Review Summary: ANTI-album.
I’m in a strange position while reviewing this album: this is the first Rihanna album I’ve ever listened to. I have virtually no context with the exception of her occasional radio hits. I don’t really even listen to radio that often. So just know before reading this review that this was written by a Rihanna-illiterate individual who grew up under a rock with his Pink Floyd CDs. That being said, this will be brief.
ANTI was dropped for free on Jay-Z’s hi-fi streaming service Tidal, which if I understand correctly, is broke. Notwithstanding, this was a greatly anticipated release from many Rihanna fans and general music fans alike - hell, I was interested after hearing the huge number of producers here and that there was a Tame Impala cover. Travis Scott and Drake’s involvement intrigued me as well. But after hearing it all the way through twice…I’m just disappointed, and I don’t know who to blame. I mean, I guess I should just blame myself since in a couple short days I made myself excited about an artist that I had no previous interest in.
After listening to it, everything I was excited about turned about to be underwhelming: Drake’s verse, the unfocused production style, the Tame Impala cover (which is a carbon copy of the original instrumental with Rihanna’s vocals on top of it), her singing, the instrumentals as wholes, the lyrics, all of it. I don’t understand the place that this album will have in her discography, but from what little I’ve heard it doesn’t seem like it really fits at all. It’s as if she’s attempting to deviate from the poppy vibe of her previous hits, but she’s coming of as if she’s making a half-assed ripoff of a lot of things from Adele to FKA Twigs. In fact, some of the earlier instrumentals in the album sound like a cheap Boots production.
I will say that ANTI is at least more interesting than what I’ve heard of Rihanna before, and this seems a little adventurous and ambitious for her. The instrumentals don’t sound very poppy at all, and there’s rather a mixture of a lot of different genres, from hip-hop, to electro-R&B to straight R&B and even some acoustic balladry. My problem is with how these genres mesh together, or rather, don’t. There are still a couple of good tracks such as “Love on the Brain,” in which Rihanna seems more at home, and the opening track “Consideration,” which has a cool variation of vocals and rap from both her and SZA. Those instrumentals are pretty good as well, even if they’re miles away from each other in style. Beyond that, I didn’t particularly enjoy much else. The song “Woo” has got to be the most annoying track I’ve heard so far this year, from the lazy vocals and lyrics, annoying guitar riff, to the strange and off-putting Travis Scott vocal performance. However, the worst here is how unadventurous the cover of “Same Ol’ Mistakes” is. Just truly unimaginative and bland.
All in all, it has its brief moments, but I’ll give ANTI those few good moments. I’m not entirely familiar with Rihanna’s work, and frankly this album doesn’t give me any desire to look back any further.
4/10
