Album Review: Anti by Rihanna

RiRi returns with Anti, an album that promises reinvention and delivers only mild improvement amidst the “Same Ol’ Mistakes”.

Beyoncé didn’t invent the surprise album drop, but she did perfect it. Consider her the iYoncé.

Ever since she unveiled her self-titled opus to great critical fanfare and actual, quantifiable success (five million sales; one billion streams; ninety gazillion memes) in December of 2013, pop stars have struggled to arouse their own fans in kind.

That paralysis has left Drake, Kanye West and Rihanna promising the imminent release of their new albums for more than a year, only to hesitate and pump fake, like kids waiting to jump into Double Dutch.

It’s also why the Internet half-joked that Beyoncé was responsible for briefly leaking Rihanna’s long-time-coming Anti to Tidal last week (an accident later blamed on a ‘system error’ that nonetheless led to its official, sudden release later that day). Beyoncé may not have physically hit the button on Anti, but she’s still responsible for how it came out.

The content, however, is all Ri-Ri; for better or worse.

She teased reinvention in 2015 with incendiary anthem “B**** Better Have My Money” (which, in its most fiery interpretation, is about reparations, or, at its most placid, remains a scorching feminist statement) and “FourFiveSeconds” (a Kanye/ Paul McCartney collaboration on which she gave her most unvarnished and affable vocal performance ever). Neither has made the Anti cut, despite their ubiquity and overall awesomeness. “American Oxygen”, a forgettable, poorly-received political statement, was cut too. No tears there.

Instead, Anti mostly follows the formula of 2012’s woozy Unapologetic, which was punctuated by the weird-pop of the Sia-penned “Diamonds”, droning rappers delight “Pour It Up” and the torch song “Stay”, yet was otherwise disposable.

A shame, because Anti opens with one of Rihanna’s best, strangest tracks in years: the SZA-featuring “Consideration”. Harking back to her earlier dancehall days, she amplifies her Bajan accent and talks about “fluttering in from Neverland” and “riding in on a pale white horse”, which is one hell of a stage-setter.

“I got to do things my own way darling,” she continues over a sparse drum beat. Intermittently over Anti, we hear that in action, and it’s sublime. She capitalises on her signature messed-upness and demands an ex “take it back” on the sultry “Kiss It Better”; she summons the ever-beleaguered Drake for another musical tease on “Work”; she even covers Tame Impala’s “New Person, Same Ol’ Mistakes” without changing much at all, which is a subversive way of doing her own thing, I suppose.

The album’s middle section is where things take a dip. "Desperado”, “Woo” and “Needed Me” all have the strut of “Pour It Up”, coupled with a twitchy sonic soundscape that sounds like stuttering. Unfortunately, in the shadow of that modern rap classic, they all pale.

Anti returns to near-greatness with its twisted lounge-singer climax.

“Love on the Brain” takes a ‘60s blues riff and partners it with confronting lyrics like, “It beats me black and blue but it ***** me so good”, all crooned over tongue-in-cheek swelling strings. (The uncomfortable context of Rihanna’s past can’t be isolated from the track, and she must know it; as if she’s waiting for those who accused her of not being a “better” victim of domestic abuse to reignite the debate. She’s ready for them.)

It’s followed by the endearingly creaky “Higher”, the closest she gets to the voice-cracking brilliance of “FourFiveSeconds”, and “Close To You”, a classic lighters-in-the-air closer. With these quiet tunes, the album ends in just under 44 minutes, avoiding the bloat of Unapologetic (which was almost an hour in length).

Anti will feel instantly familiar to most long-time fans. Like every album she’s made prior, there are some skippable patches interrupted by occasional, show-stopping singles. This time, there’s simply less to skip.

You’ll hear some growth here in the lyricism – though she remains the maestro of the sexual simile - and certainly less radio-pandering. (Anti is the first album from Rihanna’s label Westbury Road, as well as the first on which she gets writing-credit across the board, Tame Impala cover aside.)

Still, she’s yet to produce a solid, excellent album. Pop culture-dominating singles remain her forte. Mrs. Carter was once "cursed" by that too, until 2013's Beyoncé, which contains nary a bum note.

Anti may have bungled the surprise publication strategy, but maybe Rihanna’s getting closer to pulling off something more remarkable than a bombshell album release: a wholly great record.

3.5/5

Anti is now streaming on Tidal. It will be made available widely on February 5, 2016.