, winding, and confusing road to Anti. Rihanna's eighth studio album arrived last week with very little preamble. Needless to say, it's taken some time to digest the Bajan star's latest offering.  

At a point, Rihanna was releasing albums every year, touring nonstop, and almost exclusively released "bangerz". Anti is a different kind of baby. It's the "artistic" child out of a rather boisterous bunch. The roll-out took over a year and, in the end, everything from the Kanye produced version was thrown out. 

It's a rough first listen. Not to say that it isn't good. It's just different. First track, "Consideration", for example, is quite dirgy. It has the kind of beat that I reckon Amy Winehouse would sing over if she were around now. I can't quite tell if it even has a chorus? 

Very briefly, Anti feels like its pioneering some sport of post-trap movement. Third track,"Kiss It Better" features a pretty memorable beat that hiccups and stutters alongside languid (and simultaneously complex) guitar missives. Same thing goes for the Timbaland produced "Yeah I Said It". 

At other times, namely on parts of album's second half, Anti feels like it's veered in a completely different, far less enjoyable, direction. In fact, the last three tracks on Anti belong on a different record (or just the bin, honestly). 

"Work", "Desperado", and "Needed Me" are stand outs on the release. "Work" is the island flavored Noah "40" Shebib produced, Drake feature that practically saved the record from itself. On any other release "Work" would have likely been third or fourth single fodder but on Anti it's front and center. 

Overall, I like the record. When it's winning, it's really winning. Its biggest problem is the lack of cohesion. This, I feel, is genuinely not Rihanna's fault. After being tossed around by camp Kanye and being stuck in creative hell, the album probably reflects its own journey. Rihanna is probably just glad to have the thing out. She's been working on the project since 2014 and, overall the songs signal a new and interesting direction for her.